The Physical Education of Backward Children
- Author:
Violet Vulliamy,
Principal, Hampstead School of Physical Education Backward children fall into three main groups for the purposes of physical education.
(1) Children who are definitely dull, often with more or less marked physical defects of growth and stature, overweight, undersized or overgrown, or affected by some forms of paralysis.
(2) Nervous unstable children, sometimes of quite good intelligence and ability but usually hampered by character difficulties affecting their physical growth and development.
(3) Children of average intelligence who are retarded through environmental conditions or illness.
It is obvious that the first group of definitely dull children must require a type of work somewhat similar in character and approach to the scheme of work’ already suggested for the mentally deficient child,* though considerably more advanced in certain respects. These children are usually quite unfitted to work with the more intelligent children of the two last groups; their limitations hinder and aggravate those of quicker intelligence leading frequently to irritation on the one side and discouragement on the other. It is unfortunately quite common to see the dull children becoming slower and less confident, and the unstable intelligent children becoming unruly and baulked, when these two groups are placed together in a large ” C ” class.
The retarded children of average intelligence of the second and third groups are usually limited in performance, but not necessarily in capacity. A little individual attention is sometimes all that is needed to save a child from the ignominy of obvious peculiarity. The older boy, for example, who cannot master the double jump for the vaulting horse exercises, or the older girl who cannot skip, will only have their difficulties fixed if they are not given special helpThe nervous unstable child presents one of the most difficult problems in physical education. His attitude towards physical exercises may influence and colour his whole life and indeed some of these children have been made or marred in a gymnastic class; the weak, undersized boy forced to charge a full-size vaulting horse amidst the derision of his comrades, the little girl with matchstick legs obliged to practise high jumps with keen enthusiasts? will neither of them gain in courage or discover joy in movement, whereas careful progression in teaching might have given them real confidence and enthusiasm.
The timid child, in particular, needs to be introduced gradually to the more advanced exercises requiring strength and skill, if he is to learn to attack difficulties and overcome his fears. It is, in fact, necessary to temper the wind to these shorn lambs and when this is done, it is then often quite astonishing to discover the progress which can be made. The boy for example, who will hardly dare to climb halfway up a wall bar, will in a very short time climb to the top of a high rope ladder with confidence and ease and?what is more important?will in consequence learn to stand up to other boys.
It may be taken for granted that all children have a latent or expressed desire for muscular exercise. This holds good even in the case of children with real physical disability, whose every movement is an effort. A young boy suffering from Little’s Disease, who had developed from an almost helpless cripple to a capable school boy, was heard to say after his first somersault over a bar: ” I think that is the most lovely thing I have ever done in my life.” This desire for movement is frequently thwarted or misdirected in the unstable child through lack of self-confidence, but it is always present. These children are actually most anxious to learn, if only their difficulties of attack and performance can be tapped.
Sec Mental Wf.lfare, October, 1937,
The temperamental difficulties of the unstable child are particularly well shown in some types of movement. Balance walking on a narrow bar will, for example, often bring out the different temperaments of nervous children. Each will attack the exercise in a characteristic manner; the impulsive, impatient child who acts before he thinks, will tumble off and on the bar many times before reaching the end; the cautious child will stay stolidly rooted to the spot, afraid to take the next step; the discouraged child will slip off almost at once and creep away, hoping to be unnoticed; and the timid child will clutch the teacher’s hand saying: ” Shall I fall ? “
Most of these unstable children have an appreciation of music and a sense of rhythm, which may improve in expression as their difficulties clear up. For such children, some form of rhythmic dancing serves as an invaluable outlet. Every retarded child, and in a lesser sense, every mentally deficient child, presents an unique problem for the teacher of physical education. The interest and the value of the teaching is dependent upon the recognition of this fact. Physical Exercise can be obtained to a certain extent through the usual school classes and general physical activities, but Physical Education can only be secured for retarded children through the use of adequate grouping and grading under the direction of an efficient teacher.
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