Mentally Defective Children Part 5

A child is presented to the inspector, for example, as belonging to the intermediate course, first year. Is this correct? It may be that the child is at the foot of the cla.s.s, or is even incapable of following the lessons. Thus, it may be that his cla.s.s gives a very poor indication of his capacity. There are plenty of cases where the head-master, in order to please the parents, puts a child in a cla.s.s too high for him. A rapid examination will suffice to test the grading. This testing is absolutely necessary, and presents no difficulty to the inspectors. They have the fortnightly report brought to them, examine the pupil's marks and his exercises, whereby they form a first impression. It is then necessary to ask some questions, and on this point we have something to say with respect to method.

There are two ways in which the degree of instruction may be tested.

There is what we may call the _casual method_, which consists in putting the first questions that come into the mind; and there is the _systematic method_, which consists in putting questions arranged in advance, whose difficulty is known, and for which we have a scale (p.

54), which shows the average number of errors to be expected from normal children of each age. The latter method takes no longer than the former, and is even easier, because it makes no demand on the imagination. Moreover, we consider it quite indispensable for fixing in an objective manner the degree of instruction of the defectives on the day of their admission to the special school. It is very important that this degree of instruction should be definitely known, because it will be necessary to refer to it every time one wants to find out to what extent the child is profiting by the special instruction. We shall return to this point in our concluding chapter.

It has seemed to us that the test of instruction might bear upon three exercises, which are easily marked--reading, arithmetic, and spelling.

Here is a very simple table of tests (p. 54), of which we have made much use. It has been arranged with the help of M. Vaney. The table is suited to the elementary and to the intermediate course, and that is sufficient for examining defectives, since none of them are found in the senior division. It is scarcely necessary to say that this table of tests is the outcome of careful experiment. We have established for each age the average acquirements of all the children of that age whatever their place in school. One might quite as well have taken into account only the results given by typical children in the cla.s.s proper to their age, but on reflection we rejected this proceeding as arbitrary, because it is affected by the difficulty of the curriculum, which is constructed _a priori_, whilst the average furnished by all the children of a given age is less artificial and is an adequate expression of the reality. Let us remark in pa.s.sing that these two methods of calculation do not lead to equivalent results. The average furnished by the _typical_ children is higher than that furnished by _all_ the children, for, as we have shown above, more children are backward than in advance. Lastly, the time of year when the tests are made is not a matter of indifference. For spelling and arithmetic the time chosen was the end of February--that is, the middle of the session. For reading we are obliged to make use of results a little more advanced, for they were furnished later, namely, in June.

SCALE SHOWING KNOWLEDGE ACQUIRED BY PUPILS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.

----------+--------------+--------------+---------------------+ Age of Children + on October Grade of 1. Course. Reading. Arithmetic. ----------+--------------+--------------+---------------------+ Years 6 to 7 Preparatory Sub-syllabic From 19 apples take to syllabic away 6 (Answer 13) 7 " 8 Elementary Hesitating Subtract 8 pence (first from 59 pence. year) (Answer 51) 8 " 9 Elementary Hesitating- A box contains 604 (second fluent oranges. If 58 are year) sold, how many will be left? (Answer, 546) 9 " 10 Intermediate Fluent To make a dress, (first 7 yards of stuff year) are required. How many dresses can be made with 89 yards, and how much will be left over? (Answer, 12 dresses and 5 yards left) 10 " 11 Intermediate Fluent- A workman makes (second expressive 250 shillings in year) February. He spends 195 shillings. How much does he save per day, February having 28 days? (Answer, 1s. 11-d.) ----------+--------------+--------------+---------------------+ ----------+-----------------------+-------------------------------- Number of Mistakes Age of in Dictation Children +-------+-------+-------+ on Phrases Phrases Phrases October 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2. 1. 3, 4. 3. Spelling (Dictation).

----------+-------+-------+-------+-------------------------------- Years 6 to 7 119 62 28 _Phrase 1._ emile est un pet.i.t garcon bien sage, il ecoute son papa et sa maman, il va a l'ecole.

7 " 8 119 62 30 _Phrase 2._ J'ai une tete, deux bras, deux jambes, une bouche, vingt dents, une langue, dix doigts.

8 " 9 78 47 19 _Phrase 3._ Le soleil brille deja de ses plus gais rayons.

Les hommes partent en chantant. Les bergers sont heureux de la belle journee qui se prepare, ils suivent au paturage le grand troupeau des vaches pesantes.

9 " 10 42 25 4 Phrase 4. Le garcon de ferme, de son pas lourd, entrait dans la grange, encore obscure, ou nous reposions.

Les boeufs mugissaient tout bas. Dans la cour le coq, les 10 " 11 11 4 1 poules, le chien, allaient et venaient.

Let us now explain the details of the exercises shown on our table.

=Reading.=--The proceeding we adopt consists essentially in distinguishing five grades of reading:

1. _Sub-Syllabic._--The child reads in syllables, but very slowly and with many mistakes.

2. _Syllabic._--This consists in stopping at every syllable, but reading these pretty correctly. Thus the child reads "The--sol--di--er--car--ries--a--big--gun."

3. _Hesitating._--There are stops as in (2), but they are less frequent. The child reads by words or groups of words--e.g., "The soldier carries--a big gun."

4. _Fluent._--There are no stops except at the marks of punctuation, but the reading is monotonous, as if the child does not understand what he reads. The voice may fall at the end of the sentences.

_5. Expressive._--The child shows by his intonation that he understands what he reads.

We found it necessary, as may well be believed, to use not only the expressions _syllabic_ reading, _fluent_ reading, etc., but compound expressions, such as _hesitating-fluent_, _fluent-expressive_, and even compound expressions with accentuation of one of the epithets, as hesitating-_fluent_. This is very useful in practice.

We have stated that the scale of reading was founded on experiments made by M. Vaney at the end of the school year. We have modified it slightly in consequence of experiments made by ourselves in February.

It may be of interest to give here the table arranged by M. Vaney. It has been arranged not by age, but by cla.s.s.

---------------+----------------------------------------------+------- Number of Children who have the Following Grades of Reading. +-----+--------+----------+---------+----------+ None. Syllabic Hesitating Fluent. Expressive Totals.

---------------+-----+--------+----------+---------+----------+------- Infant 12 26 2 -- -- 40 Elementary (first year) -- 5 32 4 -- 41 Elementary (second year) -- -- 24 11 2 37 Intermediate (first year) -- -- 15 18 8 41 Intermediate (second year) -- -- 10 19 9 38 Intermediate (second year) -- -- 8 11 15 34 Senior -- -- -- 5 35 40 +-----+--------+----------+---------+----------+-------- Totals 12 31 91 68 69 271 ---------------+-----+--------+----------+---------+----------+--------

We shall now give some hints as to the method of procedure.

Reading is a test which requires only a minute. One chooses a text which the children can understand easily, preferably a lively piece with dialogue, so that one may judge more easily whether the pupil can read with expression. One should avoid prolonging the reading for more than forty-five seconds, for a young child tires quickly and reads worse at the end of a minute than at the beginning. Instead of contenting oneself with judging that the child reads well or ill, which does not mean very much, it is a great advantage to adopt these five grades of reading, which are easy to distinguish with a little practice, and are less subjective than might be imagined, for two judges generally give the same mark. On referring to the scale, it will be noticed that children quickly pa.s.s from syllabic reading to hesitating reading, but the pa.s.sage from hesitating to fluent reading is slower and more troublesome. One will notice this difficulty in practice.

By way of example let us quote our judgment of the grades of reading in the case of some backward children, and our consequent estimates of the degree of r.e.t.a.r.dation. We draw them from our own observations made in a cla.s.s for defectives in Paris.

-------+--------------+-----------------------+--------------- Name. Age. Grade of Reading. r.e.t.a.r.dation.

-------+--------------+-----------------------+--------------- Coch 14 years _Hesitating_-fluent 6 years Grio 10- " Hesitating-fluent 2- "

Sev 13- " Hesitating-fluent 5 "

Coff 11 " Syllabic-hesitating 4 "

Ro 12 " Syllabic-_hesitating_ 5 "

Ostro 12- " Hesitating-_fluent_ 4 "

It will be noticed that in spite of their advanced age none of these children have attained the fluent grade of reading.

In marking the reading one is sometimes at a loss owing to the absence on the scale of an exact description. Thus little Coff is judged syllabic-hesitating. The scale does not contain such a combination, which ought to figure between the syllabic reading of the infant cla.s.s and the hesitating reading of the elementary cla.s.s, first year. One may calculate the r.e.t.a.r.dation either by admitting the existence of this intermediate term, or by marking Coff's reading "hesitating."

The choice is of little practical importance, since its effect is a variation in the amount of r.e.t.a.r.dation of only six months.

=Arithmetic.=--Although arithmetical ability depends upon special apt.i.tude, and a child may be quite intelligent though backward in arithmetic, the tests here chosen are so elementary, and the ignorance one tolerates is so great, that failure is of serious significance. We follow here the directions of M. Vaney, who has taken the trouble to simplify them at our request. All the questions in arithmetic ought to be dictated. This may even be done collectively. It is essential not to interpose to ask the child what operation is to be done. Such help would make the work much too easy, and indeed that is the very problem which has to be solved in the very exact and carefully considered form in which it has been stated. It is the problem rather than the operation which requires intelligence. Moreover, it will be noted that the difficulty of our mode of expression is calculated. The words _subtract_, _take away_, _remain_, ought not to be replaced by synonyms, and still less should they be explained. Even when, as often happens, the child makes a mistake in the first problem (for example, 19-6 = 12), he must not be allowed to stop there; his mistake might be due to carelessness. One must always try the higher problems until one obtains a clear demonstration that the child is incapable of solving them. M. Vaney has suggested a scale of marking for these sums. It enables one to take into account slight differences by the aid of a system of points. Here it is:

_Correction of Sums._

_First Sum_ (1 point).--1 point for correct answer (_vide_ p.

54).

_Second Sum_ (2 points).--1 point for subtraction; 1 point for correct answer.

_Third Sum_ (3 points).--1 point for 604 correctly written; 1 point for subtraction; 1 point for correct answer.

_Fourth Sum_ (4 points).--2 points for correct division (1 if wrong); 2 points for the remainder (1 if obtained by long division).

_Fifth Sum_ (5 points).--2 points for the subtraction (1 if answer wrong); 3 points for correct division (2 if it is wrong).

_Sixth Sum_ (6 points).--A dressmaker buys 8 yards of velvet at 9s. 6d. a yard and 25 yards of cloth; she pays for the whole 6.

Find the price of the cloth per yard. 2 points for the price of the velvet; 2 points for the price of the cloth (1 for subtraction, if answer wrong); 2 points for price of cloth per yard (1 for division if answer wrong).

_Seventh Sum_ (7 points).--A merchant mixed 25 pints of wine at 2s. a pint with 60 pints at 2s. 6d. a pint; at how much per pint must he sell the mixture in order to gain 55s.? etc.

This scale enables us to determine by the total number of points obtained the level of the child in arithmetic, and at the same time we find out what sums can be done by the pupils of each age. This is shown in the table.

RESULTS OF ARITHMETIC TESTS IN AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN PARIS.

--------+-------+---------+-------+--------------------------+------- All the Average Children Average Average Children Points. in Proper Points. All Children in Cla.s.s-- Points.

of-- Cla.s.s. --------+-------+---------+-------+--------------------------+------- 6 years 1.45 6 years 1 Infant 1.5 7 " 3.93 7 " 6 Junior (first year) 6.5 8 " 7.00 8 " 7 " (second year) 6.83 9 " 9.65 9 " 14 Intermediate (first year) 16.00 10 " 15.47 10 " 23 Intermediate (second year) 22.42 11 " 21.47 11 " 29 Senior 28.45 12 " 22.50 13 " 24.75 --------+-------+---------+-------+--------------------------+-------

It will be noticed in the table that the averages are a little less when calculated on _all_ the children. We have indicated this difference already, and have explained the reason for it. We have based our scale upon the marks obtained by all the children.

In practice we consider that M. Vaney's system of points is not indispensable. It is sufficient to find out whether or not the pupil can do the sum set. If he can, he is at that level; if not, he must be placed in the grade below. Some examples will show how we use these results. We select them from a cla.s.s of defectives.

_Roger B----_, age ten and a half years, is asked orally, for he cannot write: "If I had 19 apples and ate 6, how many would be left?" He replies first 9, then 6. One then tries easier sums.

_Q._ "I have 4 apples, and eat 1?" _R._ "Three are left." _Q._ "I have 12 apples, and eat 2?" _R._ "There are 9 left." _Q._ "I have 8 apples, and eat 2?" _R._ "There are 7 left." Evidently this child does not clear even the first step. He has therefore four years and a half of r.e.t.a.r.dation.

In this connection let us remark that as Roger is a child whose attendance has been regular, it follows that in his four and a half years at school he has scarcely learned more than a normal child learns in two months. We recently met with a similar case at Bicetre. This was a child of twelve, who had begun to learn his letters at the age of four, and who did not yet know how to spell! In presence of such cases one may well ask whether the teacher who has not managed in four and a half years or in eight years to teach a defective child what a normal child learns in a month has not wasted his own time and that of the defective. At this point let us call attention to a defect in the mechanical calculation of r.e.t.a.r.dation. Little Roger, who is ten and a half years, and cannot yet read by syllables, has only four and a half years of r.e.t.a.r.dation, if we apply to him the usual rule. It would therefore appear that he is at the same level of intelligence as a child of thirteen and a half, who belongs to the intermediate course, first year, for the latter has also a r.e.t.a.r.dation of four years and a half. The error of this method of calculation is at once apparent. The real significance of r.e.t.a.r.dation is proportionate to the cla.s.s and course which the pupil has reached. We shall return presently to the exact estimation of r.e.t.a.r.dation.

Let us quote another example to show the application of the arithmetical test.