Backward Children
REVIEWS AND CRITICISM.
- Author:
Arthur Holmes. Childhood and Youth Series.
Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1915. Pp. x-{-247.
Dr Holmes’ contribution to the series edited by Professor O’Shea is “an inductive study of backward children. It presents in a series of concrete illustrations,” says Dr Holmes, “studies of cases to exemplify the principles and methods underlying the diagnosis, treatment and training of backward children.” His aim has been to describe the cases “simply, non-technically, and humanly.” His success was to be foreseen by his friends who know of his rich experience in Y. M. C. A. and college work, and in the Psychological Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as by the multitude of readers of his earlier volumes. Truly he has the gift for making his books, “as popular in vein as possible without offending scientific principles or sacrificing scientific exactness in essentials.”
The ten chapter headings give a comprehensive idea of the scope of the present volume, and indicate its quality:
I. Measuring rods for children; II. Varieties of backward children; III. Typical retardation due to physical defects; IV. Minds in straight jackets; V. Bad and backward; VI. Retardation due to environment; VII. The Backward child in the home; VIII. The clinical diagnosis of backward children; IX. The teacher’s diagnosis; X. The teacher and equipment for a special class. While every page will yield something of interest to all teachers and parents, the first and last chapters are probably the ones most valuable to the inexperienced teacher of backward children. At the end of chapter one Dr. Holmes gives an admirable brief summary of standards for estimating backwardness: I. Individual standards.?A backward child is one who is not so far advanced as he ought to be, when his birth and opportunities are considered. II. Social standards. A. Popular standards. 1. In the home.?A backward child in the home is one who learns at a later age than that of his brothers and sisters how to walk, talk, eat, dress himself, etc. His parents’ judgment is the measure. 2. In the neighborhood.?A backward child is one who, in the judgment of the neighbors, is behind the other children in their activities. Neighbors usually judge less mercifully than parents and the backwardness is more pronounced if it is noticed by the neighbors. 3. On the playground.?A backward child is one who can not play the games children of his age can play, and who therefore plays with younger children. B. Scientific standards. 1. Among nations.?A child is backward only when he falls behind the average for his own race or nation. This is the anthropological standard. 2. In school. a. The age standard.?A backward child is one who, from any cause whatsoever, is two years or more behind the grade (218) NEWS AND COMMENT. 219 he ought, to be in for his age. The pedagogical standard is a child who begins school at the legal age and is promoted regularly with his class. Pedagogical retardation is a fact and has nothing to do with causes, is not always a detriment, and should not be condemned until the causes are known, b. The progress standard.?According to this standard a backward child is one who takes longer than the regularly scheduled time to complete one grade, no matter how old he is. In the long run, with many pupils, these two standards give about the same results.
3. In general intelligence.?According to several systems like the Binet-Simon, De Sanctis, and others, a backward child is one who cannot answer certain sets of prescribed questions and do certain tasks presumably fitted to his years. The standard child is one who can do these tasks and give these answers. In chapter ten Dr Holmes discusses the qualifications and training of the teacher; the location, number, and furnishing of rooms for a special class; the equipment for elementary manual training; an ideal daily program, and lastly a syllabus of the manual work suitable for children of various ages. A. T.
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