Freddie, A Problem in Diagnostic Education
- Author:
Alice M. Jones, B.S.,
Graduate Student, University of Pennsylvania. Freddie presented so obviously the picture of the “poor little rich boy.” Utterly clean, impeccably clad, obviously putting up the best possible front, yet such a miserable specimen of humanity withal! He had bright brown eyes, it is true, but defective vision, one eye being practically blind, and the other having only approximately one-fouth vision, and thick, unsightly glasses entirely spoiled what might have been an asset. His ears were large and asymmetrical. His teeth and lower jaw were degenerate, still uncorrected after two years of orthodentic work. A mouth full of braces did not add to the attractiveness of the picture. Freddie’s hands were decidedly infantile, awkward and spastic in their movements, and noticeable for their peculiar position when he walked. His gait, too, was spastic. His general coordination was poor in all movements, and hopelessly bad in small movements. At nine years of age he was two years retarded on the growth scale. This is the physical picture which Freddie presented when I first saw him in January, 1921.
Although an unfortunate environment had contrived to make Freddie a serious disciplinary case, the boy did have certain personality assets. He had an ingratiating smile and a delightful vivacity (albeit of a decidedly infantile type). He was generous, talkative and, so long as he was not crossed, very good company. He was a prime favorite with older people. He was also popular with younger children, but was quite impossible as a companion for boys of his own age.
For two years Freddie had been under the care of a nerve specialist and had been on thyroid and pituitary tablets. During that time he had also made weekly trips to the dentist. His parents reported that under this regime he had shown remarkable improvement, both physically and mentally. This report of his parents brings us to the question of his history. There is one older boy, seventeen, normal mentally, but very delicate. He shows none of the physical stigmata of this child. Between him and Freddie was a still-born child. Freddie’s birth was normal, but he was reported to be very slow in everything. He walked (but very badly) at three years. He did not talk at all until five years. There is a history of convulsions up until six years.
To supplement and abet his natural backwardness, Freddie was blessed with a mother and a doting grandmother whose sole aim in life seemed to be the prevention of the child’s education in self help. He was waited on hand and foot. So assiduous was their attention that, at the age of nine years, I doubt if Freddie had ever so much as been permitted to put on his own cap to go out to play. He had had no opportunity whatever to develop any of the finer coordinations ?and what was still more serious, had probably never had in all his young career the slightest opportunity to use his initiative. At six years Freddie began his brief school history. So far as I could judge the boy did not have kindergarten competency at the time he entered school. He was a disturbing element in the class, and in a year failed to show the slightest ability to learn to write, draw or acquire number work. At the end of that year he was removed from school because of his failure. The curious part about the story, however, is that even at that time, he had acquired approximately first grade efficiency in reading. He was insatiable in his demand for books.
For the following two j^ears Freddie had no school affiliations, but received spasmodic attention from a private tutor, a regular grade teacher. Under this regime of laissez-faire he developed into a more and more serious disciplinary case.
Just preceding my work with Freddie, he had had four months of work with an excellent diagnostic teacher. She had succeeded in teaching him the fundamental addition combinations, had made a fair beginning at writing, and had improved his coordination by carefully selected hand-work. She had also begun the noble work of educating the parents in their attitude toward the child. She had not, however, conquered the child or won his cooperation.
My first problem, then, was a purely disciplinary one. The boy tried out every stunt which he had ever found effective with others. He shrieked. He cried himself ill. He rolled on the floor and refused to get up. He refused absolutely and definitely to begin every task presented, only to find tjiat after an interval the work had been done. It was apparently a most disconcerting experience, but at the end of a week we had comparative peace in the school-room; interest began to take the place of the old antagonistic attitude, and real work began. From the beginning I noted three assets. The first was his good memory span and trainability and retentiveness of memory. He learned rote material very readily and retained it very well. Material like the multiplication tables was thus extremely easy for him. Another asset was his visual imagery. In view of his extremely defective vision his power of visual imageability was truly remarkable.
I discovered this ability with the design blocks, but I was able to note it again and again throughout my work with him. I frequently utilized it, especially in teaching arithmetic, which was the most difficult subject for him to grasp, although he could get a great deal of it parrot fashion. The other asset which I employed productively was his ability to read. It was through this, for instance, by the use of interesting material, that I got real efforts at writing. At the end of the six months I had him under instruction, Freddie had acquired an efficiency in reading excelled by very few fifth graders. There was not the slightest doubt that, with him, reading was actually a tool, ready for use, as such, in the content subjects.
Freddie’s most obvious deficiency, to the lay mind, was his lack of facility in common coordinations. During the six months, he received at least an hour a day of intensive instruction in mechanical tasks?work with Plastecene, weaving, hammer and nails, scissors, crayons, blackboard drawing and definite exercises designed to develop independent strength in his fingers. For the larger movements he had calisthenics, running, directed play, all designed with the one idea of improving his particular situation. The improvement was remarkable.
With the improvement in general coordination, Freddie’s writing automatically improved. To the last, the writing remained less efficient than the other school subjects, but’lie did attain to what I should call the efficiency of a second grade child. A Terman test made in June gave Freddie, at nine years, nine months, a mental age of eight years and four months, which gave him an intelligence quotient of 85.4. He had finished the work of the second grade in arithmetic, spelling and language. He had approximately second grade proficiency in writing and fourth grade proficiency in reading.
In view of his excellent memory span (which is a real operative span), his good visual imagery, and his mastery of reading as a tool, my prognosis is that Freddie’s chance eventually to succeed in the school world is an excellent one. On the basis of his acquirements I recommended that in September he be given a trial in the third grade of the public school. I have a report from his mother (February 5, 1922) that Freddie is passing this year in his school work. He still has some trouble in arithmetic, but there is no doubt that he will be promoted into the fourth grade in June. She also reports that he always is marked “perfect” in deportment, which indicates that there has been an extraordinary transformation in the boy’s motivation.
From a case of apparently hopeless retardation, I believe that Freddie bids fair to make a decent citizen. At the present time the normal environment of the public school is by far the best thing for him. But six months ago? Freddie was at that time most obviously a problem for the diagnostic teacher. His many apparent disabilities were sufficient to cast him out of an ordinary class. Yet he had special abilities which were capable of bringing him through. What chance had such abilities for recognition under the ordinary teaching regime? It is in cases such as this that the trained diagnostic teacher can give her greatest service.
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