The Exceptional Child in School
- Author:
Trettien, Ph.D.,
University of Kansas.
In March, 1913, the parents of a nine year old lad brought him to the office of the University of Kansas for physical and psychological examination. To all external appearances the boy was normal. He was of average size, and was well built; his senses appeared to be normal; his motor control was good and he possessed a good stock of common sense. Yet he had made very little progress in school work. He knew some of his letters, and a small number of words that he spelled out laboriously. He took little interest in school work in general, and as a consequence he was inattentive, mischievous, and occasionally “ugly” toward the teacher and his parents. At times he would sit for an hour in a passive or dreaming attitude, paying no attention to what was going on about him.
He was fond of playing out of doors, riding a pony, and taking hikes with the boy scouts. Here he showed considerable initiative and intelligence. He was not reliable in attending to simple duties about the home. On the contrary he was lazy, forgetful, inattentive, untruthful and he did not hesitate to protect himself by the most exaggerated falsehoods. This was the report of the parents, who are intelligent and thrifty people. They had lived upon a farm where the boy had spent most of his life. The father confessed that he was not apt at figures and did not enjoy study.
A careful physical examination of the boy revealed no physical defects nor abnormalities. He ate sparingly; his general metabolism appeared rather slow. The mental tests, using the Binet scale, placed the lad at seven years. His perceptions within the narrow and immediate circle of his interests were accurate but rather sluggish. His power of attention was limited, and it required a distinct and strong stimulus to awaken him to action. His imagery when confined to his interests was accurate. He was very slow to perceive word forms and to remember them. He spelled out his words when trying to read, but understood little that he himself read, although he enjoyed being read to.
Learning to spell words appeared to be entirely beyond his powers of accomplishment. This in brief was the lad’s condition when he was presented in the spring of 1913. His disposition was growing worse, due to uncontrolled habits and new undirected impulses. (48) THE EXCEPTIONAL CHILD IN SCHOOL. 49 What was this boy’s trouble? In infancy the lad had suffered from an attack of high fever which without doubt had affected his neural reactions. He became less active and as a consequence he became an over-indulged and wilful child at home. Instead of being stimulated to action he was allowed to form the habit of passing off into somnambulistic states for half an hour at a time. When he became old enough, he was sent to a rural school where he learned some of his letters which had no meaning for him and also to spell out a few words by the letter method. When he was not awake and in mischief, he was day-dreaming and accomplishing nothing. At home his mother read and told him stories from which he learned and remembered many facts. Beginning in October, 1913, the boy was given a special course of instruction for one half hour daily, in addition to continuing his attendance in the city schools. At first he would forget to keep his appointments, or to bring his book. He would forget his assignment and remember little of what he had been taught on the previous day. After carefully diagnosing the case the following line of training was undertaken with the results stated.
Before beginning his study he was put through a rapid and vigorous calisthenic drill; this improved his circulation and caused him to concentrate his attention to receive and to execute commands. The second step consisted in reading to him a simple story to get the thought. He was then given a thorough training in learning to read, beginning with concentration of attention, then passing to the sentence, the word, and finally the spelling methods. He made for himself a dictionary containing the words that he had learned to spell. In every case in reading or spelling he was kept mentally alert in order to make him work with concentrated and maximum attention and, if possible, with interest, stopping before fatigue set in. In every case an effort was made to prevent mental confusion. At the close of the lesson a definite command for the next day’s assignment was given, to come at a certain hour, to bring the required book or other material, and in only one instance did he fail to remember the suggestion given. There were times when other interests with his companions might have caused him to forget?but at the appointed hour, rain or shine, he appeared for his lesson. With what results? After five months the boy can read understandingly in the third reader and is doing passing third grade work. One day he appeared and was given the following sentence to be written from dictation: “I would go down town if I could.” He had previously learned to spell every word used. After listening to the dictation he wrote, “I wod go don ton if I cod.” He had relapsed into the old habit of inactivity. He was taken from his desk and put through the course of rapid and vigorous physical exercise, and then given the command to spell all the words correctly. After that the original sentence was dictated and he wrote?”I would go down town if I could.” He has written very creditable letters at home and has brought them to his lesson. The method of procedure with this lad is simple indeed:
1. Physical exercise sufficient to stimulate a normal circulation, that will admit of 2. A maximum power of attention to the matter at hand, and a review with interest and profit of the impressions that have been clearly made. 3. Applying the material that has been mastered to his life interests as in the case of making the dictionary and the letter writing, the reading of the scout rules, etc.
4. Giving the first stimulus with such accuracy and clearness that the impression may become permanent in his experience. 5. By suggestion inspiring the response to action which breaks the old habits and forms new modes of reaction. 6. Arousing by personality his confidence and a desire for the work to be accomplished.
The boy had become the victim of a system which gives a teacher thirty pupils, without the resources to meet individual needs. No doubt she was doing her best, but he was losing out before he had even begun to master the conventional tools of modern society. With the growth of the lad’s knowledge and the development of his mind, he is now mastering his impulses and is beginning to be a more congenial companion.
Every community in the land has a group of children who may be represented by this boy. Backward in school, with fair ability but anti-social in many of their instincts, they are growing up to form a large class of dangerous members of society. As consulting psychologist of the Boys’ Industrial School of Topeka for the last three years, I found that 86 per cent of the boys examined were from one to seven years retarded in their mentality, due to various causes,?disease, malnutrition, unhygienic social and home conditions, or early home and school neglect. It is variously estimated that about 5 per cent of the children in the average community are of this type of arrested development. These grow to maturity and fill the ranks of paupers, tramps and criminals. The schools are doing very little for them.
In the state of Kansas the appropriations called for by the institutions of charity and correction and the hospitals for the infirm in 1912-14 amounted to nearly four million dollars as compared with three millions for the support of the higher educational institutions in the same period. In the light of this illustration, two steps are necessary to increase the efficiency of our public school system: Every community needs the services of a trained psychologist for at least part time, to make examinations and tests of the exceptional child, and to advise with parents and teachers regarding the best methods of training.
Within every graded school system there should be an ungraded class taught by specially trained teachers, to which this group of exceptional children may be sent. Every child should here receive the training which will meet his individual needs. With what results? Many of these unfortunate children may be saved to the commonwealth, and they will become an asset to the state instead of a liability; citizens instead of wards.
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