The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-11-14
Your Children n,. kAlluA RAhaRia RarinA


 Tn my experience with children, I have found this type of mind to deal with--the one that won't or cannot learn from booksf
 I am not speaking about those books he reads for pleasure. or without compulsion, but school books, or even musical exer" ciseD.
 This child, for some reason or other. has early learned to asso- cjate print with difficulty. He geS the idea into his head by degrees, that each timo he is confronted with . lesson, he is not going to pc able to do it. An obsesSion yes, but Q serious one. Because this wall between himself and knowl- edge will shut out knowledge quite as effectually as though no had no capable mind to learn.
 There Is no greater problem than this one to deal with, as TOT as tho parents or teacher are con- cerhed. Try to put yourself in . chiid1 place, finch every time you open Q book and try to un- derstaiid the simplest lesson. Try to imagine yourself beginning Q course, say in telegraphic coue. The first thing that would enter your head, most times out of . hundred. is this; "i'il never Do able to get it. It's oil Greek to mo-" And with this in your sys.. tenn, you would shut your mind instantly against oil help.
 Mental Wall Is Set Up
 The harder the patient expert tries to explain, tho more you make of your obsession. You can't got the idea and cannot retnein. Dor because of your mental wall, if you are . little younger, you will learn more quickly 1T younger still, you won't have any trouble at oil. Unless, like these children I mention, you have, for some obscurely odd reason, decid. cd at the very beginning that you can't possibly understand.
 Tn this case, # you arc one ot tho adults who knows tho dread of books, look back and Do honest. What began this queen but plt'ful phobiaY Maybe, it happened 90 long ago and can't remember. but I shall help.
 Did anycne in the family try to shame you to greater effort, or scold you down because you made some mistake? Perhaps in the first or second grade, tho old-tash- toned teacher called the class at- tontion to your wrong answers, or grew unduly impatient with your halting recitations, whether you knew your lesson or not. You were cruelty sensitive. You learned to hate books and perhaps selected ono particular subject, such a9 spe!l' ing or reading, for your pct dread
 Forced to Iearn by Experience
 Finally, reading, silent reading too, eventually, became more ana more of . bugbear, and you LOOK it into your head that you could not read over . page of print and learn anything ct ail. know Of ono case that is as clearly"cut az that. This is Q brilliant man, but no hes had to take the long way around end get oil his training by experience. It goes back very clearly to early family-impact on a too-sensitive nature. He could not remove that wal iabout books today If he tried. It becomes part and parcel of the mind. as the years pass.
 This b why it is better to eEa- courage the tiny child in his first efforts, however slow. What he learns actually, is less important than his feeling of power in hiln- self, and that delicate sympathy between himself and the printed page. Some children need more announcement thar others. The deliberately lazy and do-less child. is another matter. But you will know your own child. If the child of eight or ten is having such trouble, one way to get around it, is tp take the book, get the Idea and hand it to him pre- tigcsted. m time he may discover tl,et ik la mt ao hard after all,