Milford chronicle., 1957-12-13
Why One Child
Had Trouble
In S C h o O |
BY DOROTHY v. WHIPPLE, M. D
AP Newsfeatures

AP Newsfeatures
Stephanie was 615 when school
opened in the fall. She entered the
second grade of the local public
school according to plan. The class
was quite large-35 children. Step
hanie was one of the youngest chill
dren in the class and one of the
smallest. She was quiet, mousey
little girl, anxious to please every
one. She behaved very well in
school, was no trouble to the teach
er. However, she was a little ever
whelmed by this whole business of
school. She couldn't read as we'll
as the other children and the work
with numbers just confused her.
AT the end of the first six weeks
of school, the teacher asked Ste
phauies mother to come in for a
conference. The teacher suggest
ed that the mother devote some
time each evening to helping the
little girl with her reading. The
teacher also wanted to enroll Ste
phanie in special speech class
the child, she said, was very hesi-
tant in her speech and often slut
The teacher thought this handicap
should be nipped in the bud.
Fortunately for Stephanie her
mother took her to her doctor for a
good physical checkup because she
thought the child seemed pale and
jumpy.
Too Much Pushing
The only thing the matter with
this little girl was that she was
being pushed beyond her capaci-
ties.
Last year when she was 51a years
old at the beginning of the school
year she was put into small pri-
vate school where she easily did
the first grade work. This school
thought she was able to go on into
second grade and she might well
have been able to handle the acad-
emic work had she remained in
the private school and in a class of
half a dozen children.
Stephane was gentle sweet av-
erage little girl. In a sheltered en-
vironment she could hold her own
with her age mates and even with
children a little more mature than
she was. But in the rough and
tumble of a big classroom and with
children almost all bigger and old
er than she, Stephanie was a little
lost soul. She couldn't keep up in
school work, on the playground, or
anywhere.
Almost all children in this pre-
dicament will begin to show signs
of tension. One child may have
violent outburts of temper, another
may wet his bed, third may begin
biting his nails. Stephanie began
to stutter. When the reasons for
her suffering were pointed out to
Stephanie's mother she said, Eyes,
used to stutter too when I was a
child
Cause of Suffering
Suffering does run in families. |
Speech just seems to be little |
more uneasy in some people than
in others. When such people get
under tension the weakest link
breaks and they show their strain
in their speech.
Obviously the worst thing one
could do for Stephanie would be to
put her in speech class and give
her increased homework. Both
these things would merely increase
the strain on her, make her more
aware than ever that she wasn't
living up to the demands made upon
her
What Stephanie needed was to
go back into the first grade of the |
public school. There she was with |
children her own age or perhaps |
a bit younger. She felt adequate
and competent once again. A week
after this change at school was
it's hesitancy.