Report of a Year’s Work on Defectives Ik a Public School
- Author:
Helena T. Devereux.
The Wharton Combined School, Philadelphia.
On January 15, 1908, a class for exceptional children was formed in a large school in the foreign slum district of Philadelphia.* It differed from the regular special schools, which have been established in this city, for some time, in that it consisted of merely one class room in a regular school and the children were selected for retarded work and not only for truancy or other incorrigible habits. All classes from the first to the eighth grades were given the privilege of placing children in the class. Only the first, second or third grades had children, however, whom it was decided were retarded enough to need special instruction. These children were reported not only as being stupid, but “queer”. It is hard to define exactly what was meant by this term but it did mean that the child to whom it was applied was singled out from the other children. Other children not placed in the class were dull and slow but still normal, while each of these children seemed to have a personality differing from the normal child and also from the purely, incorrigible type.
From January, 1908 to February, 1909, forty-three children have attended the class, some for one month and some for the year, some for both sessions and some for only one. Among these children thirty-four were of Russian Hebrew extraction and four of Italian . Of the twenty-six who first formed the class six were respectably cared for. The others were much neglected, and as they lacked even the pride of the ordinary child, they were, indeed, a forlorn looking little company, insufficiently fed and poorly clothed. They ranged in ages from eight to fifteen years, being from two to five years retarded as compared with the average child. *Organized in the Wharton Combined School, by Miss Margaret T. Maguire, supervising principal, under the direction of District Superintendent Brelsford.?Ed.
When the class was organized, attention was of course first given to the discovery and, where possible, the removal of physical defects. While none of the children were monstrosities such as some of those found in institutions, all presented some physical signs of backwardness besides the slow development of mental powers. Of the physiological defects the open mouth, abstracted stare, irregular aimless movements of the limbs, tremors of the body and a general lack of coordination were the common ones. Because of the difficulty of conversing with the foreign parents, practically no definite early, history could be obtained which could throw any light on the causes of retardation. Our school physician spent considerable time in the examination of the children and besides cases of malnutrition, rickets, nervous disorders, skin diseases, found the following defects of the special senses?eye 21, ear 5, throat 15, and nose 14. The parents of these children were notified by the visitiug nurse and urged to take the children to city clinics. But it is no small task to make these parents see the necessity for medical attention. Not that they mean to be unjust to their children or to deprive them of the care which is their birthright, but chiefly because they, themselves are too ignorant to see whither physical degeneration tends. As has been so well said, “They, are the gelatinous children of albuminoid parents.” However, by the time school closed in June many cases had received attention. No medical treatment was given for anything but defective special senses. The cases of extreme neglect, often resulting from marked poverty, were visited by the nurse and advice given, and where possible, assistance was rendered. During the first months I gave daily talks on hygiene, making them interesting enough to appeal to the children and insistent enough to have some good effect.
So through these various channels some few ideals of health and cleanliness were given to both parents and children and thus the foundation was laid for the pedagogical training. Before the class was started the idea was that the manual work (woodwork, basketry, paper, sloyd and sewing) might be a means of awakening the child and might form a “peg” on which to hang the real mental training. My only idea was to immediately teach the child the rudiments of school work and so return it to the regular grade when it was sufficiently advanced. When I had been with the class for one week I abandoned my scheme of memory and sense perception, training the intellect only as a side issue, and I determined to base all my work on the development of the emotions. The great need of those children as I read it then was to make them less like little animals ?to instil humanity into them. I could understand then wherein these children were queer. They, were subnormal or rather freakish in disposition and temperament. They were selfwilled, passionate, malicious, and all their short comings were very glaring, largely because they had not the sense of their fellows to see when it was expedient to be “good”. With each child I picked out the moral defect or defects which were most emphasized such as selfishness, untruthfulness, stubbornness and temper, and determined to overcome them. I tried to make them see in every way what was the right thing to do, and not only to make them do it but to make them want to do it. I cared less that they should learn to write their names or finish an article in woodwork beautifully than that they should learn truthfulness, obedience and promptness, and truly they learned to watch, to listen, and to do. The bearing that this phase of the work, the training of the emotions, had upon the results cannot be overestimated. It laid the foundation for the other training?the mental side. I certainly, agree with the educators who say that when once the real personality of the backward child is revealed it is more childlike in its trust, kindliness and simplicity than the normal child. When once they recognized that the teacher was their friend their attitude towards school life gradually changed. When definite instruction for the purpose of advancing them in their school work was given, the children were earnest little workers who wanted to learn. Their previous training had increased their power of attention so that the teaching was comparatively easy. I found each child had some serious defect, such as the inability to do arithmetic, written language, or reading. Even now when they are returned to the grade, some still have a persistent defect but it does not mar their entire standing. The result of the year’s work has been that twenty-nine of the children have been returned to grade work, most of them to the same but several to higher grades than those from which they came. They are doing by. no means the best work but quite satisfactory work with the exception of six children who are doing really good work. Eight of the children have left, four during the first month before they could be helped, and later four who had been somewhat benefitted. Of the remaining six children five have been with me for less than four months, and will I expect shortly return to the grade work. That reduces the number to one for whom the class seems to have been a total failure. She is a girl fourteen years old, of marked physical degeneration, whose home influence is too pernicious for any school discipline to overcome. Before entering the class, this girl’s physical welfare had been more throughly looked after by the school doctor and nurse than of the other children.
This class has in one year been a blessing to thirty-three children, children who, though never doomed by nature to spend their lives in an institution, would surely have drifted to one, which in some cases might easily have been a prison, had not some interest been taken in them. This class was begun amid many difficulties, there being no public funds provided for the necessary materials. Then too, the work was marred by my inexperience. The success of the class, especially as far as the regeneration of the boys is concerned, has been achieved largely through the wood work which was the basis of manual, emotional and mental training, and that was made possible by the generosity of a Philadelphia merchant. May my last word be a plea for more classes in our city, properly equipped, where the three-fold motto shall be interest, persistency and encouragement to aid in making useful men and women out of “the least of God’s little ones.”
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