Evening star., 1952-05-08
FeebIe-Minded
Respond 10
Patient Care
Children Who Stoy
ChiIdlike at Laurel
Home Are Sensitive
By John W. Stepp

HOTIS are SSHSICtVS
By John W. Stepp
She stares at the world through
Wild. fevered eyes.
She is six years old, yet confined
TO a crib. Others feed her, look
after all her bodily needs. Born
helpless, she is destined to stay
that way throughout the semi
darkness of her life.>
A micro-cephalic idiot, special
lists call this child. Skull injured
during birth or inadequately form
ed before that:
What manner of being is this
small malformed creature? And
the others whose varying degrees
of mental underdevelopment will
make them children though they
live forever?
Nightmarish World.
DR.. Thornsten Smith, superin-
tendent of the District Training
School, the euphemism for the
home for feeble minded at Laurel,
has an aSWer.
mo matter how miSShapen,
physically and mentally, they may
be, they are human beings, and as
as any one else"
Miss Louise Grapenthin, direc-
tor of nurses, has a personal for
mula which enables her to live in
a world that is nightmarish to
outsiders.
"You don't look for the things
that are wrong with the child"
she says. You look for the nor
NAL things about them. their
hands or their feet or the softness
of their skin. You'll find some
feature that is just as pretty as
those of a normal child"
Children Respond to Warmth.
DR.. Smith points out that his
charges live on an emotional.
rather than intellectual, plane.
The only way to make contact
with them, he says. is with the
emotions. They respond more to
warmth-and aloofnesS- than
the normal child" DR.. Smith says.
That, he adds, is why the most
important employe at the institu-
tion is the attendant. who cares
first hand, day in and day out for
the children.
These are the workers who
must feed the infants of the crib
ward, guide the food-servers and
dish-washers in the dining hall.
shepherd the older = to elderly
children of Cottage Six-place Of
the lowest grade mentalities--
through their shambling, fumb-
ling daily routine among the cots
and their own spattered eating
quarters.
Most of the tasks assigned to
the inmates are useful to the insti-
tuition in a very practical way.
Under supervision, the more ca
pable children aid the paid GUS
todians on the school farm, in the
laundry and kitchens. Some help
care for the more helpless children
and their tenderness is almost
maternal. Others attend to gen.
eral cleanup chores.
There's No Real Cure.
The theory of giving the chill
dren definite jobs. of course. is a
major part of the plan to train
them as thoroughly as possible
within their limited capacities to
learn.
There is no real cure for their
handicap" explains DR.. James A.
Alston, assistant superintendent.
But our hope is that their avail
able skills can be developed to the
extent that they can get along in
the outside world"
This hope has been realized q
number of times.
DR.. Alston recalls a youth
paroled after long stay at the
training school who after a time
proudly wrote the authorities that
he had just passed civil service
examination.
A Number Run Away.
During the last war, a teen-ager
absconded and it was months be-
fore the school heard from him.
Finally he sent word that he had
enlisted in the Navy and was doing
well. On double-checking, author
tiles learned that he had achieved
the highest rating in his particular
grade as to efficiency, conduct and
adjustment to his new way of life.
1--WE have had a number Of
girls run away from here-ab-
sconding is one of our problems"
DR.. Aston says. "One I can think
of has returned here pregnant on
seven different occasions and we
have to keep on caring for her
and her offspring. This is home
for that child"
On the other hand, the doctor
likes to recall. there have been
times when girl takes off from
the school, remains unheard from
for months and finally is discov-
cred married, apparently happy.
and settled down with a family
and responsibilities of her own.
Dogs Give Human Touch.
The human story that DR..
Smith tells concerns dogs.
Laurel is no exception to the
rule that wherever there are peo-
pie, you find dogs. In fact, dogs
of every shape and description
may be seen at almost any time
happily trotting after the kids on
the institution grounds.
Since the animals are something
of a sanitation problem, periodic
calls are made to Annapolis for
the county dogcatcher to conduct
a roundup.
But somehow the children seem
-