Mentally Defective Children Part 9

What do you know of his memory?

In which subjects does he do least badly?

In which subjects is he weakest?

How many years behindhand do you consider him in school instruction compared with average children of the same age?

Annex to the present sheet one of his exercise-books and samples of his drawing and manual work.

CHARACTER AND DISCIPLINE.

Conduct in cla.s.s. Does the child keep his place? Is he sleepy, unruly, talkative? Does he laugh without apparent cause? Does he disturb the cla.s.s?

Application. Is he attentive in cla.s.s? Does he do his exercises?

Does he learn his lessons? To what extent does his family a.s.sist him with the school work?

What is his att.i.tude towards the teacher? How does he receive remarks? Does he pay attention to them? How often? Is he indifferent? Is he restive?

What are his relations with his companions? Is he kind, docile, compliant? Does he make himself liked? Is he the object of marked attention? Or is he indifferent? Does he keep apart from others? Is he bullying, brutal, irascible, untruthful, dishonest, wicked? Has he any special vices?

PEDAGOGY.

What moral influences are most successful for guiding him?

What is the effect of punishment? Of severity?

What is the effect of rewards? Of praise?

Do you require to take any special measures with regard to him in cla.s.s or in the playground?

What are the most successful methods for advancing his instruction?

STATE OF HEALTH.

What do you know of his state of health? Has he incontinence of urine? Any motor affection? Any defect of speech? Fits? Has he been examined by a doctor, and do you know the doctor's opinion?

Was any medicine prescribed? What?

_Date_ ........ _Signature_ .................

_Position_ ..................

All the terms of this schedule are readily intelligible to the teachers. They have filled up a hundred samples in a very satisfactory manner, and we thus have in our possession a veritable mine of valuable information. It is to be hoped that the teachers in the special school may enjoy the same advantage. The plan has been found of value in other countries. The bulletins which are used in Rotterdam, for example, scarcely differ from ours except that they are more laconic. We have included in our questionnaire all that is likely to interest not only the inspector, but the doctor and the psychologist.

And now to sum up, here are the steps we advise to be taken in collecting the defectives:

_First._--The inspector has the pupils of each age in the schools arranged according to the "standard" or "course" they are in.

_Second._--By examining the tabulated results, the inspector picks out the backward, and demands particulars regarding the school attendance of those who have a r.e.t.a.r.dation of two years (when they are under nine years of age), and of three years (when they have pa.s.sed their ninth birthday). In the same circular the inspector asks the teachers to name any of their pupils who appear to be mentally ill-balanced--that is to say, who, according to the testimony of at least two teachers, are rebellious to discipline and an annoyance in the cla.s.s. The particulars with regard to want of discipline should be stated in each case.

_Third._--After examining the returns relating to school attendance and to the faults alleged against the children supposed to be wanting in balance, the inspector will make his first choice.

_Fourth._--The direct examination of the child bears specially upon his state of instruction and degree of intelligence. The inspector comes to a positive decision with regard to each child, and asks the opinion of the doctor, as well as of the head of the special school, who a.s.sists.

_Fifth._--The inspector has a schedule of particulars regarding the children finally accepted for the special school filled up by their teachers in the schools from which they came.

The medical examination will be considered in the next chapter.

Let us add, in conclusion, that all the decisions arrived at are to be regarded as provisional; the children are to be admitted to the cla.s.s for defectives on trial, to be kept under observation.

FOOTNOTES:

[6] See _Annee Psychologique_, vol. xii., p. 1, and vol. x., p. 116.

The method sometimes adopted, for other purposes, of asking the teacher to cla.s.sify the children according to their intelligence is quite fallacious. Teachers make no allowance for age. Recently an excellent teacher pointed out to us, as the most intelligent in the cla.s.s, a child who had really, when his age was taken into account, a r.e.t.a.r.dation of two years; but in a cla.s.s of younger children his age gave him an appearance of mental superiority. [Such facts vitiate much statistical work on the correlation of "brightness" in school-children with other qualities.--TR.]

[7] Teachers have a troublesome habit of saying simply "attendance regular" or "irregular." The inspector should demand an exact return of the absences.

[8] There are two methods of stating the representative value of a group, the _average_ and the _median_. Everyone knows the average. The median is obtained by arranging the values in linear series from the smallest to the greatest and taking the middle one. When should one use the average, and when the median? It is not easy to give a general rule, but in this case of spelling, we have a good example. If we wish to calculate the number of mistakes for each age, to take the average might be a disastrous proceeding. A single child who made a hundred or so mistakes would obviously make the average unfairly high. The median is affected much less by such aberrant cases, and consequently is more suitable for very heterogeneous series, in which the difference between the maximum and the minimum is very great.

[9] By way of comparison, the following dictation was given to ninety-two children in an Edinburgh school. The progressive difficulties depend upon the non-phonetic spelling and the lesser familiarity of words. Most of the children came to school in their sixth year.

1. Tom is a good boy. He has a book and a bat. He can run fast.

2. The dog is bigger than the cat, but he cannot climb so well. He would if he could.

3. The farmer walked through the wood till he came to the field. It was a fine day for sowing the corn. He hoped it would not rain till he had finished his work.

4. The weather was very stormy. The boughs of the trees were blowing to and fro in the wind. Clouds were chasing each other across the sky.

The crows were watching the ploughman in the field.

Mistakes were marked according to the directions in the text. Thus "bows" for "boughs" counted three mistakes. The results were as follows:

-----------------+------------------------------------ Average Mistakes in Test Sentences.

Age of Children.+--------+--------+--------+--------- 1. 2. 3. 4.

-----------------+--------+--------+--------+--------- 6 to 7 years 0.32 2.64 -- -- 7 " 8 " 0.22 1.77 3.45 6.18 8 " 9 " 0.2 0.36 1.68 5.91 -----------------+--------+--------+--------+---------

[10] The complete set of tests as revised in 1911 is given in the Appendix, with notes regarding their subsequent use in Britain and America.

[11] "Les Debilites Mentales," _Rev. de Psychiatrie_, 1902.

[12] _Annee Psychologique_, vol. vii., 1901, p. 296.

CHAPTER IV