diff options
Diffstat (limited to '36458.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 36458.txt | 6848 |
1 files changed, 6848 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/36458.txt b/36458.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..11c51fa --- /dev/null +++ b/36458.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6848 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mentally Defective Children, by +Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Mentally Defective Children + +Author: Alfred Binet + Theodore Simon + +Translator: William Blackley Drummond + +Release Date: June 18, 2011 [EBook #36458] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MENTALLY DEFECTIVE CHILDREN *** + + + + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, Bryan Ness and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | + | been preserved. Bolded text is marked =like so=. | + | | + | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | + | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | + | | + | The opinions contained in this e-book are no longer | + | considered valid. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + + MENTALLY DEFECTIVE + CHILDREN + + BY + ALFRED BINET AND TH. SIMON, M.D. + + AUTHORISED TRANSLATION + BY + W.B. DRUMMOND, M.B., C.M., F.R.C.P. (EDIN.) + + AUTHOR OF + "AN INTRODUCTION TO CHILD STUDY," ETC. + + WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING THE BINET-SIMON TESTS + OF INTELLIGENCE BY + MARGARET DRUMMOND, M.A. + + AND AN INTRODUCTION BY + PROFESSOR ALEXANDER DARROCH + + _FOURTH IMPRESSION_ + + LONDON + EDWARD ARNOLD + [_All rights reserved_] + + + + + PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY + BILLING AND SONS, LIMITED + GUILDFORD AND ESHER + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The Binet-Simon tests of children's intelligence have been the subject +of much discussion during the past few years, both in this country and +in America. Much of this discussion seems to have been carried on, at +times, without any knowledge of the original aim or purpose for which +these tests were devised, and as if, so to speak, they were invented +as a means for ascertaining the relative intellectual powers of all +children, and so of affording to the teacher a ready and sure means of +accurately classifying and grading the children under his charge. As a +consequence, there is a tendency, in some quarters, to search for and +to endeavour to establish some absolute standard or criterion of +intelligence which shall be valid, irrespective of the nationality, or +the class, or the particular environment of the child. + +It is hoped that the publication in translation of the work of Binet +and Simon in which these tests first appeared, along with the complete +series of tests as extended and revised during the lifetime of the +former, will tend to remove this twofold misapprehension, and make the +educationalist, as well as the wider public interested in social +questions, acquainted with the real purpose which underlay the devisal +or invention of the tests, and so enable all to perceive that their +relative value, as measuring stages of intelligence, must be judged by +the purpose for which they were devised. + +Now, the main purpose of the authors in the devisal of these tests is +to furnish to the teacher a _first_ means by which he may single out +mentally backward children, who, upon further examination, may also be +found to have some mental defect or peculiarity which prevents them +from fully profiting by the education of the ordinary school, and who +probably would benefit more by being educated in a special school or +in a special class. But the final selection, it is contended, of +defective children for special education demands the experience of the +doctor and of the psychologist, as well as the knowledge of the +teacher, and the aid of all three is necessary in the devisal of +courses of study for the mentally defective. Especially important is +the division of mentally defectives into two main classes--the +feeble-minded and the ill-balanced. The latter, as a rule, are easily +marked out from the normal child, and, if not specially looked after, +may in later life become a menace to society. The feeble-minded, on +the other hand, may easily escape the notice of the teacher, and may +pass through the ordinary school unaffected and unimproved, enter into +society, and propagate their kind. Both classes require the special +care of the community, and their proper education and training are of +the gravest importance for the welfare and stability of society. In +this selection and education of mentally defective children, three +positions of Billet and Simon are worthy of consideration. In the +first place, it is contended that a physical examination alone can +never allow us to dispense with a direct examination of the +intelligence, and that "anthropometry, stigmata, and physical +appearance must take a second place as means of discovering in school +the feeble-minded and the ill-balanced." Again, "mental deficiency and +want of balance are peculiar mental conditions which it is often +impossible to connect with definite pathological changes." Hence the +examination of the medical man is not decisive. It must be +accompanied and reinforced by that of the psychologist. In the second +place, it is affirmed that in the devisal of schemes of training for +mental defectives, we must take into account that the dominant +features in their life are the "senses, the concrete perceptions, and +motor ability," and that "in the education of defectives the workshop +ought to become a more important place of instruction than the +class-room." In the third place, the position is strongly emphasised +that "every class, every school for defectives, ought to aim at +rendering the pupils socially useful. It is not a question of +enriching their minds, but of giving them the means of working for +their living." + +Hence, the utility of special schools or special classes for such +children depends ultimately upon their success in making their pupils, +according to the measure of their intelligence, efficient workers. +These two problems--viz., (1) the method of selecting abnormal or +defective children who are not sufficiently good for the ordinary +school, nor yet sufficiently bad to be classed as idiots or imbeciles; +and (2) the devisal of courses of education and training which may +tend to make them hereafter useful workers and citizens--are of +first-rate importance to us at the present time. Under recent +legislation, public local authorities have been entrusted with the +devisal of the means for the proper selection and the proper education +of defective children, and the utmost wisdom and care should be taken +in the beginning of this new movement. The many errors that +administrators may fall into are fully set forth in this little volume +(_cf._ p. 78 _et seq._), and the concluding chapter on the utility of +special schools should be read by all who have to do with the +administration of the new Act. + +The importance of the work of Binet and Simon to teachers and +inspectors is without question, and were the duties of the teacher +and inspector carried out as set forth in this volume (_cf._ p. 86) +throughout the whole school, a much-needed improvement in our ordinary +school education would soon result. + +Lastly, the volume is important as marking a new attitude towards +educational problems, and as indicating the newer spirit in which we +should undertake the training of all teachers. This new attitude and +spirit are clearly set forth in the concluding words of the volume: +"The essential thing is for all the world to understand that +empiricism has had its day, and that methods of scientific precision +must be introduced into all educational work, to carry everywhere good +sense and light." + + ALEXANDER DARROCH + + UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, + _July, 1914_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER I + + INTRODUCTORY + PAGE + INTEREST IN SOCIAL QUESTIONS 1 + + SOME DEFINITIONS 4 + + SOME STATISTICS 7 + + + CHAPTER II + + SOME FEATURES OF THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DEFECTIVES + + WHAT IS A DEFECTIVE CHILD? 11 + + DISTRIBUTION OF DEFECTIVE CHILDREN IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 15 + + PSYCHOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE MENTALLY DEFECTIVE 19 + + PSYCHOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ILL-BALANCED 21 + + INTELLECTUAL APTITUDES OF THE DEFECTIVE 23 + + + CHAPTER III + + PEDAGOGICAL EXAMINATION OF DEFECTIVE SCHOOL CHILDREN + + THE BOARD OF EXAMINERS 37 + + THE ROLE OF THE TEACHER: TO PICK OUT THE CASES 38 + + THE ROLE OF THE INSPECTOR: TO ACT AS REFEREE 50 + + _TESTS OF INSTRUCTION_ 52 + + READING 55 + + ARITHMETIC 58 + + SPELLING 61 + + _PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINATION_ 67 + + TESTS OF INTELLIGENCE 67 + + + CHAPTER IV + + THE MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF DEFECTIVES + + THE ROLE OF THE DOCTOR 87 + + THE DOCTOR NOT TO PICK OUT THE CASES 88 + + THE PHYSICAL EXAMINATION 91 + + THE MEDICAL EXAMINATION 98 + + MENTAL DEFICIENCY OR INTERCURRENT MENTAL AFFECTION? 101 + + MENTAL DEFICIENCY AMENABLE TO MEDICAL TREATMENT? 102 + + MENTAL DEFICIENCY COMPLICATED BY ILLNESS? 107 + + THE MEDICAL SCHEDULE 115 + + + CHAPTER V + + THE EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL RETURN OF SCHOOLS AND + CLASSES FOR DEFECTIVES + + AN INQUIRY IN THE HOSPITALS 117 + + THE EDUCATIONAL RETURN 136 + + THE SOCIAL RETURN 140 + + + APPENDIX 147 + + DIAGRAMS 165 + + INDEX 180 + + + + +MENTALLY DEFECTIVE CHILDREN + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTORY + + +=The Present-Day Interest in Social Questions.=--Amongst questions of +present-day interest, none are more discussed or attract a greater +amount of attention than those which relate to social problems. The +generous philanthropy of preceding generations seems to us to-day a +little out of date, and we substitute for this virtue of the rich the +otherwise fruitful idea that, by the very constitution of society +itself, we are all in duty bound to occupy ourselves with the +condition of our fellow-citizens, and especially of the less fortunate +among them. This duty does not rest solely upon a sentiment of +humanity. It is dictated equally by our own pressing personal +interests; for unless, within a reasonable time, satisfaction is given +to the just demands of the nine-tenths of society who are actually +working for wages very little in harmony with their efforts and their +needs, we already foresee that a violent revolution, from which the +"haves" have very little to gain, will shake society to its very +foundations. + +The consequence is that the very people who up to the present time +have kept themselves most aloof from the social problem are being +brought into contact with reality. It is a curious thing to see how +scientific men, who for the past fifty years have never stirred a foot +outside their laboratories, are showing a tendency to mingle in +affairs. In spite of the diversity of the forces at work, there is one +general fact which is undeniable. Pure and disinterested science +retains its votaries, but the number is increasing of those who are +turning to science for useful and practical applications; albeit, they +are thinking less of science than of society, for it is those social +phenomena which are capable of amelioration which scientific men are +now studying by the most exact methods for the benefit of men of +action, who are usually empirics. + +Innumerable examples of this intervention of science in daily life +might be cited. On the one hand, we see physiologists--Imbert, for +example--who are setting themselves to the study of the phenomena of +the labour and the nutrition of different classes of workers; in order +to find out whether the increase in wages and the diminution in the +hours of work which the workers are for ever crying for can be +justified by physiology. The day is not far off when such scientific +observations, which are becoming more exact and more extensive, will +play a part in the discussions between capital and labour. + +Another example may be given of a different nature, but of identical +signification. Psychologists are studying the value of evidence, and +are thinking out better methods of arriving at truth, in order to +discover reforms which may be introduced into the organization of +justice. An important movement of this nature, started in France, is +being continued in Germany with even greater energy (Binet, Stern and +his pupils, Claparede, Larguier, etc.). + +As a last example we shall cite the most striking of all. This is the +increasing interest which doctors are taking in the upbringing of the +young, both in infancy and later. This is _puericulture_, and includes +everything that is being done for the supervision, protection, and +assistance of the mother and nurseling. It includes the medical +inspection of school-children, which gives the doctor the opportunity +of caring for their ailments and preventing overpressure. It includes, +lastly, all the reforms of but yesterday's date which make for a +better hygiene, a better physical education. One might add also the +work that is being done almost everywhere, in Germany, in America, in +Italy, and in France (Laboratory of Psychology of the Sorbonne, and +the Society for Child Study), with reference to the special aptitudes +of children, and, as has been said a little ambitiously, the making of +education an exact science. + +=Education of Defectives.=--The movement referred to, of which we see +only the beginning, but which will result, let us hope, in an +amelioration of the lot of the great majority, is now being directed +to the education of the mentally defective. Their problem has been +discussed theoretically for a long time, but nothing has come of it. +Now the problem is entering upon a new phase, and something practical +will result. + +Without attempting to write the whole history, which would be nothing +more than the study of what has been done in other countries, let us +state where we are ourselves. + +It was in France that alienists first began to occupy themselves with +the children known under the various names of "abnormal," "backward," +"idiot," "mentally defective," "unstable," etc. Esquirol made the +important distinction between the idiot and the dement; and after him +many other alienists--notably Itard, Falret, Voisin--described the +principal symptoms of idiocy, or attempted to show that it is capable +of amelioration. Seguin, a teacher of defectives, who has left an +honoured name, showed experimentally how one may, by dint of much +ingenuity and patience, increase the intelligence and improve the +character of some of these unfortunate children.[1] Lastly, in our +own day, Bourneville, the well-known physician of Bicetre, after +having organised the most important clinique for idiots which exists +in France, agitated with untiring energy for the formation in the +public schools of special classes for the instruction of abnormal +children. This scheme has been supported by a great many doctors and +philanthropists, and laid before municipal councils, general councils, +scientific societies, and all the numerous educational congresses +which have been held in France and abroad during the last twenty +years. + +This effort has had no result; and whilst in the great majority of +foreign countries there have been for a long time schools and classes +for defectives--the first German school, that of Dresden, dates from +1867--with us the only children of this kind who receive the care and +education appropriate to their condition are the children of the rich. +Poor children continue to attend the ordinary schools. + +It was not till 1904 that the powers that be awakened from their +indifference. The Minister of Public Instruction, M. Chaumie, +appointed a Commission to study the abnormal--physical, mental, and +moral--from the scholastic point of view. This Commission, over which +M. Leon Bourgeois presided most ably, met a great number of times in +1904 and 1905, and drew up a complete scheme for the care and +education of defective children, which has been embodied in a Bill by +the Minister of Public Instruction. + +=Some Definitions.=--Now, who are these abnormal children, and why +should the authorities interest themselves in their education? For +the sake of clearness, we must give some definitions. + +In medical terminology the term _abnormal_ is applied to every subject +who diverges so clearly from the average as to constitute a +pathological anomaly. As a matter of fact, the abnormal constitute +quite a heterogeneous group. Their common characteristic, which is a +negative one, is that by their physical and mental organisation these +children are rendered incapable of profiting by the ordinary methods +of instruction in use in the public schools. The most definite types +are the deaf and dumb, the blind, the epileptic, idiots, imbeciles, +cripples, etc. There are in this list some classes which are of less +interest to us than others, because the State has already to a certain +extent provided for their needs. This applies especially to the blind, +and to the deaf and dumb. It has always been perceived that such +children were not like others, and could not be taught by ordinary +methods. The blind can learn to read only in a book whose characters +are printed in relief, and the deaf-mute cannot follow an oral lesson. +The necessity of a special education for these two groups was +therefore obvious, and at the present time about five thousand are +receiving care and a professional education in the State institutions +and in private schools, the majority of which are religious. We shall +not concern ourselves with them here, in spite of the interest which +they awaken. Nor shall we discuss whether the methods which are used +for their education might not be improved, though the question is +attractive. But we must simplify the subject if we wish to get on. + +We shall also exclude here the lowest grade of idiots, who require +continuous medical supervision, and who are very seldom educable. +These subjects are received into hospitals and asylums. When we have +excluded these classes of children--the deaf-mutes, the blind, and the +ineducable idiots--what remains? + +Why, there remain just the very children with whom the new law will be +concerned. In the meantime these are not in any special school; they +are attending the primary schools, which cannot shut the door in their +faces when they have arrived at school age. But they do not profit +much by the instruction given in school, and this fact gives rise to +vigorous complaints on the part of the teachers. These children, say +they, are not in the least like the great majority of other pupils. A +great many of them are mentally defective. Without being completely +lacking in intelligence, they are not sufficiently endowed therewith +to work alongside normal children; they do not understand, they cannot +follow; they profit so little by attending the school that some of +them are never able to assimilate the instruction even of the +elementary course. Very often they pay no attention whatever to the +work of the class; and this is quite a good thing, for then the +teacher forgets them in their corner, and goes on as if they were not +there. But many of these children are ill-balanced; they are +excitable, and their bodies are never at rest; they are not amenable +to ordinary discipline. They are a constant source of trouble and +annoyance to their master and to their comrades. The supervision of a +single ill-balanced child is more trouble, the teachers sometimes +declare, than the direction of twenty normal ones. Either one or the +other must be neglected, and the alternatives are equally +objectionable. + +What, then, must be done with those children who are not amenable to +the ordinary school discipline? At first sight this seems a simple +question. Let them be sent to an institution. We actually possess in +the hospitals of Bicetre and of the Salpetriere, in the colony of +Vaucluse--to say nothing of provincial institutions--establishments +which make provision, both medical and educational, for children who +are idiotic, imbecile, vicious, and epileptic. Is it not possible to +send to these institutions all the abnormal children who encumber the +primary schools? + +No; it is neither possible nor desirable to pack them off to an +asylum. These abnormal children are not in all cases so severely +affected as to require segregation. We admit that such a measure is +necessary for idiots of low grade who cannot even feed themselves. We +have also no objection to leaving to the asylums cases of very severe +nervous disturbance such as epilepsy, for only there can they receive +the medical supervision appropriate to their condition. They have more +need of the doctor than of the teacher. As for the other abnormal +children who constitute the great majority, it seems clear that the +proper place for them is not the asylum, but the special school. They +have sufficient intelligence to attend a school. What they probably +require is instruction specially adapted to their mental state, and +such instruction can be profitably given only in classes small enough +to permit of individual attention. + +From all this we reach a very clear definition of what we mean by +abnormal children, and a very simple indication of what should be done +with them. Abnormal and defective children are those who are suitable +for neither the ordinary school nor the asylum; for the school they +are not sufficiently good, for the asylum not sufficiently bad. We +must try what special schools and classes can do for them. + +=Statistics.=--It is important to notice that the children so defined +are not a negligible quantity. Their name is legion. And since number +is the factor that gives importance to every social problem, we may +say that the regulation of the lot of these children is a social +question of the greatest gravity. + +The statistics which have up till now been published abroad do not +give such precise information as one could wish regarding the number +of the defectives. Some give the bare figures; others, using a better +method, state the proportion of mentally defective children to the +total population. There is also much doubt as to the way in which the +statisticians have used the term "abnormal" or "defective." One +inquiry relates only to children slightly affected; another bears upon +all abnormal children, including the lowest grades of idiocy, and is +therefore much more comprehensive. In other cases we are not told how +the selection was made. + +As to France, precise information has not been available until last +year, when two inquiries were held--one at the instance of the +Ministerial Commission, the other organised by the Minister of the +Interior. According to the former inquiry, we find that the proportion +of defectives amounts to scarcely 1 per cent. for the boys, and O.9 +per cent. for the girls. These percentages are evidently far too +small, and we ourselves have discovered, by a small private inquiry, +that many schools returned "none" in the questionnaires distributed, +although the headmasters have admitted to us that they possessed +several genuine defectives. In Paris, M. Vaney, a headmaster, made +some investigations by the arithmetical test, which we shall explain +presently, and reached the conclusion that 2 per cent. of the school +population of two districts were backward. If we were to include the +ill-balanced, whose number is probably equal to that of the backward, +the proportion would be about 4 per cent. Lastly, and quite recently, +a special and most careful inquiry was made at Bordeaux, under the +direction of M. Thamin, by alienists and the school medical +inspectors, and it was found that the percentage of abnormality +amongst the boys was 5.17. Probably the true percentage is somewhere +in the neighbourhood of 5. All these inquiries are comparable because +they all deal with the school population. The great variation in the +figures is due to several causes, the chief of which are the +following: (1) The proportion of the abnormal varies to a surprising +extent in different schools even in the same neighbourhood. Dr. +Abadie, for example, has expressly noted that in some schools the +proportion may be four times as great as in others. (2) The definition +of a child of backward intelligence has usually and quite +gratuitously been left vague by the investigators; each interprets the +term in his own way, whence arise great differences in the figures. +(3) It is particularly difficult to define the cases that are to be +reckoned as ill-balanced or unstable, and some teachers, if they are +allowed, will place in this category all the pupils that they dislike. + + * * * * * + +We have been led to interest ourselves in abnormal children in the +following way: One of us, Binet, President of the _Societe Libre pour +l'Etude de l'Enfant_, has for many years been in daily contact with +the staff of the primary schools. In obedience to the wish of a great +many teachers, he has formed, in connection with the Society, a +committee for the care of abnormal children, upon which are many +distinguished people, such as M. Rollet, M. Albanel, Dr. Voisin, Mme. +Meusy, and, above all, M. Baguer, who is deeply interested in the +education of defectives. This committee initiated various +investigations relating to backward children. Some time afterwards M. +Binet, having been nominated a member of the Ministerial Commission on +Abnormal Children, became the director of the work of the Commission +relating to the backward and the unstable. He then, in conjunction +with Dr. Simon, undertook in certain districts various inquiries into +the condition of such cases. In regard to several questions we enjoyed +the intelligent and devoted co-operation of M. Vaney, Head of the +Primary School of the Rue Grange-aux-Belles, where one of us has +founded a laboratory of pedagogy. We have thus been interested in +abnormal children for a long time, either from the point of view of +school organisation, or from that of their differentiation from the +normal. Let us add that lately M. Bedorez, the distinguished Director +of Primary Education in the Seine District, has kindly permitted one +of us (Binet) to co-operate in the organisation of some classes for +defective children, which have been started experimentally in the +primary schools of Paris. + +Let us now state quite clearly our aim in writing this book. Ever +since public interest has been aroused in the question of schools for +defective children, selfish ambition has seen its opportunity. The +most frankly selfish interests conceal themselves behind the mask of +philanthropy, and whoever dreams of finding a fine situation for +himself in the new schools never speaks of the children without tears +in his eyes. This is the everlasting human comedy. There is no reason +for indignation. Everyone has the right to look after his own +interest, so long as he does not compromise interests superior to his +own--namely, those of society. It is this social interest with which +we are concerned. Having found out by our own personal experience how +a class for defectives may be established and conducted, we have noted +the faults which could not but be committed, and the mistakes which +will certainly occur unless one is forewarned and makes every possible +effort to prevent them. May our book, then, be regarded as a means of +prophylaxis, a means of escaping conscious or unconscious error. May +it also prove a guide--imperfect, no doubt, but still useful--for the +organisation of some of those social inquiries conducted in a strictly +scientific spirit, which are becoming more and more necessary for the +proper management of public affairs. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] It is common to cite with respect the names of one's predecessors, +and Seguin's portrait may justly hang in such a gallery of one's +ancestors. But Seguin's work must not be examined too closely; those +who praise it have certainly not read it. Seguin impresses us as an +empiric, endowed with great personal talent, which he has not +succeeded in embodying clearly in his works. These contain some pages +of good sense, with many obscurities, and many absurdities. We refer +the curious reader to his chief work, _Traitement Moral, Hygiene, et +Education des Idiots et des autres Enfants Arrieres_, published in +1846. One might make many criticisms on the writings of alienists; but +to what end? We prefer to say of such predecessors what Ingres said to +his pupils in the Rubens gallery at the Louvre, "Salute them, but pay +no attention to them!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SOME FEATURES OF THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DEFECTIVES + + +Although this book is specially intended as a guide to the admission +of mentally defective children to special schools or classes, we +cannot commence by an exposition of the methods of recruiting such +children. We must first describe the children and indicate their +principal characteristics, mental and moral. We must also discuss the +question what a mentally defective child really is--a very important +question, upon which depends everything else, the organisation of the +schools and the special methods of education. Every educational method +depends upon a theory, formulated or implicit, which is at once its +point of departure and its justification. One would run the risk of +falling into a blind empiricism if one were content to apply an +educational method independently of the theory which is its soul. + +There are two conceptions of a totally different nature, either of +which may inspire the training of defective children. Let us examine +each of these in turn, and find out which is the more reasonable. + +According to the first, the defective child is practically the same as +a normal child several years younger; or, in other words, he is a +child who has been retarded in his development. A backward child of +twelve years of age, who has not yet been able to learn to read, would +thus be comparable to an ordinary child of six, who is just beginning +to spell. It is evident that such a comparison must not be pushed too +far. Many reservations must be made. On the one hand, the defective +has not so much time in front of him for development as a normal and +younger child. He is then not strictly comparable to the latter. On +the other hand, the very fact of his age has given to the defective of +twelve a bodily and even a mental development never attained at six. +For example, he is nearer puberty; his vocabulary is more extensive; +and he possesses greater general knowledge. But these reservations +once made, the theory that the defective is the victim of a +retardation of development has seemed reasonable to many competent +people. As a rule one just accepts it without taking the trouble to +formulate it in precise terms. Perhaps it is for this very reason that +one accepts it so easily; it is the classic theory. To the cursory +reader it may seem that we adopt this theory ourselves, for we shall +frequently use such phrases as "defective of eleven who is at the +level of a child of nine." But the sense in which we use such an +expression must not be misunderstood, because it is only intended to +imply that a certain standard has been attained. It has no bearing on +the cause of the retardation, nor upon its particular nature, nor upon +the means of rectifying it. + +Now for the educational consequences of the preceding theory. If the +backwardness is only a slowness of development, it will suffice to +apply to the backward the same methods as to the normal. One will make +them follow the same course of study and go just as far as possible. +Every defective must work towards the primary school certificate. To +attain that end, he ought to pass through seven regular stages, one +each year. The teacher of defectives cannot hope that he will bring +his pupils to the last stage. He will stop half-way. One day, at the +agricultural colony of Vaucluse, when some foreign doctors were +visiting the establishment, the teacher showing his class to the +visitors remarked with naive pride: "Our pupils follow step by step +the curriculum of the primary school." + +A second and totally different theory is tenable, and this one appears +to us to be much nearer the truth. It is that a defective child does +not resemble in any way a normal one whose development has been +retarded or arrested. He is inferior, not in degree, but in kind. The +retardation of his development has not been uniform. Obstructed in one +direction, his development has progressed in others. To some extent he +has cultivated substitutes for what is lacking. Consequently such a +child is not strictly comparable to a normal child younger than +himself. So far as certain faculties are concerned, he remains at the +level of a younger child; but in respect to others, he is on a level +with normal children of his own age. An unequal and imperfect +development is consequently his specific characteristic. These +inequalities of development may vary to any degree in different +subjects. They always produce a want of equilibrium, and this want is +the differentiating attribute of the defective child. But to draw a +faithful picture we must add yet other traits. According to general +opinion, mental deficiency is a disease, and although the idea of +disease is very vague, we are inclined to fall in with this general +opinion. In the first place, we frequently find in such children +defects of speech. Besides, in studying their mental condition more +closely, one finds in some cases peculiarities of understanding, +reasoning, imagining, difficult to define, but which do not appear to +have their equivalent in younger normal children, and which therefore +do not result from simple retardation of development. Here is a boy, +twelve years of ago, who tries to answer our questions, and succeeds +pretty well; but hardly has he finished his answer when he deserts the +subject altogether and begins to talk a lot of nonsense. This want of +coordination in thought constitutes a special defect, and not a +retardation of development. Possibly one would not find analogous +features in other backward children, who tend rather to be laconic; +but it is also possible that a careful analysis of their mental state +might reveal in them other mental symptoms, and, indeed, such are very +obvious in the variety called "unstable" or "ill-balanced." + +To sum up, we are of opinion that the defective child usually exhibits +the following characters: (1) A retardation of development; (2) a +defect of equilibrium--_i.e._, the retardation is more marked in some +faculties than in others; (3) individual peculiarities of a +pathological kind in the mental powers. + +If this second theory is correct, there follows a very important +practical consequence--namely, that the curriculum drawn up for normal +children is very imperfectly suited to the defective. We cannot force +the latter to fit the ordinary course. To attempt this would be quite +as unreasonable as to make our teaching appeal to the ears of the deaf +or the eyes of the blind. + +The first duty of the teacher is to take account of the faculties +already developed, the aptitudes which are already apparent. His work +is thankless and difficult; he would be foolish not to take advantage +of the indications of nature. If a pupil show a special taste for any +subject, it is evidently towards such a line of study that he should +be directed. Consequently, in conformity with these ideas, we would +reject on principle any programme of special instruction which would +rigorously include all the children in a common plan. On the contrary, +we would prefer for the defective a scheme which would take the most +account of their natural aptitudes. + +Such considerations lead us to put the following question--What are +the most common aptitudes in children of this class? We say "the most +common," because we have not to do with a single well-defined type, +for there are as many varieties as there are individuals; but in spite +of the number of those varieties, which shows the need for individual +teaching, it will always be possible to establish categories in which +those most nearly alike may be grouped It is also possible that the +aptitudes most frequently lacking are always, or almost always, of the +same nature. + +To solve the question which we have just raised, we shall employ two +methods-- + + _The questionnaire._ + _Direct observation._ + +A printed questionnaire containing thirty-eight questions has been +distributed through the agency of M. Belot, school inspector, to the +heads of all the elementary schools in two districts of Paris--one +central, the other suburban. Nothing would be gained by reproducing +here the questionnaire, which has served its purpose. We shall simply +lay down the conclusions we have reached, after studying the replies +with the greatest care. + +The replies confirm the division, which we have ourselves suggested, +of all the abnormal into three groups: (1) The mentally defective; (2) +the ill-balanced; (3) a mixed type which includes those who are both +mentally defective and ill-balanced. The simply defective do not +present any well-defined anomaly of character, but they do not profit, +or profit very little, from the ordinary school teaching. The +ill-balanced, who might also be called the "undisciplined," are +abnormal chiefly in character. They are distinguished by their +unruliness, their talkativeness, their lack of attention, and +sometimes their wickedness. + +=The Distribution of Defective Children in the Public Schools.=--In +which school divisions do we find these several varieties of children? +Let us begin with the mentally defective. These are found chiefly in +the junior division, as might be expected. Some manage to reach the +intermediate division, but scarcely any reach the senior. The exact +distribution is as follows: 75 per cent. in the junior department; 25 +per cent. in the intermediate. + +Let us be more precise with regard to two points--the age of the child +and his school position. Some heads of schools, not all, have taken +the trouble to satisfy our demands, and have fixed to almost a year +the mental retardation of the child as compared with normal children +of the same age. The following table summarises these replies, and +shows that the majority of cases present a retardation of three years: + +Mentally defective children with a retardation of-- + + 0 0 + 1 year 6 + 2 years 12 + 3 " 12 + 4 " 9 + 5 " 0 + 6 " 4 + 7 " 1 + +According to a convention, of which we shall speak more fully later, +we regard as defective in intelligence a child who shows a retardation +of three years, when he himself is nine years of age or more. The +results shown above agree with this convention. Moreover, one may draw +the conclusion, which is of practical value, that one need not seek +children of this group in the senior division of a primary school. + +The distribution of the ill-balanced in the divisions of the primary +school is quite different. In the first place, one is surprised to +find none, or practically none (only two out of forty-five) in the +senior division. We did not expect this. _A priori_, we should have +supposed that, in spite of their defect in character, the unstable +were not without intelligence, and that a fair number of them would +succeed in passing the gates of the senior division. If none are found +there, this shows clearly that instability must be associated with +some mental defect, unless some independent condition, such as +inveterate laziness, has checked the child on the way. The +ill-balanced, like the simply defective, are to be found in the +intermediate and junior divisions, but their distribution is +different. While 75 per cent. of the simply defective are in the +junior division, and 25 per cent. in the intermediate, 45 per cent. of +the ill-balanced are in the junior, and 50 per cent. in the +intermediate: practically, they are divided equally between these two +divisions. This indicates a degree of intelligence superior to that of +the defective, as one would expect. But, on the other hand, their +absence from the senior division shows that the intelligence of the +ill-balanced is in general below the average. As this conclusion is +new, and may be open to question, let us examine it more closely: + +The amount of the retardation of the ill-balanced, as shown in our +returns, is as follows: + +Mentally ill-balanced children with a retardation of-- + + 0 14 + 1 year 16 + 2 years 14 + 3 " 2 + 4 " 1 + +These figures show, in a novel form, that the mental retardation is +much less clear in the ill-balanced than in the defective properly so +called, since in the former group are to be found many pupils--about a +third--who, in the opinion of their teachers, are not at all backward; +but the majority are backward, while none are in advance of their +years. Consequently, the whole group shows a slight retardation, +averaging about one year, which confirms and makes more precise our +original conclusion. We may therefore affirm that mental instability +or want of balance is usually accompanied by an intellectual +retardation of about one year. + +=Age Distribution.=--It is worth while making another remark about the +ages of these children. The simply defective are of all possible +school ages, while the unstable are usually young children. Here is +the distribution: + + -------------+------------------+----------------- + Age. | Defectives. | Unstable. + -------------+------------------+----------------- + 7 years | 2 } | 1 } + 8 " | 5 } | 9 } + 9 " | 5 } | 7 } + 10 " | 3 } Total, 31 | 10 } Total, 43 + 11 " | 6 } | 11 } + 12 " | 10 } | 5 } + 13 " | 9 } | 4 } + 14 " | 2 } | 0 } + 15 " | 3 } Total, 15 | 0 } Total, 4 + 16 " | 1 } | 0 } + -------------+------------------+----------------- + +The defectives remain in the schools till the end of the prescribed +terms, whilst the ill-balanced hasten to leave before the time. Thus +the defective, like an inert mass, become a dead weight which +encumbers the school. They adapt themselves as well as they can to +their environment. Their parents are apt to leave them at school as +long as possible, because they do not know what to do with them, and +probably the teachers do not complain very much, but are ready to put +up with these defectives who do not interfere with discipline. The +ill-balanced, on the other hand, find the school environment irksome, +the discipline hostile. They do not wish to stay at school; their +parents do not keep them there, owing to the constant complaints of +the teachers; and the teachers do not want to have anything more to do +with them. Conclusion: The ill-balanced leaves school early, and takes +his place in society, where, owing to his character, he may very +easily become a danger. To sum up, the simply defective remain at +school, while the ill-balanced leave early. + +Another observation may be made. Since the ill-balanced are so +numerous at ten years of age, and even at eight, we conclude that in +many cases the mental instability is not the result of the +perturbation which precedes puberty. This physiological explanation is +not of such general application as is sometimes supposed. + +=The Frequency of the Mixed Type, at once Defective and +Ill-Balanced.=--The third category of defective children which we have +suggested includes those of a mixed type, who are at once mentally +defective and ill-balanced. We shall not be surprised to find that +these subjects have characters which are the mean of those of the +defective and the ill-balanced, since they unite in themselves the two +different forms of abnormality. Thus, as regards their intelligence, +one finds that none of them are in the senior division; the majority +are in the junior division (71 per cent.), and the remainder (29 per +cent.) in the intermediate division, which proves that they are on the +average less intelligent than the simply ill-balanced, and more +intelligent than the simply defective. But we need not dwell on such +details, which are easy to understand and even to foresee. The most +important question is the number of the mixed cases. The groups of the +two simple types are almost equal in number.[2] On the other hand, we +find only twenty-one mixed cases in a population where the +ill-balanced which have been notified to us amount to forty-four, and +the defective to fifty-seven, so that the mixed cases represent only a +fifth of the whole, whereas the simple cases form four-fifths. These +very different proportions indicate that as a general rule mental +instability and mental deficiency are quite distinct. They are not +aspects of a single pathological condition, but are two quite +independent pathological conditions which may coexist in the same +subject, just as happens, for example, in the case of alcoholism and +epilepsy, but which are none the less distinct, since as a rule they +do not coexist. + +=Psychological Description of the Mentally Defective.=--Now let us +take a closer look at the children who are going to be pupils in our +schools for defectives. In looking over the replies to our +questionnaire, we are struck by the recurrence of certain phrases, by +which the teacher attempts to sum up the defective child. Here are +some examples of such phrases. They represent only general +impressions, but the frequency of similar impressions arrests one's +attention. + + _Charles_ does the best he can. + + _Augustine_ is very attentive. + + _Emile_ is very obedient and gentle. + + _Paul_ is always making himself useful in little ways. + + _Marcelle_ is obliging and polite. + + _Jeanne_ blushes on the slightest occasion. + + Severity paralyses _Ernestine_ and makes her lose what little + wits she possesses. + + _Camilla_ smiles whenever anyone speaks to her, and immediately + does what she is told. + + _Louis_ is very biddable. + + _Angela_ does not answer back when her companions tease her, and + takes the blame herself. + + _Eugenie_ is affectionate and is loved by her companions who + make her join in their games. Although she herself is fifteen, + it was a child of eight who taught her to read and write. + +From all these remarks it appears that the defective is a likeable +creature. He is so even in proportion to the degree of his defect. +With this thought in mind, we have examined the various descriptions, +and have reached this very curious conclusion: The more likeable the +child is represented to be, the greater the amount of retardation one +may safely attribute to him. Few, indeed, are the exceptions to this +rule. + +The defective child is praised for his sweetness of disposition. If he +does not understand the work which is being done in class, at any rate +he does not show his want of comprehension in any noisy manner. +Sitting quietly in his place, he allows himself to be forgotten. The +lesson can go on just as if he were not present, and usually that is +just what happens. It would not be just on this account to accuse of +negligence a teacher who has charge of forty to sixty pupils. The +sluggishness, both mental and physical, of these children is a +negative quality which an overtaxed master is sometimes weak enough to +value. When the defective child becomes subject to discipline, we are +told, he does not rebel; for he is obedient, respectful, and probably +suggestible. Sometimes the teacher may even recognise in him the +presence of qualities of a more positive nature. Some defectives are +pleased, and even eager, to do little services. They are kind to their +companions, affectionate, and grateful for attentions paid to them. As +they are usually older than the other children in their class, the +teacher often trusts them with little commissions. So far as one can +judge of the morality of natures whose intellectual level is so low, +the source of the altruistic sentiments appears to be well represented +in the defective, but it remains to be considered whether his docility +and complaisance may not mislead us as to the true value of his +sentiments; for one characteristic of the defective is his tendency to +repeat the polite formulae or moral maxims which have been taught him. +He has a surface morality, possibly purely verbal. As a last trait, it +may be noted that the defective is influenced by rewards and +punishments, but, owing to his defective intelligence, the effect is +very fleeting. + +=Psychological Description of the Ill-Balanced.=--This description +contrasts curiously with the preceding. In this there is nothing to be +surprised at. In school the ill-balanced child is a perpetual +nuisance. The teacher has no weakness for this naughty child, who is +always disturbing the class and defying his authority. + +As we have done in the case of the defective, let us quote some of the +phrases by which our correspondents sum up the unstable. + + _Charles_ cannot sit still, nor keep in rank, and his + heedlessness prevents reproof having any effect. + + _Albert_ never obeys but with a bad grace. + + _Martha_ always puts on an astonished look when she is checked. + + _Maurice_ receives any criticism with impatience. + + _Susan_ receives it with anger. + + _Eugenie_, by tossing her head. She mimics her teacher, and + makes the others laugh, so that they have to hide their faces. + + _Octavia_ replies, "What do I care!" She bursts out laughing and + continues to do what she has been forbidden. + + _Leontine_ quibbles, answers back, and expresses aloud her bad + humour. + + _Raoul_ flies into a passion when he is reprimanded. He poses as + a martyr, a victim of injustice, and sometimes even utters + threats. Punishment makes him give vent to intemperate language. + + _Victor_ assumes an attitude of revolt, turns pale, and refuses + to obey when anyone checks him. + + _Lucy_ broke her pen in a fit of temper. + + _Helen_ in the same circumstances upsets everything in her + neighbourhood. + + _Louise_ strikes her elbows on the desk, and one day she even + kicked her teacher. + + _Leon_ is quarrelsome and his companions are afraid of him. + + _George_ does nothing but tease his companions. He destroys + their copybooks, tears pages from their books, and puts the + blame on them. + + _Charles_, who is rendered obstinate by strictness and merely + irritated by punishment, seems happy when one takes an interest + in him. + + _Eugenie_, who is greatly excited by punishment and who smiles + at rewards, loves to be flattered and picked out to do some + little service. + +The three following traits are constantly met with in the descriptions +of the ill-balanced: they are turbulent, boastful, and incapable of +attention. To this may be reduced the psychology of the less strongly +marked cases. They have an instability of body, of speech, of +attention, which may result either from an excessively nervous +disposition, or simply from a nature whose restlessness rebels against +sedentary and silent study. But in many cases other features are +present. In addition to the preceding symptoms, there are found +impatience of discipline and a tendency to annoy their comrades. The +ill-balanced are spoken of as brutal, deceitful, cruel; and as to +their obstinacy, the abundant details in the questionnaires show that +these children have left a disagreeable impression on the school +staff. It is especially on their account that an outcry for special +schools has arisen. The way in which these children react to +discipline is very interesting. We are told that they are very little +influenced by rewards, which they often receive with disdain, +laughter, or irony, if they do not refuse them altogether. +Punishments, on the other hand, produce a bad effect. The ill-balanced +nearly always become angry, and rebel against punishment, so that the +teachers strive to avoid coming into conflict with them. Here we have +a trait which is very interesting for psychology, but very +embarrassing for pedagogy. How, then, can the ill-balanced be +subjected to any discipline whatever? This is an important question, +which it will be all the more necessary to solve because it is the +ill-balanced who profit most by special education; it is for them that +one would have most hope. Our advice is that, in order to control +these children, account should be taken, in the first place, of their +dominant tendency. The study of the answers to the questionnaires +shows us that the chief thing to which one can appeal in these cases +is their amour-propre, their pride, their vanity--in a word, the whole +range of the egoistic sentiments. On natures of this stamp punishment +cannot have much effect, seeing that it is opposed by an often +indomitable pride. The end may be reached more directly, not by +breaking the resistance, but by giving it a different direction. It is +better to praise the ill-balanced when he has done well than to punish +him for his faults. It is desirable also to show him some +appreciation, or even to trust him with some duty of a very modest +kind, which he may perform under discreet supervision. + +=Mental Aptitudes of the Defective.=--Having briefly sketched the +moral aptitudes of the abnormal, let us now examine their mental +aptitudes. We have here a very captivating subject of inquiry. The +study of individual aptitudes ought to have been undertaken long ago +in the interest of education. Everyone is crying out for it. No one, +or almost no one, undertakes it. In the case of the abnormal there is +even more urgent need that it should be undertaken, for the younger or +less intelligent the pupils, the more depends upon educational +methods. When a mind is of a superior kind, very little really depends +upon the culture supplied to it. If a Berthelot or a Pasteur should +even have had imbeciles as their first masters in chemistry, they +would none the less have turned out men of genius. It is those of +average intelligence who have need of good methods of instruction. It +is the young children who really require intelligent methods. +Consequently we should give the defectives the best teachers. Every +fault of method committed in their education may have consequences +which will prejudice them later on. + +In order to discover the aptitudes of the mentally defective, we have +three means of interrogating our questionnaires. In the first place +these contain the following question: _Does the child show any +particular aptitude either at school or outside?_ This question has +evoked replies which vary very little, for amongst the aptitudes of the +children scarcely anything is mentioned but bodily occupations--errands, +domestic duties, gymnastics, sewing, and drawing. In the same +questionnaire another question, placed on the following page, is almost +identical in form with the first: _Is there anything in which the child +is particularly interested?_ The replies to this second question have +been a little more numerous than to the previous one. It is true that +the two differ by a shade--the distinction between interest and +aptitude. One may interest oneself in something for which one has no +aptitude. The following table shows the distribution of the replies to +the two preceding questions: + +THE MENTALLY DEFECTIVE. + + _Aptitudes._ | _Interests._ + Pupils. | Pupils. + None 19 | None 11 + Practical life 7 | Writing 8 + Sewing 7 | Drawing 7 + Gymnastics 1 | Sewing 6 + Drawing 1 | Gymnastics 5 + | Arithmetic 3 + | Recitation 3 + | History 2 + | French 1 + | Music 1 + | Singing 1 + | Reading 1 + | Object lessons 1 + +These two lists are not superposable, but if we take them together we +shall notice that sensori-motor occupations, such as gymnastics, +"practical life," sewing, writing, and drawing, are those which are +most interesting to these pupils. Sewing, writing, and drawing are, +indeed, their favourite lessons. We should have expected that singing +would not have left them indifferent, for other investigations have +shown us that the majority have a good voice; but it is quite apparent +that singing is less attractive to them than drawing. A very +characteristic feature is the absence of any mention of composition. +Some of the abnormal are fond of arithmetic; none shine in +composition. This fact, though negative, seems worth consideration. +Speaking generally, we never find that a child who is good at +composition is mentally defective. + +We have mentioned that there is a third method of weighing the +aptitudes of defective children. In our questionnaire we asked the +teachers to give marks showing the relative ability of these children +in the different subjects. From these marks it appears that in four +subjects they are more successful than in others. These are +gymnastics, drawing, writing, and reading. We regret that we did not +include in our list sewing, manual work, and object lessons. Here are +our results in figures. These indicate for each pupil the two subjects +in which he has obtained the highest marks. + + Pupils. | Pupils. + Reading 23 | Arithmetic 6 + Writing 18 | Spelling 5 + Drawing 11 | Singing 3 + Gymnastics 11 | Recitation 3 + +It is not at all uncommon for a defective to take the first place in +writing or in drawing. This is quite a remarkable fact, although we +must hasten to add that in such cases the defective is usually the +oldest child in the class. + +All these observations are sufficiently uniform, and lead to the same +conclusion. The dominant features in the defective are the senses, the +concrete perceptions, and motor ability. These are the faculties which +are normally developed. His constant weakness in composition shows +that the function of speech is quite evidently inferior to the sensory +and motor functions. Let us weigh these facts and sum up. What a great +mistake it would be to give to children of this kind the syllabus of +instruction which has been made to suit normal children. This syllabus +harmonises with the development of all the faculties. How, then, could +one make children follow it whose aptitudes are limited? + + * * * * * + +Inquiries by questionnaire have one defect which has often been noted. +They bring together statements furnished by correspondents who are +often unknown, and whose judgment and accuracy it is impossible to +estimate. Each of their observations, taken by itself, has little +authority. It is the sum of concurring observations which should alone +be taken into consideration; and even then it is necessary to be +cautious before drawing any practical conclusion, because an +agreement in the replies sometimes indicates nothing more than a +general misconception. + +Such doubts, which are known to all investigators, led us to decide to +make direct observations on our own account upon abnormal +school-children, and to compare them with normal children of the same +age--a long and difficult task, as all pioneer work is. We have +collected facts which we were not seeking, whilst we often failed to +find what we expected. It would be impossible to summarise here +everything which contact with reality has taught and suggested. We +shall extract from our observations only what concerns the aptitudes +of the abnormal, and shall even limit ourselves to a single category +of these. It happens that we have methodical observations relating to +twelve defective children of between eleven and twelve years of age. +These form a sufficiently homogeneous group from the point of view +both of age and of mental ability. We shall inquire what are the best +marked aptitudes and the most apparent deficiencies of this little +group. Without denying individual differences or forgetting that +defectives cannot easily be reduced to a single type, we have thought +it more interesting for the present to emphasise their resemblances +rather than their differences. Let us, then, compare them _en bloc_ +with a group of normal children of the same age and the same social +position, attending the same schools, in the same district. This +equivalence of conditions is necessary if we are to lay our finger on +the distinctive characters of the defective child. + +We have subjected our twelve defectives to certain tests as speedy and +precise as possible.[3] We devised these tests before studying the +returns furnished to our questionnaires, and the latter were tabulated +before our observations. There have, therefore, been two studies +absolutely independent, both in their mode of execution, and in their +aim. Consequently, any points in which they agree will be very +significant. + +Our collection of tests of mental deficiency is already known to +readers of the _Annee Psychologique_.[4] In vol. xi. we described at +length the details necessary for making use of our method of +experimentation. Since then Dr. Decroly, who specialises on defective +children in Belgium, has tried our methods, and verified our +conclusions. The end which we have constantly set before ourselves has +been to bring to light the intellectual capacity of the child, taken +by itself, as distinct from what the child actually knows. Our +psychological examinations are consequently the very opposite of +school examinations, which test chiefly the candidate's memory, his +judgment very little. + +We have made numerous observations in this way. The best way to +explain our method, and more especially our results, will be to +describe a few of the experiments. + +_Memory of Pictures of Known Objects._--The children are allowed to +look for thirty seconds at pictures of thirteen objects, which they +are then told to enumerate from memory. + +_Comparison of Short Lines._--Two lines for comparison are drawn in +ink side by side on the same sheet of paper, so that they can both be +seen at a glance. We have a whole series of such pairs. Between the +lines, whose average length is 30 millimetres, there is a variable +difference. + +_Estimation of Weights._--Five little boxes, weighing respectively 3, +6, 9, 12, and 15 grammes, are to be arranged in order of weight. + +_Memory of Figures._--This test consists in repeating a series of +figures immediately after having heard them. + +_Memory of Phrases._--The child is asked to repeat a phrase of twelve +to fifteen words immediately after having heard it. + +We do not wish to insist on the details of these observations. They +are still very incomplete. It will be necessary to experiment for a +long time[5] before it will be possible to say exactly what it is that +is wanting, or that is wrong, in the mental machinery of the +defective. No doubt when the classes for defectives shall be under +way, when a great many such children are brought together in +conditions which suit the convenience of the experimenters, the latter +will be able after persevering effort to see daylight in this matter. +In the meantime we must be content with a general survey. But however +superficial, however defective, our first attempts may be, they may at +least give us a start. + +Let us see, then, what results have been obtained from our tests. +These results clearly separate the tests themselves into two groups. +To the one set the defectives furnished replies practically equivalent +to those of normal children. To the other, on the contrary, they gave +answers which clearly exhibited their retardation, or rather their +defect. This difference would be deprived of all significance if any +of the tests presented no difficulty to a normal intelligence. But in +all cases the difficulty was so great that even the normal made many +mistakes, and we can affirm that, whilst for the one set the two +groups of children were practically equal, for the other, on the +contrary, the inferiority of the defective is quite clear. + +The tests in which the defectives are on a par with the normal +are--(1) The comparison of short lines; (2) the memory of pictures. +Let us give some details of the latter test, which appears to us +typical. Each child individually was shown a sheet of paper, on which +were pasted thirteen pictures of known objects. These pictures, drawn +in black and very simple, almost reduced to outlines, represented a +nose, a head of hair, a rose, two cherries, a bed, a barrel, a nail, a +key, an omnibus, some eggs, a bell, a sun setting in the sea, and a +mouth. We have here a test of sense memory, for the child is asked to +recall a visual impression. Something more, however, is necessary, for +he must understand the picture and give it a name. But this +constitutes no real difficulty, and the whole exercise is a test of +sense intelligence. We were quite surprised to find that in this case +our defectives were at the level normal for eleven years. The average +of their replies is seven, which is exactly the normal value. This is +shown in the following table, which gives the comparison between them +and normal children of eleven: + + +NAMING BY MEMORY THIRTEEN PICTURES. + + Number of pictures remembered-- + Normal children 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10. + Defective children 4, 4, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 11. + +Have we not here a very interesting confirmation of what we have +already learned from the questionnaires? The exercise is one which +certainly presents some difficulty, since the normal children forgot +some of the pictures. If it had been too easy, one would not have been +surprised at the fact that the two groups--the normal and the +defective--were equally successful. Now, in spite of the difficulty, +the defective shows no inferiority as compared with the normal. Any +commentary would diminish the eloquence of this result. + +Without lingering over each of the other tests, let us select from the +group one which forms a remarkable contrast to the preceding. Just as +striking as the equality between the defective and the normal in +visual memory of pictures is the difference between them in memory for +phrases. + +The latter is a test of immediate memory. One repeats to the child a +phrase of about twelve to fifteen words, and asks him to repeat it +immediately afterwards. For this memory is necessary, and also +voluntary attention, and some power of comprehension into the bargain; +for if some of these phrases are quite easy to understand (_e.g._, +Germaine has not been good; she did not want to work; she will be +scolded), others, again, are a little involved (_e.g._, The +chestnut-tree in the garden casts the quite faint shadow of its new +leaves on the ground). The number of phrases which the defectives +managed to repeat correctly is very small. It averages only two. Here +are the figures: + + +IMMEDIATE MEMORY OF PHRASES. + + Number of phrases repeated exactly-- + { 7 years 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5. + Normal children { 9 years 2, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7. + { 11 years 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7. + Defective children, 11 years 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4. + +If one examines these results, one is surprised to find that some of +the defectives are superior to normal children of the same age, since +they repeat four phrases, although some of the normal repeat only +three. In all experiments on groups one finds exceptions of this kind. +We are glad to give examples in order to show how complex everything +is. In order to comprehend such anomalies, it is necessary to analyse +the exceptional cases. One generally finds then that the defective who +has broken the rule has made use of a pure sense memory, has repeated +like an echo without understanding. If the repetition is delayed a +little, he is lost. In other cases the defective is not far removed +from the normal. Without stopping to discuss these exceptions, let us +examine the group as a whole. When we do this we reach the important +conclusion that our group of defectives resembles in a striking manner +the group of children of seven years. On an average, they repeat +practically the same number of phrases. The average for seven years is +3.1; that of the defectives of eleven years is a little less: it is +2.1. + +Now, to sum up, let us compare just these two extremes, the memory of +pictures and the memory of phrases. Is not the contrast remarkable? +And does one not here hit upon one of the principal differences +between the normal and the abnormal? Give the defective a piece of +work which interests him, which appeals to his organs of sense, and +which is concrete. If the work is not too difficult, he will acquit +himself tolerably well. If, however, the work involves words, phrases, +composition--in a word, abstract ideas expressed in speech--the +defective immediately reveals wherein his inferiority lies. Abstract +thought, and all other mental operations that involve it, are to him a +closed domain. The replies of the teachers to our questionnaires had +already led us to suspect this. Our tests are a confirmation, and even +an exact demonstration, of it. + +The normal curriculum of primary education, as one can imagine, is +therefore not suitable to the mental condition of the majority of +defectives. Even by reducing it to its first elements, one would make +only a bad fit, for if one were to diminish the abstract portion which +is not intended for defectives, one would equally diminish the +concrete portion, which, far from being reduced, when defectives are +in question, ought to be amplified. It is necessary, therefore, to +change the proportions of the different parts of the curriculum, and +give the whole a special direction. We shall conclude our observations +by remarking that, if we take the workshop in opposition to the class, +as the symbol of concrete work opposed to the symbol of verbal work, +the workshop ought in the education of defectives to become a more +important place of instruction than the class. + +A slight reservation, however, must be made as to the value of this +conclusion. In spite of the existence for a number of years of +institutions for the abnormal, we have yet scarcely begun our +researches. Everywhere we are up against the same ignorance, and shall +be so for a long time to come. Our knowledge of these children is very +imperfect. We do not pretend that anything we are about to say is in +any way complete. + +Thus, having set forth a quite general principle relating to concrete, +intuitive, sensory education, let us hasten to add that in practice +this principle must be applied to children of widely differing +temperaments, and that nothing is more complicated than the pedagogy +of defectives, if one desires it to be adapted to the numerous ends +which it is necessary for it to attain. One will certainly bear in +mind that a greater place must be given to intuition than to +abstraction; one will bear this in mind in the detail of the education +of defectives, as well as in its general direction, but without +forgetting the numerous interests which it is necessary to satisfy. +There is no question but that there will be admitted into the special +schools and classes many children only slightly defective, who are +destined to return as soon as possible to the ordinary school; and one +would put an obstacle in the way of this return, or even make it +impossible, if, from the day the child entered the special class, a +totally different direction should be given to his education from that +of the ordinary school. This would be both serious and troublesome. +The amount of abstract material in the lessons should be diminished +simply in proportion to the mental deficiency. There is no reason why +the slight cases should not be taught in the special class in +accordance with a programme little different from that of the +elementary school, except that it gives them the benefit of greater +individual attention. Such individual attention is still more +necessary in the case of the ill-balanced, of whom we have scarcely +spoken in this chapter. It is not their insubordinate spirit which +sets them against anything abstract, and one would do them a very +poor service by depriving the more intelligent of them of the ordinary +curriculum, and all the more as the majority of the ill-balanced are +destined to improve considerably. Thus there are many reasons why, in +the case of certain classes of the abnormal, one should not lose sight +of the usual curriculum. These reasons are as follows: the slight +degree of the deficiency in certain cases, or the existence of +instability without retardation, or the necessity of sending the +children who improve most back to the ordinary schools. Such are the +reasons which are important from the school point of view. There are +others with a social bearing which are more important still. At the +present day it is necessary, especially in towns, that everyone should +be able to read, to write, and to express himself in suitable +language. It has been remarked, and justly, that reading is the +triumph of abstraction, and that a defective may require two years to +learn to read by syllables, and very poorly even then. No matter: if +the thing is possible, even with considerable effort, such a defective +ought to learn to read. This is demanded, not by the state of the +child's intelligence, but by the society in which he lives, where +illiteracy would bring shame upon him. In questions of this kind the +indications of psychology and pedagogy should be subordinated to the +needs of life. Necessity makes the law. All instruction given to +defectives must be dominated by the question of its practical +usefulness. A pedagogy which should be fitted easily to the measure of +their intelligence would be dangerous, in that it might result in +making them useless. It is evident, therefore, that the problem is +very complex, and it would be quite useless to attempt to express it +by a single formula. The nature of each individual case must be taken +into account, and one must aim at an essentially practical training, a +pedagogy of ends rather than of abstract principles. Our advice, +consequently, is that in the meantime no definite curriculum should be +fixed upon, but that the teachers of defective children should be +allowed some freedom, under the cautious control of the primary school +inspectors. We ask that all intelligent initiative should be accepted +and encouraged, and that the teachers in special schools should +frequently meet together in order that they may compare their +experience. In short, we should give to the schools and classes for +defectives such freedom and elasticity that the kind of education best +adapted for such children would be able to evolve and perfect itself +like a living organism. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] On the other hand, Dr. Abadie found 309 defective to 134 +ill-balanced. + +[3] At the _Laboratoire de Pedagogie Normal_, 36, Rue +Grange-aux-Belles. For details of the work of this laboratory see +_Annee Psychologique_, tome xiii., pp. 1, 233. + +[4] [See vols. xi., 1905, p. 191; xiv., 1908, p. 1; xvii., 1911, p. +145. Also _Bull. de la Soc. pour l'Etude de l'Enfant_, 1911, p. 187.] + +[5] [The results of later observations are embodied in the tests +published in 1911, which are given complete in the Appendix.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +PEDAGOGICAL EXAMINATION OF DEFECTIVE SCHOOL CHILDREN + + +When legislation provides special schools and classes for the benefit +of defectives, it will be imprudent to make use of legal force to bear +down the will of the parents. It will be better, in the first +instance, to have recourse to persuasion. It will be pointed out to +the parents that their children are behindhand in their lessons. The +parents, as a matter of fact, know this quite well. It will be +explained to them that classes of forty pupils are too large for +children like theirs, and that the teacher cannot devote sufficient +attention to them. It will be explained also that classes are being +organised for ten to twenty pupils at most, in which it will be +possible to give individual attention. Before instructing their child, +it will be necessary to begin by awaking his intelligence, which +involves the teacher devoting himself to him with method, order, and +patience. One will appeal to the heart of these parents, and will +surely manage to persuade them, especially the mothers. For such +interviews we must rely upon the school teachers and the inspectors. +It will only be necessary to warn them to avoid the use of certain +expressions. It would never do to say to the parents that their child +is an idiot, an imbecile, a fool, or even abnormal. The admission of +their son or daughter into a special school should be represented to +them as an advantage or even a favour. Their consent should not be +demanded in too formal a manner. This would make them think that it +is they who are giving something, and many would refuse. In a word, +much can be done by prudence, sympathy, and a little tact; and the +personal experience that we have acquired has shown us that it is not +difficult to gain the parents to the cause of special education. + +=Composition of a Board of Examiners.=--We have now to consider how +the selection of the children is to be made. It has been determined by +statute that the examiners shall be three in number--the head of a +special school, an elementary school inspector, and a doctor. As to +the manner in which this committee is to carry out its work, the law +preserves an absolute silence. + +When the three examiners meet in order to judge the degree of +retardation of the children who are presented to them, is this absence +of a definite programme embarrassing? We do not think so. A committee +which is duly authorised always manages to do something. The work is +done more or less empirically, perhaps, but it is done. Tell the jury +to find defective children, and they are sure to find them. The only +question is, What will be the value of their selection? and, above +all, How can so delicate a quest be saved from empiricism and rendered +exact? It is to be hoped that at first there will not be too many +mistakes. This would have a bad effect upon the new institution. It is +unfair to a normal child to send him to a special school, just as it +is unfair to a defective to keep him in the ordinary school. It is +better to make such mistakes as seldom as possible. Moreover, it is of +the greatest interest to try to forecast the exact way in which errors +are most likely to arise. In every machine there is a point of least +resistance which requires to be watched. In every human institution +there is a detail of organisation where fraud and charlatanism are +most liable to occur. + +Since we have supervised the organisation of some classes for +defectives, and have been able by some preliminary observations to +take account of these dangers, we take it upon ourselves to give +warning of them in advance. We fix buoys to the rocks that they may be +avoided. + +It seems to us that the selection of defectives calls for three +varieties of experience--that of teachers, of doctors, and of +psychologists. We shall proceed to indicate the services which these +various persons may render. In this chapter we shall speak only of the +pedagogical examination. The duty of making the first selection among +the school-children and indicating those who are suspected of being +defective belongs partly to the teachers and partly to the school +inspectors, whose respective roles, it seems to us, can easily be +defined. + + +A. THE ROLE OF THE TEACHER: TO SELECT THE CHILDREN SUSPECTED OF BEING +DEFECTIVE. + +It is out of the question to make an entire school pass before a +committee in order that 500 pupils may have their mental faculties +analysed. Such a task, at once troublesome and useless, would require +several months. One should rather, in the first place, adopt a rapid +method of picking out the children _suspected of mental defect_. It is +quite sufficient that they should be suspected. Such a selection once +made, the committee will have before it only a moderate number of +candidates upon whom it will be possible to concentrate attention. + +Let us proceed to show how the teachers may make their selection: + +=A retardation of three years indicates a child who should be regarded +as a suspect.= A child enters the elementary school at the age of +about six years. Each year he ought to advance one class. From six to +nine years he is in the elementary course; from nine to eleven in the +intermediate course; from eleven to thirteen in the senior course. All +are not quite regular. Some are a little in advance, some are behind, +but the majority conform to the preceding scheme. When a school is +well managed, when the assignation of the children to their respective +classes is made by means of suitable tests, and without too great +regard to the demands of the parents, the classification which results +is very good. There is then no better means of finding out whether a +child is intelligent or not than to take into consideration his age +and his class. Intelligence, so extraordinarily difficult to judge, is +indicated in the above way with a really curious exactness. A child +two years behind his age, when irregularities in attendance, absence +on account of illness, etc., do not explain his backwardness, is very +likely to be less intelligent than one who is in, or in advance of, +the usual class for his age. This amounts to judging intelligence by +the degree of instruction. Theoretically, such a method is open to +plenty of meticulous objections, of which the most important is that +we are confounding intelligence and memory. To this we shall reply +that the stage of instruction reached is not the result of memory +alone. It presupposes also some degree of application, some facility +of comprehension, quite a collection of diverse aptitudes. The child's +success in his studies is, in fact, the best indication we have of his +capacity to adapt himself to the school environment. If the child is +unable to keep up with the classes suited to his age, if he is unable +to profit like other children from the education provided, this shows +that he has not the same degree or the same kind of intelligence as +his companions, and there is a presumption, if not an absolute +demonstration, that his intelligence is inferior to the average, or +that his character is different. + +From these statements, which we have expounded at length elsewhere,[6] +it follows that not only the head-master, but an entire stranger, can +determine which are the less intelligent children, the less well +adapted to that school, without taking the trouble to interrogate them +all individually. It is only necessary to compare their position in +school with their age. + +We thus obtain no merely subjective appreciation, but a simple +statement of the actual condition of things. The only thing one must +be careful about is to make allowance for irregular attendance. +Backwardness in school instruction is significant only when it +coincides with regular attendance. At the present time the regulations +as to school attendance are very little respected. In country +districts there are children who do not go to school till they are +eight or nine years of age. It is not surprising that they cannot +read, when no one has taught them. Allowance must also be made for +long illnesses. When the absences have been considerable, their total +amount must be subtracted. A child of nine, who has come to school at +the age of six--_i.e._, the usual age--and who has been absent for +about 250 days, should, from the present point of view, be counted as +eight. The school authorities will have no difficulty in making such +estimates. That is their business, and they will quickly make up their +minds even in a difficult case. One will, of course, bear in mind that +the number of classes differs in different schools, and that certain +classes are parallel. Lastly, one must remember that a defective may, +on account of his age, be placed in a class too advanced for his +knowledge. This, indeed, is often the case. + +Exception may be taken to the role that we have assigned to the +teachers. We may be reminded that about two years ago, when statistics +concerning defectives were being collected by circular, many of the +head-masters replied in a notoriously unsatisfactory manner. Even in +Paris one school was stated to contain 25 per cent. of defectives, +whilst not a single one was acknowledged in another in the same +neighbourhood. This amounted, as M. Bedorez ironically remarked, to an +average of 12 per cent. + +We shall reply, in the first place, by asking whether a mistake has +really been committed. This cannot be taken for granted, since the +proportion of defectives varies enormously from one school to another. +But let us admit a mistake, and ask who is responsible. The master of +the school understood badly what the circular had explained more badly +still. In these circulars we actually read the following definition of +defectives: "Subjects who are in a condition of mental debility, +possessing only a limited intelligence and a limited responsibility, +which do not admit of their acquiring, at the ordinary school and by +the usual methods of education, the average elementary instruction +which the other pupils receive." If one interprets this badly +constructed formula literally, it is evident that half the children of +France must be defective, being of necessity below the average. If the +teacher is to work intelligently, he must have more precise +directions. After having explained to him that a defective child is +one who does not adapt himself, or who adapts himself badly, to school +life, one will tell him that the degrees of non-adaptation vary +indefinitely; for it is quite exceptional for even a defective child +not to adapt himself at all, and to learn absolutely nothing at the +ordinary school. It remains, therefore, to decide what degree of +retardation or of non-adaptation is to be recognised as determining a +defective. + +According to a convention accepted in Belgium, which we modify +slightly, _the retardation which determines a child as a defective is +two years when the child is under nine, and three years when he is +past his ninth birthday_. Here we have a very precise rule, easy to +apply to all children, with the corrections already indicated relating +to school attendance. The rule is, perhaps, a little rigid, we admit, +but it will always be possible to make allowances when examining +closely the individual cases to which it will have to be applied. + +Thus, the method which we have just indicated permits the making of a +first selection. + +This selection will be good, without being final. It will be good, for +it is based upon a wide experience extending over several years. Just +think what it means in the way of inattention and want of +comprehension if a child is three years behind. For our own part, we +consider this evidence from experience of the greatest value. It is +the obvious point of departure. We can and should try to interpret it +and to complete it, but we are not justified in taking no account of +it. Let us even say boldly that if, by some unhappy chance, other +finer methods should conflict with this, and indicate as defective a +child who has shown himself well adapted to school life, it is school +life which should be considered the more important test. How, indeed, +could one call a child defective who succeeds in his studies and +profits by the instruction in the normal way? Thus we sum up by +remarking that _we possess a very simple method which enables us to +recognise all the children whom we have any right to suspect of mental +deficiency_. _This method consists in taking account of the +retardation of the children in their studies._ + + * * * * * + +For the recognition of the ill-balanced children the rule is the same. +The head-master must pick out those children whose undisciplined +character has kept them from submitting to the ordinary school regime, +and has made them a continual source of disturbance. Whilst the +simply defective fail to adapt themselves to school life by reason of +their mental deficiency, the ill-balanced fail owing to their +inco-ordination of character. In the second case, as in the first, +there is a similar defect of adaptation, and the best proof that this +defect is present in a particular child is the continued evidence of +several years, the testimony of different masters, who declare that, +with the best will in the world, they cannot break in the recalcitrant +child to rule. But it must be recognised that the appreciation of want +of balance is more delicate, more subjective, than that of +retardation. The latter is indicated by a definite incontrovertible +fact--the insufficiency of instruction. On the other hand, lack of +balance has only a slight effect on a child's intelligence and his +success in his studies. It is indicated to outsiders especially by the +complaints of the masters. And the latter, to tell the truth, may be +led to exaggerate a little, especially if they see a means thereby of +ridding themselves of children with whom they have not much sympathy. +We shall see in a little, when we speak of the role of the inspector, +how the latter must check the statements of the head-masters. + +=Distribution of the Pupils in a School.=--To put into practice the +principle which we have just formulated, a circular is distributed to +the schools asking the head-masters to arrange the children in each +class according to age upon a blank table furnished to them. The work +is easy, and the return should be required in a maximum period of +eight days. Within this period twenty elementary schools in Paris +supplied us with the information which we asked for through their +inspectors. We give one of these returns, which we shall examine +briefly, insisting only on the essential points. + +We ask, then, that on the table, of which a blank copy is supplied, +the head-master shall give the number of children who on October +1--that is to say, the first day of the session--were of such and such +an age--_e.g._, six or seven years. The normal ages for the different +courses or standards are as follows: + + Preparatory or infant 6 to 7 years of age. + Elementary, first year 7 to 8 " " + Elementary, second year 8 to 9 " " + Intermediate, first year 9 to 10 " " + Intermediate, second year 10 to 11 " " + Senior, first year 11 to 12 " " + Senior, second year 12 to 13 " " + +Thus a child is "regular" in instruction when he is found in the class +named at the age indicated. + +The normal age for the infant class is from six to seven years. The +children of that age are entered in the table in the appropriate +column. Now consider the extreme ages between six and seven which obey +this condition. On the one hand would be a child exactly six years of +age on admission. Such a child is exactly normal as regards age. He is +behind by 0 years, 0 months, 0 days. At the other extreme would be a +child exactly seven--or, rather, one day less than seven--on +admission. Such a child would be behind by exactly one year. +Consequently, the column headed six to seven years for the infant +class contains children behind by 0 day as a minimum, and one year as +a maximum. The average will therefore be behind by six months +(compared to the ideal). Analogous reasoning would show that the +children of the infant class entered in the column headed five to six +years would, on the average, be six months in advance of their age. +Similarly, those shown in the column headed seven to eight years would +be on the average one and a half years behind. + +=Interpretation of the Tables.=--The next point is to sort out the +defectives from these tables. Nothing is easier if we follow the rules +already given. Turning to our tables, we would consider as suspects +the children entered in the fourth and following columns for the +infant class; in column five and following for the elementary course, +first year; in column six and following for the elementary course, +second year; in column eight and following for the intermediate +course, first year; in column nine and following for the intermediate +course, second year. If the reader will calculate the retardation +implied in the columns which we designate, he will see that this +retardation is equal to at least two years under the age of nine, and +equal to at least three years above the age of nine. + +DISTRIBUTION OF PUPILS IN THE SCHOOL FOR BOYS, RUE GRANGE-AUX-BELLES. + + --------+--------+-----------------------+---------------------------- + | | | Number of Pupils who, on + | | | October 1, were-- + | | +------+------+------+------+ + |Regular | | | | | | + Classes| Age | Courses (Parallel |5 to 6|6 to 7|7 to 8|8 to 9| + |(Years).| Classes = A and B).|Years.|Years.|Years.|Years.| + --------+--------+-----------------------+------+------+------+------+ + | |Supplementary | -- | -- | -- | -- | + | |Senior A | -- | -- | -- | -- | + VI. |11 to 12| " B | -- | -- | -- | -- | + V. |10 " 11|Intermediate (2nd year)| -- | -- | -- | -- | + IV. A. | 9 " 10| " (1st year)| -- | -- | -- | 9 | + IV. B. | 9 " 10| " (1st year)| -- | -- | 1 | 4 | + III. | 8 " 9|Elementary (2nd year) | -- | -- | 6 | 14 | + II. | 7 " 8| " (1st year) | -- | 6 | 23 | 8 | + I. | 6 " 7|Preparatory | 3 | 42 | 12 | -- | + --------+--------+-----------------------+------+------+------+------+ + | | Totals | 3 | 48 | 42 | 35 | + --------+--------+-----------------------+------+------+------+------+ + --------+--------+-----------------------+---------------------------- + | | | Number of Pupils who, on + | | | October 1, were-- + | | +------+------+------+------+ + |Regular | | 9 to |10 to |11 to |12 to | + Classes| Age | Courses (Parallel | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | + |(Years).| Classes = A and B).|Years.|Years.|Years.|Years.| + --------+--------+-----------------------+------+------+------+------+ + | |Supplementary | -- | -- | -- | -- | + | |Senior A | -- | -- | -- | -- | + VI. |11 to 12| " B | -- | 6 | 12 | 16 | + V. |10 " 11|Intermediate (2nd year)| 1 | 13 | 17 | 5 | + IV. A. | 9 " 10| " (1st year)| 14 | 9 | 6 | -- | + IV. B. | 9 " 10| " (1st year)| 15 | 10 | 7 | -- | + III. | 8 " 9|Elementary (2nd year) | 11 | 2 | -- | 1 | + II. | 7 " 8| " (1st year) | 6 | -- | -- | 2 | + I. | 6 " 7|Preparatory | -- | 8 | 3 | -- | + --------+--------+-----------------------+------+------+------+------+ + | | Totals | 47 | 48 | 45 | 24 | + --------+--------+-----------------------+------+------+------+------+ + --------+--------+-----------------------+---------------------------- + | | | Number of Pupils who, on + | | | October 1, were-- + | | +------+------+------+ | + |Regular | |13 to |14 to |15 to | | + Classes| Age | Courses (Parallel | 14 | 15 | 16 |Totals.| + |(Years).| Classes = A and B).|Years.|Years.|Years.| | + --------+--------+-----------------------+------+------+------+-------+ + | |Supplementary | -- | -- | -- | -- | + | |Senior A | -- | -- | -- | -- | + VI. |11 to 12| " B | 4 | 1 | -- | 39 | + V. |10 " 11|Intermediate (2nd year)| -- | -- | 2 | 38 | + IV. A. | 9 " 10| " (1st year)| -- | -- | -- | 38 | + IV. B. | 9 " 10| " (1st year)| -- | 2 | -- | 39 | + III. | 8 " 9|Elementary (2nd year) | -- | 1 | -- | 35 | + II. | 7 " 8| " (1st year) | 2 | -- | -- | 47 | + I. | 6 " 7|Preparatory | -- | -- | -- | 68 | + --------+--------+-----------------------+------+------+------+-------+ + | | Totals | 6 | 4 | 2 | 304 | + --------+--------+-----------------------+------+------+------+-------+ + +The number of children suspected of mental deficiency obtained by this +method varies extremely from one school to another, independently of +the mistakes which are made by the head-masters with lamentable +frequency. We have found the proportions varying from 0.2 to 10 per +cent., with all the intermediates represented. The average of suspects +for ten girls' schools, with an average of 300 pupils, was 3.7 per +cent.; for eight boys' schools in the same district, and strictly +comparable to the preceding, it was 5.35 per cent. It must be clearly +understood that these figures are provisional. They do not correspond +to real defectives, but to children _suspected_ of mental deficiency; +and, moreover, they do not include the unstable, unless they are also +defective. + +Having made these deductions, one writes to the head-masters, or +perhaps summons them to a meeting, in order to ascertain the names of +these children and various other particulars. + +These particulars will refer to three main points: + +1. Give the full names and date of birth of the backward children (by +two or three years, according to the distinctions given above), and +indicate also whether the retardation is explained by irregular +attendance, by want of application, or defective intelligence. + +2. Indicate the children who, although they do not belong to the +preceding category, yet appear to be distinctly abnormal. + +3. Indicate also the children who are ill-balanced and rebellious to +all discipline in the opinion of several teachers who have had them in +their classes. + +We have already received replies which seem to us instructive, and +even carry us beyond the study of the abnormal, as they may throw some +light on the psychology of those who are commonly called "dunces." As +a general rule, the children classed as retarded are the victims of +disease, constitutional debility, or malnutrition. We find included in +our lists some who are the children of nomadic parents; some who have +been kept from school; some who have attended a religious school, +where they learned little but sewing and writing; some who have +changed their school too often; some also who are foreigners, and +understand little French; and, lastly, some who have been kept back in +their studies by unrecognised myopia. Such causes are extrinsic to the +child. The personal causes of retardation are defective intelligence, +sluggishness of mind, insubordination, an eccentric and excitable +nature, a constant want of attention, and, lastly, laziness. + +The complete and methodical study of the documents relating to 223 +children with a retardation of three years has taught us a number of +interesting facts. It is very rare for the cause of the retardation to +be single. Usually, several causes were at work simultaneously. +Feebleness of mind complicated by illness is noted in 20 per cent. of +the cases. Insufficient school attendance (due to other causes than +illness), in conjunction with feebleness of mind, is met with in 25 +per cent. of cases. If, without taking account of those associations +of causes, one enumerates simply the frequency with which each single +cause of retardation is mentioned, one obtains the following +percentages: + + Feebleness of mind 50 per cent. + Insufficient attendance (without illness) 33 " + Illness 25 " + Lack of application, laziness 7 " + +If we admit, as a hypothesis, that the frequency of each of those four +principal causes indicates its importance, we shall conclude that +laziness very rarely explains a retardation so great as three years, +and that the most important factor is undoubtedly feebleness of mind. +We should have expected the teachers to give much more frequently the +banal reason of lack of application. They have not done so, and these +results confirm in a quite unexpected manner the convention according +to which every retardation of three years should make one suspect +feebleness of mind. + +It would be interesting to know whether any children really defective +in intelligence escape the revelation furnished by our tables. We have +put this question in writing to the heads of the schools, and they +have notified fifteen children, or 6 per cent., who seem to them to be +clearly defective, although without a retardation of three years. On +testing the statement, we found that mistakes had been made, and the +sole residue of defectives who had escaped our census consisted of +three subjects who wanted only a month or a few weeks to have shown +clearly a retardation of three years. They were therefore on the +border, and such exceptional cases are always to be found when one +fixes an exact limit. There is no need to worry about them. + +=Hostile Head-Masters and Teachers.=--It is important to state that +the procedure for selection which we have outlined can be carried out +without the concurrence of the head-masters. As a matter of fact, one +has to be prepared for everything, even the hostility of the school +staff. It may be that a head-master who has a defective in his school +refrains from mentioning the fact. It may be that he is indifferent, +or does not believe in special education, or simply does not choose to +put himself about; or, again, he may be timid and afraid of trouble, +or may shrink from the recriminations of parents, behind whom he sees +the hostile shadow of some town councillor or journalist. Lastly, he +may be an ignoramus who, even at this time of day, imagines that a +child cannot be a defective unless he has incontinence of urine or a +sugar-loaf head. We have already come across several fellows of this +kind. The sceptical type is most common. We recollect a head-master +who, in response to our inquiry, replied with irritating calmness: "I +have five hundred pupils in my school. I am sure that not one of them +is a defective. You are of a different opinion. Well, my school is +open. Come and see for yourself." And he added with a sceptical smile: +"The school doctor and myself will be very curious to learn how you +manage the inquiry." As a matter of fact, the proportion of defectives +in his school was just the usual one--about 2 per cent. + +At the time when the Government Commission was holding its inquiry as +to the number of defectives, we found in the statistical tables which +we had in our hands that whole towns, even as important as +Fontainebleau, had replied "None," yet we knew by personal inquiry +that that reply was wrong. + +The systematic reticence of the head-master is therefore already in +evidence, and will certainly turn up again even when the law is in +full operation. Doubtless wiser counsels will prevail in the long run, +and opposition will become less. But it will never disappear entirely. +However, one will not be affected by it in picking out the backward +children, but the children who are abnormal, though not backward, and +the ill-balanced children, will perhaps escape, unless the inspector +visits the school, and, knowing the disposition of the head-master, +takes the precaution of questioning the teachers as to the children in +their class who give them the most trouble in regard to discipline. As +a rule the masters have an interest in pointing out these pupils in +the hope that they will be removed. + + +B THE ROLE OF THE PRIMARY INSPECTOR: TO ACT AS REFEREE. + +In the pedagogical examination the inspector should exercise a measure +of control. It is he who sets the teachers to fill up the schedules, +who interprets the returns, and estimates their value. + +Work is better done when it is subject to inspection. The head-masters +will take more care in the selection of the defectives if they know +that all their cases will be examined by a person whose competence is +equal to their own, and whose position is higher. The inspector, who +is generally well acquainted with his personnel, will see at a glance +what he ought to think of the returns which are furnished to him. He +knows that one master is too severe, and another too indulgent. He has +to restrain the overzealous, to stimulate the indifferent, and +encourage the despondent. When it is a question of estimating a +child's want of balance, it is necessary to know the character of the +judge. Some good teachers fail to gain the necessary ascendancy over +one of their pupils, either because they are indulgent where +strictness is necessary, or because by excessive brusqueness and +severity they alienate natures which require to be humoured. The +inspector will succeed in taking all these things into account. He +will interpret correctly the facts which are laid before him, because +it is his business, his _metier_. + +=Significance of Irregular Attendance.=--The inspector will begin, let +us suppose, by examining the returns given concerning the backward +children. From the notes sent to him he will be able to distinguish +between the children whose backwardness is due to irregular attendance +and those who may justly be suspected of mental deficiency or want of +balance. He will thus make a first selection. + +Here are some examples of the notes referred to: + + _Renne G----_, age thirteen years, is in the intermediate + course, second year; she is therefore three years behind for her + age. The explanation given by the teacher is as follows: "Had + contagious ophthalmia; not admitted to school till ten. + Intelligence middling." If the return is correct, one is not + surprised that the child has not made more progress. + + _Suzanne M----_, age twelve and a half years (two years behind); + always very delicate and frequently absent; of average + intelligence. + + _Yvonne D----_, age ten and a half years (two years behind); + lived a long time on a boat without going to school; + intelligence average; very industrious. + + _Eugenie V----_, age eleven and a half years (three years + behind); educated at a convent school until October last; + intelligence little developed; slow of comprehension; writes and + sews pretty well; spelling poor. + + _Suzanne B----_, age eleven and a half years (two years behind); + an intelligent and industrious child, who has travelled much + with her parents, and afterwards stayed in a little + boarding-house. At school since October; she has made great + progress. + + _Anna E----_, age eleven and a half years (two years behind); + born in German Switzerland, brought up in England, and has been + in Paris only a year and a half. + + _Germaine G----_, age ten years (three years behind); very + short-sighted. It was only last year that it was noticed that + this defect of vision was keeping the child from learning to + read. Since spectacles were provided she has made rapid + progress. + + _Marguerite L----_, age ten years (two years behind). This child + has some affection of the eyes; she has been operated on several + times. + +Without pretending to give a final opinion on the above cases, one may +believe that the retardation is due to the ailment or to irregular +attendance. If it were necessary, one might make further inquiries at +the schools previously attended by the child, or find out at the +present school the exact number of days of absence. + +In other cases it seems clear that it is the intelligence of the child +that is at fault. For example-- + + _Jeanne L----_, age ten years (two years behind); attends school + regularly; stupid and lazy. + + _Hortense G----_ (two years behind); irritable temper; very + backward in arithmetic and spelling; intelligence mediocre. + + _Marie R----_ (two years behind); intelligence very mediocre; + inattentive; progress very slow. + + _Blanche B----_ (three years behind); intelligence much below + the average; has some slight aptitude for sewing and arithmetic, + but very backward otherwise; incapable of giving a reply + indicative of good sense and reflection. + + _Jeanne B----_ (two years behind); intelligence decidedly + mediocre; none of her answers particularly sensible. + +When the inspector has read these notes and formed an opinion on the +children, and obtained as far as necessary additional information +about their school attendance,[7] etc., he will make his first choice. +He will decide which children are to be examined, and will have them +brought to him. + +Be it understood, then, that the child must now be presented, and that +it is by questioning him that the inspector will form an opinion of +his mental level. This examination is important. The inspector must +observe the child, induce him to talk, watch the play of his features. +In this way he receives a living impression which rarely deceives an +experienced eye. He will even chat with him a little about +something--for example, the occupation of his parents.... After these +preliminaries, the examination proper begins. It includes the +estimation of the degree of instruction and the degree of +intelligence. + + +Tests of Instruction. + +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 class, or is even incapable of +following the lessons. Thus, it may be that his class 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 class +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 class +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 passing 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. 11-1/2d.) | + ----------+--------------+--------------+---------------------+ + ----------+-----------------------+-------------------------------- + | 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 petit + | | | | 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 class. + + ---------------+----------------------------------------------+------- + | | + | 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 pass from syllabic reading to +hesitating reading, but the passage 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 retardation. We draw them from our own observations made +in a class for defectives in Paris. + + -------+--------------+-----------------------+--------------- + Name. | Age. | Grade of Reading. | Retardation. + -------+--------------+-----------------------+--------------- + Coch | 14 years | _Hesitating_-fluent | 6 years + Grio | 10-1/2 " | Hesitating-fluent | 2-1/2 " + Sev | 13-1/2 " | Hesitating-fluent | 5 " + Coff | 11 " | Syllabic-hesitating | 4 " + Ro | 12 " | Syllabic-_hesitating_ | 5 " + Ostro | 12-1/2 " | 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 class +and the hesitating reading of the elementary class, first year. One +may calculate the retardation 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 retardation of only six months. + +=Arithmetic.=--Although arithmetical ability depends upon special +aptitude, 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 L6. + 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 Class-- |Points. + of-- | | Class. | | | + --------+-------+---------+-------+--------------------------+------- + 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 class 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 retardation. + + 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 retardation. Little Roger, who is ten and a half + years, and cannot yet read by syllables, has only four and a + half years of retardation, 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 + retardation of four years and a half. The error of this method + of calculation is at once apparent. The real significance of + retardation is proportionate to the class and course which the + pupil has reached. We shall return presently to the exact + estimation of retardation. + + Let us quote another example to show the application of the + arithmetical test. + + _Ostrow_, twelve and a half years, replies correctly to + questions 1, 2, and 3. At the fourth he hesitates and begins by + multiplying 7 by 89, and obtains as answer 783, which is doubly + inexact, because he ought not to have multiplied, and the + multiplication is incorrect. Then he draws back, and tries a + division of 89 by 7; he obtains an incorrect answer (11), which + does not satisfy him. Finally, he tries a multiplication: says 7 + times 10 makes 70. He next adds 7 several times to reach 89, but + he becomes confused, and finishes by finding the number 13, + which is almost correct. This child is therefore at stage 4; he + does not clear it, but he attempts it. Look at the scale. We + give him full points for Problems 1, 2, and 3, plus 2 points for + Problem 4, or a total of 8, which puts him at the level of + children of eight and a half years, which amounts to a + retardation of four years. + +=Spelling.=--The test of spelling is a piece of dictation given +individually or collectively. The scale contains the first phrases of +the dictation. We reproduce them all here, pointing out the +grammatical difficulties which they contain, and the scale for marking +faults which seemed to us most fair. [We quote the phrases in French, +as a translation would not indicate the real difficulties. It will be +observed that in many cases correct spelling implies grammatical +knowledge.--TR.] + + _Phrase 1._--To write phonetically, without liaison, a phrase + dictated in the ordinary vocabulary of the child. + + _Example._--Emile est un petit eleve bien sage; il ecoute son + papa et sa maman; il va a l'ecole. + + _Phrase 2._--To put the _s's_ of the plural to words chosen from + the vocabulary of the child. + + _Example._--J'ai une tete, deux bras, deux jambes, une bouche, + vingt dents, une langue, et dix doigts. + + _Phrase 3._--Plural of qualifying adjectives in simple cases; + verbs to the third person plural, present indicative. + + _Example._--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_. + + _Phrase 4._--Feminine of the qualifying adjectives without + phonetic indication; verbs with the plural endings _ons_, _ont_, + _ez_, _aient_. + + _Exercise._--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 poules, le + chien, _allaient_ et _venaient_. + + _Phrases 5, 6, and 7._--Finals of verbs in the singular of the + different tenses of the four conjugations. Past participle with + or without _avoir_. Infinitive in _er_, and past participle in + _e_. + + _Example._--Joyeux merle, ne _viens_ pas dans le bocage. + _Prends_ garde a ce mechant qui _veut_ te saisir et + t'_enfermer_. Pendant que je te _parle_, tu _viens picorer_ les + raisins que l'oiseleur a _disposes_ comme un piege. Ils sont + _garnis_ de glu: si tu y _touches_, c'en est fait de ta liberte. + +_Method of Marking Mistakes._ + + One mistake for a letter omitted. + One mistake for a letter too much. + One mistake for a letter substituted for another. + + There may therefore be several mistakes in the same word, but + the number of mistakes for any word cannot be greater than the + number of letters in the word. A word omitted counts as many + mistakes as it has letters. + + The liaison of two words counts for one mistake. Failure to join + the two parts of a word also counts one mistake. + +It is to be noticed that we do not speak of grades of spelling--that +is to say, of different phrases which the children of each age should +be able to write without mistake. No doubt such could be found. But we +have been content to count the mistakes; it is by the number of +mistakes that the children of each age are distinguished. + +The dictation given in February by M. Vaney in his school and +corrected by the teachers there has enabled us to draw up the +following table, which shows the number of mistakes committed, counted +by the method indicated above:[8] + + ---------------+------+---------------------+------------------------ + | | | Phrases. + | | +----+----+----+----+---- + Children. |Class.| Course. |1st |2nd |3rd |4th |5th + ---------------+------+---------------------+----+----+----+----+---- + 6 to 7 years | 1 | Preparatory |13 |22 | -- | -- |-- + 7 to 8 years | 2 | Elementary (first | 6 |15 | 32 | -- |-- + | | year) | | | | | + 8 to 9 years | 3 | Elementary (second | 2 |10 | 19 | 20 |-- + | | year) | | | | | + 9 to 10 years | 4 | Intermediate (first | 0 | 2 |6.6 |6.9 |17 + | | year) | | | | | + 10 to 11 years | 5 | Intermediate (second| 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 |12 + | | year) | | | | | + 11 to 12 years | 6 | Senior | 0 | 0 |0.6 |0.7 | 5 + ---------------+------+---------------------+----+----+----+----+---- + +To show how we classify a child from the point of view of spelling, +let us take an example. We shall choose _Ostrow_, the defective whom +we have already tested in arithmetic. He writes the first phrase with +one mistake, the second with one mistake, the third with eight +mistakes; he is at the level of a child of nine to ten (_vide_ Table, +p. 54). He has therefore a retardation of three years. He must be +reckoned as slightly feeble-minded.[9] + +We now understand the manner of judging the capacity of a child in +arithmetic, reading, and spelling. Which of all these tests is of the +greatest value? We shall reply to this question by giving a summary +in a few words of the tests we applied to twenty children in a special +class. The amount of retardation varied considerably from one child to +another, and for the same child from one test to another. On the +average, the amount of retardation was 3.3 years for spelling, 4 years +for reading, and 4.5 years for arithmetic. These children did not do +so badly in spelling; there was even one who was at the normal level. +It was especially in the problems that their deficiency was +noticeable, because the problem requires not only memory, but some +understanding. They have great difficulty in defining what is the +proper arithmetical operation. When addition is necessary they have a +tendency to subtract, and if they ought to divide they will more +readily multiply. These mistakes lead to absurd results, which usually +do not put them about, unless their attention is drawn to the +absurdity. A defective will admit quite readily that if I have 604 +apples, and sell 58, I shall have 662 left. These results show that in +the ordinary school they do, we will not say too much spelling, but +too little arithmetic in comparison to the amount of spelling. +Finally, we again insist upon the evidential value of methodical +tests. We demand that the elementary school inspector should have +these tests carried out without assistance to the pupils, without +intervention to indicate the solution or the step to take. He must +neither assist nor do the lesson, but simply note the result achieved. +He must therefore reduce himself to the easy role of a benevolent +spectator. + +=Retardation and Knowledge Percentage.=--We said above, in estimating +retardation, account should be taken of the course to which the pupil +belongs--that is to say, the grade of instruction to which he has +already attained. A child of nine years of age who has a retardation +of three years has learned absolutely nothing; on the other hand, a +child of twelve years who has a retardation of three years has learned +something, since he has reached the intermediate course, first year. +The difference between the two pupils is apparent; probably it will +increase still more as years go on. To understand the matter clearly, +it is necessary to compare the amount of retardation with the period +of school attendance. The latter may be represented by the figure 100. +Thus, our child of nine, who has learned nothing, has a retardation of +three years in three years at school--that is to say, a percentage of +0; our child of twelve, who is in the "intermediate course, first +year," has made in six years half the normal progress; he has +therefore a "knowledge percentage" of 50. Such figures have evidently +a quite different significance from those of the amount of +retardation. Our opinion is that it suffices to make use of the simple +calculation of retardation in selecting the defectives, for it is an +easy and useful method; but when one is in the presence of a child, +and desires to estimate his knowledge, not only for the actual moment, +but with reference to his future and his capacity for learning, it is +necessary to note also, and more especially, his "knowledge +percentage." + +We suggest the following schedule to be filled up after the +examination of the child: + +=Examination of Instruction of a Child proposed for Special Class.= + + Date of examination: + Place of examination: + Full name of pupil: + Date of birth of pupil: + This child has attended .......... school, ...... class. + Attendance regular or irregular? + Has he been able to follow his class? + What is the amount of his retardation? + _Reading._ + (Syllabic, hesitating, fluent, expressive, intermediate--_e.g._, + fluent-expressive.) + Observations on reading: + _Arithmetic._ + The pupil can do the problems noted without mistake: + (Refer to scale.) + Observations on arithmetic: + _Spelling._ + Phrase dictated: + Number of mistakes: + _Conclusion._ + Retardation in reading (taking account of school attendance): + Retardation in arithmetic (_ibid._): + Retardation in spelling (_ibid._): + Knowledge percentage: + Name and position of examiner: + +In spite of the lengthy details into which we enter, it is evident +that all this work of examination can be done pretty rapidly. The +arithmetic alone is a little long, because it is necessary to allow +time to put the child at his ease. We may put the total examination at +fifteen minutes. Often it will be possible to abridge the time. The +inspector is now in a position to estimate the retardation of the +pupil and his knowledge percentage. He has several means at his +disposal--the evidence of the teachers, the notes concerning the +pupil, the examination of his copybook, observation of the attitude of +the child, his physiognomy, etc., and, above all, the exact and +personal test which he has made. + +Is this enough? When the inspector has established the retardation and +determined its causes, may he, should he, give his opinion +immediately? In most cases, without doubt, a further inquiry is not +necessary. But in other cases the need of further inquiry is felt. +Instruction is not everything, and there are some children who have +difficulty in assimilating school knowledge owing to want of aptitude, +to inattention, to laziness, who are yet quite intelligent. It is the +intelligence of these children that one would like to determine, and +for this it is necessary to make use of some tests of intelligence. We +propose, therefore, for the inspectors a last examination, a +psychological one. Let no one accuse us of complicating the +examinations. We do not impose them, we do not even advise them in +all cases. But these tests are none the less very valuable tools to +which one is very happy to have recourse when one feels embarrassed. + + +PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINATION. + +This consists in putting the following questions,[10] which have been +grouped in such a manner that the four first can be answered by normal +children at seven years of age, the five following by normal children +at nine years of age, and the four last by normal children at eleven +years of age. + + +Tests of Intelligence. + +_Seven Years._ + + 1. If you were late for school, what would you do? + + 2. If you lost a train, what would you do? + + 3. If one is lazy and does not want to work, what happens? + + 4. If you were tired and had not enough money to take an + omnibus, what would you do? + +_Nine Years._ + + 5. If one needed sixpence, how could one get it? + + 6. Why should we not spend all our money, but put a little past? + + 7. If you break an object that does not belong to you, what + should you do? + + 8. If a companion should strike you without meaning it, what + should you do? + + 9. If you require some good advice, what should you do? + +_Eleven Years._ + + 10. Before taking part in anything important, what should you + do? + + 11. Why do we forgive a bad deed done in anger more readily than + a bad deed done without anger? + + 12. If anyone asks your opinion about a person whom you know + very little, what would you do? + + 13. Why should one judge a person by his acts rather than by his + words? + +These questions present various difficulties, both in thought and in +vocabulary. We have tried them upon a great number of school children, +and they correspond pretty exactly to the level of children at the +ages indicated. + +The answers of the children may be good, passable, mediocre, or +negative (the child makes no reply), or even absurd or unintelligible. +In marking the replies one does not take account of a wrong word or an +awkward phrase, but considers the meaning and whether the child has +really understood. It may seem that marking these replies would be +rather delicate and arbitrary, but in practice the difficulty is not +great. Here are some examples: + +(10) The reply, "Ask some capable person, a master, a parent," is a +good reply. "Ask it," "Listen for it," are passable replies. + +(7) The reply, "Pay and apologize," is good. "Pay for it," is +passable. + +(8) The reply, "Forgive him," is better than the reply, "Don't tell +tales." + +(1) The reply, "Hurry up," is better than, "Ring the bell," "Hurry +to-morrow," "One is kept in." + +(3) The reply, "One remains ignorant," is better than, "One is +punished." + +(4) The reply, "Take a rest, then walk," is better, being more +explicit, than simply, "Walk." + +We mark the good replies 3, the passable 2, the mediocre 1, the absurd +and silence 0. Silence sometimes makes one hesitate. It may result +from timidity, or even from prolonged reflection. It is necessary, +without changing the form of the question, to encourage the child and +to press him to reply. With a little practice one can easily see who +is trying to find an answer and who does not understand. + +We have stated that normal children of eleven years of age replied to +the questions 10 to 13. It must be understood that by this we mean +that the majority replied. There are no tests which can characterise +all the subjects without exception of a given group. There are always +failures. By way of example, we shall quote the observations we made +in an elementary school with our questions 10 to 13, which we put to +all the children of eleven, who were distributed, according to their +ability, in the different classes. There were thirty-six of these +pupils. The maximum of marks obtainable was 12, since there were four +questions, and a good reply was worth 3. We then obtained the +following averages: + +Tests of Intelligence put to Normal Children of Eleven Years of Age. + + Average Marks. + Senior, first year 11 + Intermediate, second year 6 + Intermediate, first year 4.7 + +In the "intermediate course, second year," there were two children who +obtained 0 and 1. In the "intermediate course, first year," there were +four who got 0, and one who got only 1. What were these pupils, who +had certainly not reached the average intellectual level of eleven +years? Two are said to be defectives by the head-master. Let us +subtract them, and there remain five; and these work sufficiently well +to remain in their class and to follow the lessons. Their success is a +very important fact. A child may not have very much intelligence, but +if he has a good memory, application, and will, he is regular in his +studies, and this compensates for the mental feebleness. We have often +noticed this. If a child is regular in his school work, the question +whether he is a defective does not present itself. It only presents +itself if the case is reversed. Supposing he is very clearly backward, +by two years, by three years, with a sufficient school attendance. If, +in spite of this retardation, the psychological examination shows that +he is all the same quite intelligent, this is a favourable +circumstance of which he should have the advantage. In other terms, +the psychological examination is capable of showing that he is normal, +even when he is behindhand in his studies. This examination cannot, in +any case, serve to make him be regarded as defective if he is regular +in his studies. This is why we place this examination last. + +Here are some very good replies from normal children: + + _G. R----_: + + 10. It would be necessary to consider where the affair would + lead us. + + 11. Because when a bad action is done without anger one knows + what one is doing, while when one is angry one does not know + what one is doing. + + 12. One should say nothing. If one does not know the person one + cannot tell what he is. + + 13. By his words he may deceive us. By his acts we can tell what + he is. + + _G----_: + + 10. It is necessary to think what one is going to do. + + 11. Because when one acts without anger one has thought + beforehand, and is more to blame; while, on the other hand, it + is an act of passion, and afterwards one regrets what one has + done. + + 12. I would say that it would be necessary to know him first and + then afterwards to judge him, not to say anything bad or good + about him without knowing him. + + 13. Because there are people who say words and often do not do + them. + +Here are some replies which are mediocre or absurd: + + 12. You should try to ask the particulars of the person you do + not know. (Mediocre.) + + 13. Because his acts are more terrible while his words are less + threatening. (Mediocre.) + + 11. Because the action which has been done in anger is not so + violent. (Mediocre.) + + 13. Because you must not speak after the person who speaks. + (Absurd.) + +In a class of defectives of eleven years of age we obtained from seven +children an average of replies equal to 1.3. This figure, therefore, +is considerably less than that of the normal children regular in +their studies, and even than that of the normal with a retardation of +two years. Let us note in passing a very curious fact. We had had to +examine these defectives before their admission into the special +class. Now, the teachers sent us as defective two children who were +clearly intelligent, for one of them obtained five marks and the other +eight. Let us give the replies of the latter, whose name was Cler, age +eleven years: + + 10. You would have to think. (Good.) + + 11. Because anger is less serious. (Absurd.) + + 12. Say nothing bad about him, because I do not know him well. + (Good.) + + 13. Because words are not correct. It is not certain that he + will do it. (Passable.) + +These replies are evidently not very brilliant, but they are so +superior to the level of a defective that we have sent this child back +to the ordinary school. We have since learned a fact which was not +originally communicated to us. This child came from the country, and +he did not begin to go to school until the age of ten. + +To sum up, we offer the psychological examination as a means of +rehabilitating a child who has a marked degree of retardation. That is +its sole utility. Never, in any case, must this examination be used to +label as defective a child who keeps up with his lessons. + + * * * * * + +A last word regarding the necessity of these examinations. + +We know that, after having read the preceding pages, more than one +inspector, more than one teacher, will exclaim, "What is the use of +all this? I am quite accustomed to questioning children, and I don't +require such precautions in order to distinguish between those who are +intelligent and those who are not. By two or three questions which are +quite familiar to me I can judge the state of instruction." + +We have paid homage to the ability of the teachers and inspectors +sufficiently often to be permitted to maintain here against those who +would contradict us the necessity of our methods or of others of a +similar kind. In order to determine the degree of intelligence or the +state of instruction of a child one would require to have in mind the +normal levels. Now, frankly, who knows what these are? Let any +inspector, any teacher, glance over our test questions. He will be +very much at a difficulty to say whether it is at nine years or at +seven years that a child ought to be able to reply suitably to a +particular question. We will go even farther. Let an inspector look at +our scale, and say at what age reading is "fluent," at what age a +child should write the third phrase with less than ten mistakes. Just +let him try, and he will find the result. Let us add that people who +are neither inspectors nor teachers will be still more embarrassed. We +recollect that at the recent opening of a special class some eminent +people appeared much astonished at the intelligence of the pupils. +They were surprised at children of twelve years who made replies of +which in reality normal children of eight should have been capable. It +is impossible to form a correct judgment about matters so delicate +unless one makes use of exact tests. We insist upon this because we +foresee that all who visit the class for defectives will be subject to +this illusion. All the more will they have an optimistic tendency to +overestimate the intelligence and instruction of the children since +they know in advance that they are going to see defectives, and +consequently have a preconceived expectation of seeing degraded +imbeciles with low foreheads and dirty habits. They will be quite +surprised to find that the great majority of defectives do not answer +to this description, and seeing that they have fallen into an error, +they will correct themselves as usual by falling into the opposite +mistake. + +=Estimation of Want of Balance.=--If it is easy to determine +backwardness by a direct examination of a child's state of +instruction, the difficulty of establishing a lack of mental balance +is, on the other hand, very great. Such want of balance is indicated +by breaches of discipline, inattention, naughtiness, lying, violence, +brutality, etc. But it would be a very unruly child who would not +behave quietly when taken apart by the inspector. Isolated in the +examination room, surrounded by strange, grave people, the child +shrinks into himself. He has little occasion or desire for a display +of rebellion or naughtiness when his comrades are not there to admire +him. Possibly an exact estimation of his reactions, of his motor +ability, of his power of attention, would indicate the presence of +some anomalies; but this is not certain, and is not to be relied upon. +There may be some hope in that direction for the pedagogy of the +future, but scientific investigations cannot help us to-day. In short, +mental want of balance cannot, in the majority of cases, be the object +of direct examination. + +How, then, can it be estimated? Indirectly, by the evidence of others. + +The inspector, then, must be content to accept the facts which are +given to him by the teacher, but he must not accept them altogether on +trust. Are these facts correct? Are they probable? Is any evidence of +them to be found? Have they been altered in the telling? Such will be +the first queries to awaken the critical spirit of the inspector. Then +it must not be forgotten that he can question the parents, and hear +their replies before letting them know the opinion of the teacher, and +that everything they say will help him to judge not only the child, +but the family circumstances in which he lives. The ill-balanced are +often spoiled, or only children, or children not looked after, or +children whose father has disappeared. The sons of widows form a +considerable contingent. Now, the inspector will gain a good deal of +information from the school history of the child. The ill-balanced is +a nomad. He has attended several schools. It is important to find out +what impression he has left behind him. The proof of want of balance +is not to be taken from a single teacher. If three teachers, at least, +whose pedagogic reputation is good, agree about a child, the chances +are that their estimate is correct. The inspector will resort to such +controls, and if he is not satisfied, and if the alleged facts are not +very serious, he will remove the child to another class or another +school rather than send him to a class for defectives. + +=Elimination of Hospital or Asylum Cases.=--Only defectives likely to +improve are to be admitted to the special schools. That is only common +sense. Everyone knows that the epithet "defective" does not belong to +a single type. There are various categories which extend between two +extremes: the purely _vegetative idiot_ who cannot speak, or walk, or +even feed himself; and the slightly _feeble-minded_, who may easily be +taken for normal. In spite of all our sympathy for these poor +creatures whom Nature has treated so cruelly, we could not think of +supplying them without distinction with all the benefits of education. +It is certain that the worst affected would not profit much thereby. +It is pure folly to devote six or eight years to teaching the letters +to a child who will never be able to read, or who, if he should manage +to read a little, will not understand what he reads. To such an +unfortunate it is quite enough to give lessons in walking, feeding, +dressing himself, and in simple occupations, such as dusting or +sweeping. Such cases do not require schools so much as places where +they can be taken care of. These will cost less to establish, +especially in the country. Educational efforts should be concentrated +on the defectives who are less profoundly affected. It is they alone +whom one should try to instruct. This is the practice which is rightly +followed abroad. For administrative purposes the defectives of +different grades may be divided into two groups, medical cases and +educational cases, or preferably, in order to obviate the use of the +equivocal term "medical," we may speak simply of hospice cases and +school cases to show the difference in their destination. The exact +terms employed matter little so long as we understand what we mean by +the words. + +We have just pointed out the importance of reserving the schools for +defectives for improvable cases. But it is necessary to correct this +word "improvable," because all defectives can be improved more or +less. Their asserted _arrest_ of development is not complete, and the +expression is equivocal. It would be better to replace the word +"improvable" by the following more precise phrase: "Capable of being +taught to gain, in part, their own living." Which of them are in this +position? Unfortunately, we do not know. All such questions should +have been solved long ago, since thousands of defectives have passed +into the hospices. It would have been enough to have followed them up, +to have found out what became of them, and to have drawn conclusions. +But this has never been done methodically, and for the present we are +reduced to conjecture. The nearest estimate we can form is that the +social value of any individual case, not epileptic, is in inverse +proportion to the degree of deficiency; the imbecile would seem to be +more improvable than the idiot, and the feeble-minded than the +imbecile. But this is simply hypothesis, and we accept it quite +provisionally, until exact investigations have been made which will +permit us to replace conjecture by demonstrated truth. Consequently we +shall open wide the doors of the school to the feeble-minded and close +them to the idiots, while as to the imbeciles, we shall have to find +out whether the proper place for them is the school or the hospice. It +will be necessary to find out in what measure, and at the price of +what effort, an imbecile can be instructed to the point, say of being +able to read. There are two other indications which may help us. Cases +of _acquired_ mental deficiency--that is to say, cases who have +become defective as the result of something which affected them after +birth--are usually less improvable than _congenital_ cases, or cases +where the deficiency is due to some cause acting before birth. And, +secondly, cases affected by epilepsy, with fits or frequent attacks of +vertigo, usually undergo a progressive mental deterioration. + +What distinctions can we draw between the different degrees of mental +deficiency? Such a question, we think, might be asked with regard to +the ill-balanced as well as the defective. With respect to the former, +we have no criterion at present to offer. It will be enough to pick +out and send to the hospices _the most ill-balanced_, those whose +presence among normal children would be a danger owing to the +perversion of their instincts or the brutality of their impulses. + +With regard to mental deficiency, we think it possible to formulate +precise definitions which will enable all competent persons to agree +as to the diagnosis of idiocy, imbecility, and feeble-mindedness. We +are aware that in making this statement we are running counter to the +general practice of medical alienists. When these, in an admission +certificate, call a child "idiot," "feeble-minded," or "imbecile," +they are rarely in agreement with the confrere who, a few days later, +examines the same child, and makes a new diagnosis. We have made a +methodical comparison between the admission certificates filled up for +the same children with a few days' interval by the doctors of +Sainte-Anne, Bicetre, the Salpetriere, and Vaucluse. We have compared +several hundreds of these certificates, and we think we may say +without exaggeration that they looked as if they had been drawn by +chance out of a sack. This is a fact which many alienists have already +suspected, and Dr. Blin[11] has expressed himself frankly on the +subject. + +What is the cause of such contradictions? They result, in great +measure from the use of ill-defined terms. To the majority of +alienists, the idiot is one who is _profoundly_ affected in his mental +faculties, the imbecile is _a little less_, and the feeble-minded +_less still_. What mean those words: "profoundly," "a little less," +"less still"? No one defines them. They are taken to be indefinable. +It is no wonder they are understood so differently. All this trouble +would disappear if the following definitions were adopted: + + +DEFINITION OF AN IDIOT. + +_An idiot is any child who never learns to communicate with his kind +by speech--that is to say, one who can neither express his thoughts +verbally nor understand the verbally expressed thoughts of others, +this inability being due solely to defective intelligence, and not to +any disturbance of hearing, nor to any affection of the organs of +phonation._ Since a normal child of two years of age can understand +the speech of others, and can make itself understood by others, so far +as its simple wants are concerned, it is evident that the distinction +between an idiot and a normal child is easily made. + + +DEFINITION OF AN IMBECILE. + +_An imbecile is any child who fails to learn how to communicate with +his kind by means of writing--that is to say, one who can neither +express his thoughts in writing, nor read writing or print, or, more +correctly, understand what he reads, this failure being due to +defective intelligence, and not to any defect of vision or any +paralysis of the arm which would explain his inability._ One will not +count a child an imbecile until he has had much more than the normal +time to learn to read and write. The normal time in schools is six +months. A child who does not yet know his letters after being at +school for two years is likely to be an imbecile. + +Spontaneous writing or writing from dictation must not be confounded +with mere transcription from a copy. The latter is a kind of drawing, +and may be acquired by some who are incapable, from defective +intelligence, of writing from dictation. Nor must real reading be +confused with reading which consists in transforming graphic signs +into sounds without meaning to the reader. The distinction can easily +be made by giving the child in writing some simple order which he is +to carry out, such as "Shut the door," "Knock three times on the +table." + + +DEFINITION OF A FEEBLE-MINDED CHILD. + +_A feeble-minded child is one who can communicate with his kind by +speech or writing, but who shows a retardation of two or three years +(according to the rules already indicated) in his school studies, this +retardation not being due to insufficient or irregular attendance._ + +These distinctions are pedagogical. The inspector will make them +easily. If he is ever in doubt, he has a doctor at hand who will +advise him. + +Obviously the idiot is a case for the asylum or hospice. Obviously +also the feeble-minded is a case for the school. There remains the +imbecile, about whom we may hesitate. From the moment the imbecile +proves himself unable to learn to read or write, his place is in the +workshop. We must find out to what extent he can profit by special +education. + +=True and False Defectives.=--We shall formulate a rule which will +surely meet with no objection. It is that _none but defectives should +be admitted to schools for defectives_. + +The moment we begin to apply this rule in practice, however, we meet +with difficulties. There are normal children who are very backward in +their studies. They cannot profitably follow the proper class for +their age. Such children are numerous, and of great interest +socially. As they are really intelligent they can certainly be helped +to make up for lost time. Various terms have been applied to them, but +it will be simplest to call them "backward" or "ignorant." In Belgium +many such "ignorant" children were admitted to the first school for +defectives. In fact, they formed the majority, and one can understand +how easily the teachers collected them. These are the cases which give +such grand results, and are sometimes exhibited as genuine defectives +who have been improved by teaching. In France it has been agreed that +the ignorant are not to be admitted to the classes for defectives. The +principle is sound. But let us not confuse the questions by +approaching them both at once. Let us consider the defectives first, +the ignorant or backward next. Even when we are agreed as to the +principle, we find difficulties in practice. In the first place, there +are the doubtful cases, children of whom we cannot say, even after +prolonged examination, whether they are defective or backward. Demoor, +in the return he published concerning the pupils of the first school +for defectives at Brussels, noted a considerable number of these +doubtful cases.[12] What should be done with such cases? The best +thing to do is to admit them to the classes for defectives, writing on +their schedule a large mark of interrogation in order to guard against +future deception. Again, it is not always easy to establish irregular +or insufficient attendance when this is the cause of the backwardness. +The child may have been at several schools, and at some the teaching +may have been faulty. There are some schools which practically produce +mediocrity. In the next place, it is necessary to discover the causes +of defective attendance. Sometimes these causes are completely +extrinsic to the nature of the child--frequent removals, constant +domestic disturbances, laxity of the parents, an infirm parent to be +taken care of, etc. In such cases the interpretation presents no +difficulty. But sometimes the case is more embarrassing. It may be a +thin child, who has been out of sorts for a long time. Without being, +properly speaking, of defective intelligence, he is weakly, anaemic, +and consequently incapable of sustained attention. Would it not be +advisable to admit such a case, at least as a temporary measure, into +the class for defectives, until his system had recovered tone? Should +we not also open the door to cases retarded by adenoids? And if we +enter upon this work of charity, shall we not also accept some of +those physically abnormal children who, affected by Little's disease +or Pott's disease, are so little at their ease among their more robust +companions? And what, lastly, is to be done with children retarded in +their studies by an unrecognised myopia? It is evident that the +question ceases to seem simple and easy when regarded closely. We may +rigorously exclude from the class of defectives the child who is +simply ignorant, but there is a whole series of complex cases +intermediate between the ignorant and the defective. The inspector, +let us say in anticipation, will consult his colleague the doctor with +advantage about all these border-line cases. No breach of principle is +involved here. It is necessary to be guided by circumstances. _The +essential point is to mark distinctly upon the child's schedule the +special reasons for his admission, in order to prevent ultimate +deception in the shape of presenting the child as an average defective +who has been improved by tuition in the special class._ + + * * * * * + +We now come to the normal, the really normal cases. There can +evidently be no doubt as to what is to be done with them. They are +provided for. They have only to remain in the ordinary school. We hope +they will be kept there. We hope it; we even demand it with all our +power. But we are not certain that it will be possible to save them +from the special schools. How many vital interests are leagued +against the keeping of that rule! And interests, when they are not +looked after, are like the millions of ship-worms which slowly and +silently corrode the most solid barriers. + +In the first place, there is the interest of the parents. When it is a +question of secondary education, of rich or middle-class parents, +there is nothing to fear. The bourgeois do not love their defectives; +they are ashamed of them. They send them to a distance, to some +private institution. They never speak of them to anyone; they do not +visit them; they abandon them. But the common people have more heart +or less prejudice. They will not be afraid of the special school for +defectives any more than they are of the hospice. When they have a +really defective child in the hospice, they never cease to visit him. +We can imagine the results which such a state of mind will bring +about. If these fathers and mothers of the working class were to hear +of the existence of a boarding-school where children receive board, +lodging, and clothing, they would flock to obtain admission even for +their normal children, although it were well known that the school +admitted only the feeble-minded, defectives, and fools. If necessary, +they would get municipal councillors to back up their demands. This +abuse was practised recently in the case of a reformatory, which was +rapidly filled with ordinary children, whose sole characteristic was +this--that their parents had political backing. + +This fraud--for it is one--will not be perpetrated in the case of the +special schools and classes where no greater material advantages are +given to the pupils than is the case in the public schools, but it is to +be feared that it will recur in the case of special boarding-schools for +defectives. Such schools, if they are not carefully looked after, will +turn out plenty of normal young people! + +And this is not all. It is not only the parents who will try to +deceive. Think also of the heads of the schools for defectives. What +is their interest? Take note of it, for it is important. One should +always try to foresee the results of human frailty. In every new +school which is started one should watch that part of the organisation +which gives most scope for charlatanism. + +The head-masters and the teachers of the defectives will certainly +have a tendency to show off before visitors children who have never +been mentally defective, or who have been so to a very slight degree. +They will take good care to say nothing about the condition of the +child on admission. Or, if necessary, they will tell lies--pious lies, +told in a good cause, and for the honour of the school! These children +will be shown off as advertisements, which will be just as +illegitimate as if the schools for deaf-mutes were to present to +visitors the semi-deaf-mutes, or the deaf who had formerly been able +to hear, and to claim the entire credit for the facility with which +these pupils could read the lips or pronounce words. + +All such impositions will continue to be practised as long as those +who visit such institutions are content to look about and docilely +question the children presented to them by the teachers, instead of +personally selecting the pupils to interrogate. + +There is another reason why the heads of schools for defectives will +keep their doors wide open to normal cases. This is, that in some +cases a dearth of pupils may arise. A school is opened; it begins its +work; the staff signs on. There is not much to do; there is no gossip +about the matter; everyone is happy. But the number of admissions +slowly decreases. It begins to be feared that the inspector will in +his report notice the decrease, and that the school will be closed as +of no public utility. Pupils, therefore, must be found, and if they +must be found, found they will be. Recollect those evening classes +held in the elementary schools, where the teacher, fearing he will +have to speak to empty benches, begs the head-master to send him some +school children as an audience. Think of those libraries, where the +staff, uneasy at the desertion of the public, pays a gratuity to an +industrious reader for show! + +We strongly insist that the inspectors should be alive to this danger. +They will be seated by the side of the manager of the special school. +Let them take note that this manager has a direct vital interest to +admit normal children. It is upon the inspectors that we rely to see +that everything is done honestly and correctly. + +=Schedules of Particulars.=--Full and detailed particulars regarding +every child admitted to a class for defectives should be furnished by +the head-master and teachers of the school from which he came. They +will do this easily, for when a child is a little peculiar he attracts +attention. Abnormal children never escape unnoticed. It is of the +greatest importance that the future teacher of the child in the +special class should be correctly informed, and that what has already +been observed should not be lost. Let it be remembered that the +education of defectives should be individual, _made to measure_, as +has been said with picturesque exaggeration. Now, if the child is to +be individualised, he must be well known, well studied. + +The necessity of some definite method of collecting particulars has +been experienced abroad. A scheme of questions has been prepared, to +be answered by the teacher who sends the child. The plan is a good +one. It avoids the worry of lapses of memory. We suggest the following +questionnaire: + + +PARTICULARS. + +SUPPLIED BY THE ORIGINAL SCHOOL. + + _Concerning_ .......... _Admitted_ .......... + _to the special class at .......... school._ + + GENERAL PARTICULARS. + + Original school: + Full name of child: + Date of birth: + Standard to which he belongs: + Is the child considered mentally defective? + Is the child considered ill-balanced? + + FAMILY HISTORY. + + Names of father and mother: + Address of parents: + Occupation of parents: + Particulars of family which it would be useful to know: + + SCHOOL ATTENDANCE. + + How long has the child attended school? + + What standards has he passed through, and how long was he in + each? + + Regularity of school attendance: How many days was he absent + each year? + + What were the most frequent reasons for absence, if any? + + What other schools has he attended, and at what periods? + +INSTRUCTION. + + What amount of intelligence has he (count from 0 to 20)? + + What do you know of his memory? + + In which subjects does he do least badly? + + In which subjects is he weakest? + + How many years behindhand do you consider him in school + instruction compared with average children of the same age? + + Annex to the present sheet one of his exercise-books and samples + of his drawing and manual work. + +CHARACTER AND DISCIPLINE. + + Conduct in class. Does the child keep his place? Is he sleepy, + unruly, talkative? Does he laugh without apparent cause? Does he + disturb the class? + + Application. Is he attentive in class? Does he do his exercises? + Does he learn his lessons? To what extent does his family assist + him with the school work? + + What is his attitude towards the teacher? How does he receive + remarks? Does he pay attention to them? How often? Is he + indifferent? Is he restive? + + What are his relations with his companions? Is he kind, docile, + compliant? Does he make himself liked? Is he the object of + marked attention? Or is he indifferent? Does he keep apart from + others? Is he bullying, brutal, irascible, untruthful, + dishonest, wicked? Has he any special vices? + +PEDAGOGY. + + What moral influences are most successful for guiding him? + + What is the effect of punishment? Of severity? + + What is the effect of rewards? Of praise? + + Do you require to take any special measures with regard to him + in class or in the playground? + + What are the most successful methods for advancing his + instruction? + +STATE OF HEALTH. + + What do you know of his state of health? Has he incontinence of + urine? Any motor affection? Any defect of speech? Fits? Has he + been examined by a doctor, and do you know the doctor's opinion? + Was any medicine prescribed? What? + + _Date_ ........ _Signature_ ................. + _Position_ .................. + +All the terms of this schedule are readily intelligible to the +teachers. They have filled up a hundred samples in a very satisfactory +manner, and we thus have in our possession a veritable mine of +valuable information. It is to be hoped that the teachers in the +special school may enjoy the same advantage. The plan has been found +of value in other countries. The bulletins which are used in +Rotterdam, for example, scarcely differ from ours except that they are +more laconic. We have included in our questionnaire all that is likely +to interest not only the inspector, but the doctor and the +psychologist. + + * * * * * + +And now to sum up, here are the steps we advise to be taken in +collecting the defectives: + +_First._--The inspector has the pupils of each age in the schools +arranged according to the "standard" or "course" they are in. + +_Second._--By examining the tabulated results, the inspector picks out +the backward, and demands particulars regarding the school attendance +of those who have a retardation of two years (when they are under nine +years of age), and of three years (when they have passed their ninth +birthday). In the same circular the inspector asks the teachers to +name any of their pupils who appear to be mentally ill-balanced--that +is to say, who, according to the testimony of at least two teachers, +are rebellious to discipline and an annoyance in the class. The +particulars with regard to want of discipline should be stated in each +case. + +_Third._--After examining the returns relating to school attendance +and to the faults alleged against the children supposed to be wanting +in balance, the inspector will make his first choice. + +_Fourth._--The direct examination of the child bears specially upon +his state of instruction and degree of intelligence. The inspector +comes to a positive decision with regard to each child, and asks the +opinion of the doctor, as well as of the head of the special school, +who assists. + +_Fifth._--The inspector has a schedule of particulars regarding the +children finally accepted for the special school filled up by their +teachers in the schools from which they came. + +The medical examination will be considered in the next chapter. + +Let us add, in conclusion, that all the decisions arrived at are to be +regarded as provisional; the children are to be admitted to the class +for defectives on trial, to be kept under observation. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[6] See _Annee Psychologique_, vol. xii., p. 1, and vol. x., p. 116. +The method sometimes adopted, for other purposes, of asking the +teacher to classify the children according to their intelligence is +quite fallacious. Teachers make no allowance for age. Recently an +excellent teacher pointed out to us, as the most intelligent in the +class, a child who had really, when his age was taken into account, a +retardation of two years; but in a class of younger children his age +gave him an appearance of mental superiority. [Such facts vitiate much +statistical work on the correlation of "brightness" in school-children +with other qualities.--TR.] + +[7] Teachers have a troublesome habit of saying simply "attendance +regular" or "irregular." The inspector should demand an exact return +of the absences. + +[8] There are two methods of stating the representative value of a +group, the _average_ and the _median_. Everyone knows the average. The +median is obtained by arranging the values in linear series from the +smallest to the greatest and taking the middle one. When should one +use the average, and when the median? It is not easy to give a general +rule, but in this case of spelling, we have a good example. If we wish +to calculate the number of mistakes for each age, to take the average +might be a disastrous proceeding. A single child who made a hundred or +so mistakes would obviously make the average unfairly high. The median +is affected much less by such aberrant cases, and consequently is more +suitable for very heterogeneous series, in which the difference +between the maximum and the minimum is very great. + +[9] By way of comparison, the following dictation was given to +ninety-two children in an Edinburgh school. The progressive +difficulties depend upon the non-phonetic spelling and the lesser +familiarity of words. Most of the children came to school in their +sixth year. + +1. Tom is a good boy. He has a book and a bat. He can run fast. + +2. The dog is bigger than the cat, but he cannot climb so well. He +would if he could. + +3. The farmer walked through the wood till he came to the field. It +was a fine day for sowing the corn. He hoped it would not rain till he +had finished his work. + +4. The weather was very stormy. The boughs of the trees were blowing +to and fro in the wind. Clouds were chasing each other across the sky. +The crows were watching the ploughman in the field. + +Mistakes were marked according to the directions in the text. Thus +"bows" for "boughs" counted three mistakes. The results were as +follows: + + -----------------+------------------------------------ + |Average Mistakes in Test Sentences. + Age of Children.+--------+--------+--------+--------- + | 1. | 2. | 3. | 4. + -----------------+--------+--------+--------+--------- + 6 to 7 years | 0.32 | 2.64 | -- | -- + 7 " 8 " | 0.22 | 1.77 | 3.45 | 6.18 + 8 " 9 " | 0.2 | 0.36 | 1.68 | 5.91 + -----------------+--------+--------+--------+--------- + + +[10] The complete set of tests as revised in 1911 is given in the +Appendix, with notes regarding their subsequent use in Britain and +America. + +[11] "Les Debilites Mentales," _Rev. de Psychiatrie_, 1902. + +[12] _Annee Psychologique_, vol. vii., 1901, p. 296. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF DEFECTIVES + + +Hitherto we have been studying the defective from the point of view of +his school relations. This point of view is incomplete, and should not +make us forget that there is another--the medical. It is quite certain +that in the organisation and the practical working of the special +schools the doctor has a role, and an important role, to fill. All +foreign countries recognise this, and give him a large place. It is +even regretted in some countries that doctors detach themselves too +much from such questions, and are content to make a rapid and +superficial examination of children on their entrance to school, +instead of collaborating actively in the important work of the +teacher. + +After this declaration of principles, it may not be without interest +to fix precisely the role which belongs to the doctor and the services +which he can render. It seems to us, in fact, that there is often some +confusion as to his attributes, and two opposite tendencies may be +recognised. According to one, the more widespread, the defective are +often, if not always, invalids, and belong to him by right. It would +be an encroachment upon his privileges to concern oneself with them. +The opposite opinion consists in not committing to him any particular +authority in the matter. This is the case in Germany, where there are +schoolmasters who carry things with a high hand in the special +schools. Let us add that the doctors themselves have done nothing to +bring about an entente. Speak of defectives before them, and they +say, "That is our business," and they are perfectly right; but having +affirmed their right, they pay very little attention to the territory +they defend. + +It seems to us that the field is sufficiently great for everyone to +glean, and the efforts of all will not be too great to clear it. There +are some questions which escape the doctor, unless he is also an +educationist and a psychologist. But there are also some, in our +opinion, for which he has special competence, and where no one can +take his place. To define his role is not to lessen it; on the +contrary, it is to assure him an authoritative position. It is not his +business to select the abnormal from the normal. But from the children +picked out as abnormal he will differentiate certain types and +prescribe certain measures with regard to their care and treatment. + + +THE DOCTOR NOT TO PICK OUT THE DETECTIVES FROM AMONGST THE CHILDREN IN +SCHOOL. + +There is a general misunderstanding with regard to the special +knowledge and aptitude of the doctor. One tends to credit him with a +kind of omnipotence and infallibility against which he protests in +vain. He is made to judge questions which do not belong to his special +province--namely, the medical, and upon which he expresses opinions +which are neither more nor less valuable than those of any other +intelligent person. Recently, at various congresses, we have seen +doctors with the best intentions laying down educational programmes, +comparing the educative value of science with that of letters, and +expressing a variety of opinions, no doubt very sensible, but with +which the medical art had nothing whatever to do. As regards the +selection of defectives, one is influenced by the same prejudice. We +have discussed this with many people, and especially with +educationists, and when we have insisted on the difficulties of +examination, they usually reply, "That is the doctor's business!" The +prejudice we have noted is very tenacious, and will doubtless be +difficult to overcome, for there are many people who have interests to +maintain of a pecuniary nature. Let us consider this question from two +points of view--the estimation of educational retardation, and the +physical examination of defectives. + +=Estimation of the Degree of Mental Inferiority.=--We have seen how +easily, in spite of the commonly accepted opinion, experienced +teachers and inspectors accomplish this part of their task. If a +doctor were charged with it his embarrassment would be great. Just +imagine a doctor introduced into a school of 300 children in order to +pick out the defectives by strictly medical methods. No doubt every +doctor, especially if he is an alienist, is called upon to estimate +the intellectual level of children, and to sign certificates of +idiocy, imbecility, and feeble-mindedness. But just consider how +things are managed at the consultation. The parents bring the child. +They know very well that he is "not like others." They bring him for +that very reason, and consequently the doctor does not require to +distinguish the child from a normal one. He only requires to sit and +listen to the parents, who give him a crowd of particulars. When he +questions and examines the child, it is only to verify what he has +learned, and to add his own personal impression. As a general rule the +case is a severe one; the deficiency is so evident that any sensible +person would notice it. The task of the doctor is therefore narrowed. +He has only to certify the mental deficiency of the patient, stating +in technical terms the diagnosis which the parents have brought to him +ready made. Even his estimation of the gravity of the case, apart from +special investigations on his part, is not very different from that of +ordinary people who readily distinguish between the idiot who cannot +speak; the imbecile, who can make himself understood, though he cannot +be educated; and the feeble-minded, who can do some work, but is not +able to provide for his wants, or to behave himself sensibly. + +When the doctor thus certifies the intellectual level of the patient, +does he try to do so with precision? By no means, for it is not +expected of him. The parents do not come to him in order to ask him, +"Is my child backward in his mental development?" Alas they see it +only too well, and little it matters to them whether his backwardness +amounts to six months or a year. But they do come to ask, "Why does +this child not make the usual progress? Is there not some medicine, +doctor, which can help his development?" When they come to the doctor, +it is not even with the hope that some medico-pedagogical treatment +will cure their child. They know very well that the devoted care which +they have always bestowed upon him from his infancy is superior to +anything which can be given to him at a dispensary for children; but +their indomitable hope leads them to seek chimerical measures. In all +this, let us repeat, the doctor does not require to estimate the +degree of mental deficiency with any delicacy. But if he should try to +do so, what methods would he use? + +Here is a child of nine years of age, who has been selected for a +class for defectives because he cannot follow the usual lessons in the +elementary school. You, however, doctor, put to him some of your usual +questions. You ask the child his name, his age, the occupation and +address of his parents; the date, day, month, year; some details about +his life; you even ask him to read or count. The replies are given to +you quietly and correctly. Are you going to refuse to admit him to the +special school, and by what right? You have the notes of one, of two, +or of three teachers. He cannot follow; he is still with children of +seven years of age, in spite of having been at school for three years. +It is evident that he is not an idiot, nor an imbecile, nor even +feeble-minded to any great extent. But you have been notified that he +is behind other children of his age. There is therefore something +peculiar about him. It is not a medical question whether he ought to +remain in the ordinary school. The doctor cannot go against the +opinions which have been given to him, in order to verify whether the +retardation is genuine. To do so, it would be necessary for him to +make a comparison with the normal condition. Now this varies according +to age. The doctor does not know exactly, to two or three years, the +normal condition of the mental faculties; nor, after such and such a +period of school attendance, the habitual level of instruction +reached. That, however, in such special conditions, is the very +problem which faces him. We do not hesitate to express the opinion +that, in such circumstances, the doctor would be incapable of +estimating the intellectual level of the child. He has no more +experience in this matter than any other person. Let a doctor seek to +pick out a feeble-minded child from a number of normal ones, and he +will find how little he is prepared to make the selection. + +=Physical Examination of Defectives.=--But it may be asked: "Is not +mental debility associated with physical signs which the doctor alone +is able to appreciate?" About this question three kinds of facts may +be considered: those pertaining to anthropometry, the stigmata of +degeneration, and physiognomy. Let us consider in order what help may +be derived from these. + +_Height and Head Measurements._--Numerous papers have been published +upon height and cephalometry. The object of some has been to compare +the less intelligent school children with those who are better +endowed. Other authors have taken as their subject the study of asylum +or hospital cases. The absence or paucity of results of the earlier +studies seems to be due to a cause which we have referred to elsewhere +(p. 39). The mistake has been made of judging the intelligence of the +children by sole reference to the opinion of the teachers, although +account should have been taken of the relationship between the age +and the stage of instruction. The comparison between the height and +head measurements of the hospital cases and those of school children +is not subject to the same risk of error, and striking differences +between the two have been noticed. But there is yet another factor +which must be taken into account if the figures so obtained are to +yield all they are capable of teaching. If one confines oneself to +comparing the averages of the two sets of children, one finds them +almost identical. We have shown that the only suitable method to use +here is the method of arranging the figures in series. This proceeding +has suggested to one of us a better method still, that of "frontiers." +There is for each age a height limit below which the defectives become +clearly more numerous. There are limits in the head diameters, upon +each side of which are grouped the abnormally small and the +hypertrophied heads, which are frequently associated with mental +deficiency. We give here the table which one of us has published of +the provisional frontiers for height and for the two cephalic +diameters. + +THE FRONTIERS OF ABNORMALITY (BOYS). + + ------+--------------+-----------------+--------------+-------------- + Age. | Height. | Antero-Posterior| Transverse | Sum of + | | Diameter. | Diameter. | Diameters. + ------+--------------+-----------------+--------------+-------------- + | Centimetres. | Millimetres. | Millimetres. | Millimetres. + 6 | 100 | 164 | 134 | 298 + 7 | 105 | 166 | 135 | + 8 | 110 | 169 | 136 | 305 + 9 | 111 | 171 | 137 | + 10 | 120 | 172 | 138 | 310 + 11 | 124 | 173 | 139 | + 12 | 130 | 174 | 140 | 314 + 13 | 135 | 176 | 141 | + 14 | 140 | 178 | 142 | 320 + 15 | 142.5 | 179 | 143.5 | + 16 | 154 | 180 | 145 | 325 + 17 | 147.5 | 181 | 146 | + 18 | 150 | 182 | 147 | 329 + ------+--------------+-----------------+--------------+-------------- + +What this table means is this: If we measure 100 children in an +elementary school, we find only a small number (at most 10 per cent.) +whose measurements are less than those indicated; if, on the other +hand, we measure idiots and imbeciles, the proportion of those whose +measurements are inferior is greater, amounting to over 25 per cent. +Amongst 120 abnormal children we found not a single one who was below +these frontiers in two measurements, whilst 10 per cent. of defectives +were below. Certain measurements, therefore, are distinctly +suggestive, although, no doubt, not absolutely diagnostic without +reference to the subject examined. + +_The Stigmata of Degeneration._--Everyone has heard of the physical +malformations which are called the stigmata of degeneration. Some of +these are very apparent, such as a sixth finger on the hand, or a +hare-lip, or those deformities of the head, which are called +_plagiocephalus_ (obliquely oval cranium), _scaphocephalus_ +(boat-shaped cranium), etc. Other stigmata are less apparent, such as +abnormal shapes of the ear, irregular growth of hair, of the teeth, +alterations in the eye, etc. Some doctors, not all, have made a study +of these various stigmata. But school directors and teachers know +nothing about them except what the present-day widespread +popularisation of medical knowledge has permitted them to know. +Evidently it is no part of their business to take up the study, +although no State diploma will prevent their doing so if it is their +good pleasure. There is no law against it. But they would expose +themselves to grave risks of erroneous interpretations owing to their +ignorance of the manner in which stigmata are produced, and the +ignorance of doctors on this subject is still great. The determination +of the stigmata, their enumeration, and their description, belong, +therefore, at any rate by preference, to the doctor. God save us from +wanting to dispossess him! + +But what help could their study render us in the question whether a +particular child ought or ought not to be admitted into a class for +defectives? There is an opinion which is very widespread, especially +amongst teachers and ordinary people, a souvenir of the doctrines of +Gall, that the physical stigmata are signs of the original character, +and that the possessor of a certain shape of head is certainly +defective. "I have taken my son," a worthy mother said to us, "to +consult Dr. P., because he was learning nothing in his class. He was +sent away from every school I sent him to, and he is unbearable at +home. The doctor felt all over his head. He evidently saw that there +was something particular wrong with the boy." We do not smile at this +good mother. Plenty of other intelligent people hold her opinions, if +they are not so naive in their language. They expect that the moment +defective children are brought before them, they will find something +peculiar, something ugly, in their physiognomy. And there are plenty +of doctors, let us say frankly, who are equally naive, and, more +serious still, allow themselves to be influenced by unconscious +suggestions. If, like our worthy mother, we present to the doctor a +child as defective, the doctor will, as a general rule, have no +difficulty in demonstrating that he must be so. How many of us are +there without stigmata? None of us is built upon the model of the +ideal man. It is always possible to discover some anatomical detail +which will give support to a preconceived opinion. But the same doctor +who, on seeing a defective child with adherent ear lobes, will say +that that was just what he expected, will abruptly change his opinion +if he discovers a whorl of frontal hair on a child who is presented to +him as normal, and will refuse to attach to the fact any importance +whatever. As a matter of fact, these questions have not yet been +studied as they ought to be, by a comparison without _parti pris_ +between normal and abnormal children of the same age and in the same +environment, and we do not yet know how stigmata should be +interpreted. We can only suggest some provisional conclusions. + +The first of these conclusions is that the presence or absence of a +definite stigma has no exact significance for the individual who bears +it; for on the one hand one meets with all kinds of malformations in +average normal children, and on the other hand, some who are +definitely abnormal are quite normal in their conformation. The +stigma, therefore, has not the value of a definitely pathognomonic +sign like the crepitating rale of pneumonia, or the transient +unconsciousness of epilepsy; but if we compare a group of normal +children with a group of abnormal, the total number of the stigmata +will be much greater in the second group; and, moreover, the +multiplicity of stigmata in a single individual constitutes a strong +probability that that individual is abnormal. Here are some facts +which support these two propositions: + +Recently we made a rapid examination of the heads of fifty-eight +school children, and noticed that eighteen of them had some stigma, +especially an abnormal shape of the ear. We therefore find stigmata +amongst children at the average school level. But of these fifty-eight +school children only one had four abnormalities--malformed ears, +strabismus, prognathism, and slight scaphocephaly. The others had a +maximum of two. The first child alone is certainly defective. + +In a class of nine defective children subjected to a similar +examination, we found only one who had but one stigma, another had +two, four had three, and three had five. Of the three last, one had a +very high degree of retardation; another was mentally ill-balanced to +no less a degree. Let us compare these two groups, the one of +fifty-eight average children, the other of nine defectives, and group +to group, the difference is very clear. The stigmata are usually more +numerous when the children are mentally defective. The existence of +stigmata is a presumption of deficiency, and this presumption is +greater, the greater the number of stigmata. + +If we consider which are the stigmata that are most commonly met with, +we find that asymmetry of the face is almost constant, but we also +find it sometimes in normal children. Malformations of the ear come +next. We are often struck by the frequency of badly defective +speech--three times in nine defectives, whilst we did not find a +single example in the fifty-eight school children taken by chance. + +Here, then, is a "group fact" which is of interest from a scientific +point of view. But what use can be made of it for individual +diagnosis? This is much more delicate, for even if one could state it +as a general rule that defectives have more stigmata than the normal, +this rule is subject to important exceptions. + +One of our abnormal cases had only one stigma, another had two, and in +both cases the anomalies were of a very ordinary kind--slight want of +symmetry of the face and sticking out ears. Children with stigmata few +in number, and little marked (though as a rule we note the presence of +stigmata without measuring them), may therefore not be of normal +intelligence. The same is true sometimes of children with no stigma at +all. + +We may therefore conclude that stigmata may be taken into account when +we are making an examination, but they should never be regarded as of +fundamental importance in diagnosis. + +_Physiognomy._--In addition to stigmata, we have to note another +feature which is of more definite significance. Methodical studies +made by means of a collection of sixty photographs of children, normal +and abnormal, photographs taken by M. Bertillon in conditions +comparable in all cases, have shown us that an intelligent teacher can +scarcely go wrong in judging physiognomy. The photographs were +beautifully taken, and the expression of the faces appeared extremely +lifelike to anyone who was used to observing children. We asked +various teachers to examine these portraits, and to express their +opinion as to the mental capacity revealed. Mistakes were made, as +was to be expected; but the correct estimations were always in the +majority, and some teachers exhibited a truly remarkable talent for +observation; they were practically never deceived. Let us say in +passing that our list included a number of doctors amongst the +teachers. They were far from distinguishing themselves. Their +percentage was not so good as that of the schoolmasters. This +difference in competence, which perhaps may appear surprising, +suggests the following anecdote: One day, at the meeting of a +commission, we had thrown upon the cloth a collection of photographs +of children, the very one which we had been using for our methodical +experiments. Everyone looked at the portraits and expressed his +opinion. By way of a joke we tackled a medical alienist who had a seat +on the commission. He was mistaken in his opinion as often as his +colleagues who were most ignorant of medicine. + +It seems to us, and the facts mentioned support us, that stigmata are +only one part of the complicated whole which constitutes a +physiognomy. A physiognomy includes many other things, especially the +expression,--lively or sluggish, strong or weak, intelligent or +lacking in intelligence; there is the fineness or coarseness of the +features, the beauty or ugliness of the countenance, the ordinary or +unusual appearance of the face. All this forms an _ensemble_ which the +eye does not analyse, but judges _en bloc_ by instinct, without +considering the elements separately, and, above all, without being +able to give reasons for its judgment. Will it be possible some day to +analyse, to dissociate, and to describe all these very various +elements? We do not know. In the meantime we think that every +examiner, as a matter of fact, allows himself to be influenced by the +general appearance of the subject, and that the impression so formed +is not entirely without value. + +Let us sum up regarding the physiognomy. There does exist between the +intellectual level of a subject and his physical development a real +correlation, but, unfortunately, it is slight. With regard to the +stigmata our knowledge of their significance is still very slight. We +have no figures which allow us to place any definite value upon them +either singly or in combination. There still remains the general +appearance, whose significance is apparently indubitable, but which, +at present, is too dependent upon individual estimate to be +utilisable. Let us add that these relations between the mental and the +physical appear to be of greater significance the lower the mental +condition. Now, in a school it is the feeble-minded who are in the +majority, and it is they who have to be recognised much more +frequently than the idiot or the imbecile, and this lessens the +importance of the physical examination. We may therefore conclude with +this practical rule: a physical examination can never allow us to +dispense with a direct examination of the intelligence. Anthropometry, +stigmata, and physical appearance must take a second place as means +for discovering in school the feeble-minded and the ill-balanced. +Failing direct recourse to the teacher, these methods could, and +ought, to be made use of. But in most cases, thanks to the assistance +of the teacher, we have better means. In cases on the border-line they +might help to incline the balance. Their principal use is not to +assist in selecting children for special classes for defectives; their +significance is quite different, as we shall see immediately. + + +MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF THE CHILDREN PRESENTED. + +We must now define the active role of the doctor. In many foreign +countries a scheme has been drawn up for the medical examination, +which is often extremely comprehensive, almost interminable. We give +an example of this kind, though questioning the appropriateness, from +our point of view, of certain questions. If one does not simplify the +work, the practitioners will simplify it in their own way--by +neglecting it. If you ask them to do too much, they will do nothing. + + +SCHEME FOR MEDICAL EXAMINATION + + _Heredity of the Child._--Note the name, the date, and the place + of the birth of the father and the mother, and find out, by + direct interrogation, whether the parents have a pathological + heredity. Consider first the two great hereditary + influences--alcoholism and insanity. Next inquire concerning + nervous ailments, tuberculosis, etc. Make inquiries concerning + the direct ascendents and their collaterals. Note the number of + brothers and sisters, their illnesses, their mortality, and the + position of the child in the family. + + _Previous History of the Child._--This is the second part of the + medical examination. It includes many questions. Has the child + had convulsions? At what age did it begin to cut its teeth? At + what age did it begin to walk? When did it show habits of + cleanliness? When did it speak? What illnesses had it in + infancy? Has the child always appeared different from others, or + did it only become so at some definite time, or, in other words, + is the mental deficiency congenital or acquired? + + _Present Condition._--Under this heading are included the + general appearance of the subject, his attitude, the form and + size of his head, etc. + +We have no objection on principle to medical investigations of this +kind, and if a doctor desires to collect such information, he ought to +be encouraged. We recall in passing that Dr. Ley, of Antwerp, who was +for some time medical specialist to a school for defectives, has made +a very complete study of the heredity and personal antecedents of +hundreds of defective children. But before compelling doctors to fill +up conscientiously a schedule containing all these questions, one +should consider without prejudice what use the work is going to be +when it is done. + +Let us distinguish between pure science and what is of immediate +practical utility. No doubt one ought to give a warm welcome to +everything which helps us to understand the child better; but the +above observations upon his heredity do not bear upon the question of +whether he is a defective, and throw only the dimmest light upon his +character and the manner in which one should treat him. If he is to be +counted abnormal, he must be either ill-balanced or of deficient +intelligence. Even if he should have an alcoholic heredity, that would +be of no importance if he were able to follow his class and to profit +by the ordinary instruction. At most, the discovery of a pathological +heredity might incline one in a doubtful case towards a diagnosis of +mental deficiency; but yet one should be extremely cautious about +permitting oneself to be influenced in this way, for we are ignorant +to a most incredible degree concerning the heredity and antecedents of +normal children, and as our ignorance in this respect is so complete, +we are unable to say precisely what is really pathological in the +heredity and the antecedents of those who are abnormal. Information of +this kind, therefore, is not directly useful. + +What, then, are the first problems to be solved? Let us consider just +exactly where we are in the examination. Here are the children picked +out by the teachers. The inspectors themselves have checked the +selection and referred back some of those selected, but very few, if +they have carefully directed the methods of choice from the beginning. +The children presented are backward in their studies. Inquiries +regarding their school attendance have shown that the retardation is +not due to irregular attendance. The examination of their intelligence +has confirmed this judgment. + +It still remains to discover whether, amongst all these children who +are unable to follow the ordinary school curriculum, there do not +exist some who are not, properly speaking, mentally deficient, but who +are suffering from some illness. May we not find amongst them some +who require medical treatment rather than special teaching--_e.g._, +cretins? And, lastly, may there not be some children whose mental +deficiency complicates some other disease, such as epilepsy? These are +problems which are essentially medical, and which it is necessary to +solve before admitting a child to a special school. Let us consider +them in order. + +=1. Is the Case one of Mental Deficiency, or of an Intercurrent Mental +Affection?=--To tell the truth, there is not often any doubt. However, +there are two circumstances in which doubt may arise. In the first +place, an arrest in a child's mental development may be the expression +of a state of depression which indicates a psychosis in the course of +evolution, or it may be the first sign of decadence in one of those +degenerates of whom Morel speaks, who seem to have "a limited mental +existence." Such cases, which some authors describe under the name of +"dementia precox," require a medical regimen. + +In the second place, it is possible that the etiological factor is +alcohol. Alcoholism in the parents is frequently the cause of mental +deficiency. But the effects of drinking do not always stop there. The +child itself may be made to drink, and consequently the doctor may +sometimes find symptoms resulting from direct intoxication--nightmares, +or tremor of the hands. Such intoxication may be responsible partly, if +not entirely, for the want of progress at school, and also for the +irritable temper which the child shows in class. It would be necessary +in such cases to see the parents, and to advise a different hygiene for +their child at any rate, if they themselves cannot be persuaded to give +up their bad habits. In this way one may be able to avoid sending the +child to a school for defectives. It is apparent that even if the child +were sent to such a school, it would be necessary to put a stop to the +administration of alcohol. The rarity of such cases makes their +exposition of almost theoretical interest. + +=2. Would the Mental Deficiency respond to Medical Treatment?=--Cannot +the doctor prescribe something to cure the mental deficiency or want +of balance? Let us give some consideration to this question. Medicines +act either upon the symptoms of a disease, or upon the organic changes +which produce them, or, lastly, upon the very causes of such organic +changes. Quinine, for example, has a selective action on the parasites +of malaria; mercury produces an undoubted effect upon syphilitic +growths; treatment by cold baths keeps the temperature of typhoid +fever below a certain level during the whole of the illness. Cannot +analogous results be hoped for in mental deficiency? A brief resume of +what we know concerning the causes of mental deficiency and the +anatomical lesions which accompany it will determine our answer. + +The dominant etiological feature is that mental deficiency and want of +balance depend upon hereditary conditions, or conditions acquired in +the earliest stages of development. By hereditary conditions must be +understood strictly those which result from alterations in the germ +cells of the parents. An intoxication alone seems capable of +exercising upon the latter a sufficiently general action to reach the +germ cells, and by far the most frequent poison is alcohol. By +acquired conditions must be understood the results of diseases of the +foetus or of infancy, and especially the cerebral complications of the +infectious fevers--_e.g._, meningitis in the course of an eruptive +fever. In all such cases, with rare exceptions to be mentioned +immediately, by the time the mental deficiency is discovered, its +causes are no longer active, and consequently cannot be affected by +medical intervention. + +The statements we have just made with regard to the causes of mental +deficiency lead to some practical conclusions. The ultimate evolution +of the congenital cases differs from that of acquired cases, and this +renders a study of the early history of the child important. If the +development of the child has been normal at first, and has then been +abruptly interrupted, for example, by an attack of meningitis, of +which we can obtain by inquiry a definite history, the prognosis is +not good. For it is a well-recognised fact that cases of acquired +mental deficiency are not likely to make a fresh start. If we were +hesitating whether to send an imbecile child to an asylum or to put +him in a class for mental defectives, a history like the above would +lead us to give the preference to the asylum; but let us say once +more, we do not find here an indication for treatment. + +As to the changes which are found post-mortem, these are manifold and +of an unalterable kind. They are as follows: + +(1) The results of the rupture of a cerebral vessel--_e.g._, from +asphyxia at birth or a delivery by forceps. Blood has been poured out +into the nervous tissue. The latter has been destroyed over a greater +or less extent, and there is found in its place a cyst filled with +sero-sanguineous fluid. + +(2) The obstruction of an artery--_e.g._, by septic thrombosis--has +prevented the blood from reaching a part of the brain, with similar +results to those mentioned. + +(3) In other cases are found the more or less extensive changes +produced by meningitis or meningo-encephalitis. The inflammation of +its envelopes has interfered with the brain, and consequently with its +functions. + +(4) An increased secretion of cerebro-spinal fluid has led to a +compression of the nervous system or a distension of its cavities, +notably of the lateral ventricles of the cerebral hemispheres, and has +led to a separation of the bones of the cranium, thus producing the +large globular head of hydrocephalus. + +(5) There may be found simply defects of development whose causes are +known (microcephalus, or extreme smallness of the cranium relatively +to the face; microgyria, or marked thinness of the convolutions). + +(6) Lastly--and this is frequently the case in the worst degrees of +deficiency--the post-mortem, and even microscopic examination of the +organs may show no change at all. + +Let us add that the nature of the lesions just mentioned does not seem +to have any relationship to the condition of the mental faculties. An +anatomico-pathological grouping of the cases and a grouping according +to the mental condition, far from being parallel, are frequently +decidedly different. On the other hand, the extent of the lesions is +of more importance. Diffuse lesions affect the mind more than those +which are circumscribed--that is to say, limited to a certain part of +the brain--as if the mental functions required the co-operation of the +entire cerebral cortex. One will often find, for example, sound +judgment in the subject of a marked paralysis, whilst it is very rare +to find that good intelligence co-exists with any degree of +microcephalus. + +Let us emphasise the last fact we mentioned, the absence of any +lesion. Some authorities have maintained that all conditions of mental +deficiency and want of balance found in children are connected with +definite diseases of which they are the symptoms. The question is +unsettled. For our own part we adopt the following provisional +statement: Mental deficiency and want of balance are peculiar mental +conditions which it is often impossible to connect with definite +pathological changes. + +Thus, we do not know of any medical treatment which is likely to act +upon the preceding lesions when they are present, and we do not think +it is even possible to act upon them. + +An exception must, however, be made of conditions due to insufficient +secretion of certain glands. The type of these is cretinism. Marked +cases of this condition are easy to recognise. The very appearance of +the children is sufficient for an experienced eye--the stunted growth; +the rough, wrinkled skin; the swollen eyelids half-concealing the +eyes; the prominent belly; and the mental apathy. One also comes +across abortive cases, where the above-mentioned characters are less +marked; the sluggishness also is less. These latter cases are amenable +to the same treatment as the former--namely, the ingestion of thyroid +glands from the sheep. + +This treatment stimulates growth and makes the child more lively; but +what ultimately becomes of the cases so treated? The amelioration +usually ceases whenever the treatment is dropped. But how far does +this amelioration go? To what extent does the child profit by it? +Lasegue has jocularly remarked that the average duration of an attack +of typhoid fever (six weeks) represents the maximum time during which +medical attention could be brought to bear upon a patient. One feels +disposed to think he is right in face of the slight satisfaction one +can obtain from the literature regarding a point of such importance. + +Other cases of mental deficiency may be due to an alteration in the +pituitary gland. It is for the doctor to find out whether there are +any symptoms by which mental deficiency of such an origin can be +recognised, and whether it is possible to prepare a suitable substance +for replacing the absent secretion. + +The number of cases amenable to treatment of this kind is, +unfortunately, very limited.[13] We may even say that, as a general +rule, we did not find amongst the school children we examined any +cases of obesity or infantilism such as are sometimes described of a +truly remarkable nature. Even children who were abnormally short +looked their age. We have still, however, to mention one last +influence--namely, poverty. Its part in the production of mental +debility is scarcely defined. What are the exact effects upon +intelligence of prolonged deficiency of nutrition? How can its action +be isolated from that of other agents, such as alcoholism, which too +frequently accompanies it? The complexity of such social studies +sufficiently explains their present incompleteness. Let us recall the +results we obtained from an inquiry of this kind; the children of +parents in extreme poverty are retarded in their physical development +more frequently than those whose parents are in easy circumstances. It +is interesting to add that analogous inquiries with reference to +intelligence have furnished similar results. + +Apart from the preceding cases, the best that can be done is to treat +the symptoms. The two principal agents at the disposal of the doctor +are the bromides and hydrotherapy. Unfortunately, if the bromides are +undoubtedly efficacious in certain cases of epilepsy, that is far from +being the case in simple want of mental balance, in which cases they +are at best useful adjuvants. As to hydrotherapy, and especially cold +douches, their principal indication is in certain nervous affections, +where their effect is to enable the subject to master the emotional +reactions which are habitually exaggerated. + +Lastly, the doctor can exert his moral influence to assist the +educative work of the teacher in the special school. His less frequent +intervention, the different motives of his advice, will often give him +even more authority than the teacher. The suggestive effects of his +intervention should be obtained, in our opinion, without resort to +hypnotism. + +=3. Does the Mentally Defective suffer from any Definite Illness?=--If +the illness such as we have referred to affects those parts of the +cerebral cortex which govern the muscles of a limb, one will find, in +addition to the mental condition, paralysis with atrophy and +contracture. But in addition to such very marked cases, there exist +others in which sensory or motor affections, although slight, may +hinder the progress of education. + +It goes without saying that if a child does not profit from the school +work, an examination of his sight and hearing should be made as a +matter of course. Perhaps that may have been done already by the +teacher himself by such methods as he is able to use. But this first +examination is not sufficient. The doctor must correct, as far as +possible, the want of acuity noticed. No doubt the defect may not +explain the mental deficiency of the child, but one must take care +that in the school for defectives a pronounced myopia or catarrh of +the middle ear does not prove an obstacle to the efforts which are to +be made to bring about development. + +In the same way it must be considered whether the condition of the +muscular system is such as to permit the manual work which one wants +to teach the child, and whether there exists any paralysis or tremor +which would prove an obstacle to work of this kind. One must consider +whether any symptoms present are transitory, like chorea; or +permanent, like infantile hemiplegia; and what kind of efforts may be +made without risk to the health of the child. Such are the problems +which the doctor has to solve. + + * * * * * + +In the last place, it is necessary to take into account the +coexistence with the mental deficiency of other affections. + +_Epilepsy._--Epilepsy frequently coexists with mental deficiency. Now, +epilepsy does not always reveal itself by severe fits with crying, +falling down, loss of consciousness, convulsions, stiffness followed +by jerking of the limbs, foaming at the mouth, biting of the tongue, +and involuntary passage of urine. It is revealed also by symptoms of a +less striking nature, which have been described under the name of +_petit mal_. Such are loss of consciousness, vertigo, or simply mental +perturbations. Loss of consciousness occurs without the tremor of a +muscle, the child suddenly turns pale, loses consciousness for a +moment, and then continues whatever he was doing--for example, walking +or writing. There is nothing more impressive to notice when the fit +occurs as one is talking to the little patient. One sees, as it were, +the passing of a veil. But nothing could be more fugitive, nothing +could more easily escape the notice of anyone who was not a good +observer. Often the parents know nothing about it. The attacks are so +short, the consequences apparently so slight, that even if the parents +have chanced to notice them, they do not always think of mentioning +the fact. The teacher of defective children ought to be instructed in +the characteristics of this affection. He is going to spend several +hours daily with the children. He will have the best opportunities for +noticing the occurrence of attacks, which may be rare, but which, when +they occur, are very significant. + +Although the symptoms are a little more marked, vertigo also is of +brief duration. To the pallor and the loss of consciousness of the +preceding condition there is added a little muscular relaxation. The +child totters, supports himself by anything in his neighbourhood, +slips down in his seat, or drops his pen. Sometimes there is a slight +spasm of the muscles of the face, the mouth is drawn to one side by +slight jerks, or performs some movements of mastication or +deglutition. And that is all--no convulsions of the limbs, no passage +of urine, scarcely an interruption to the work which is being done. + +Whether the doctor discovers these symptoms by interrogation of the +parents, or whether the teacher some time afterwards describes them +to him with sufficient detail to permit of a certain diagnosis, a +double gain results. In the first place, there is an indication for +treatment; and in the second, the possibility of supervision. As a +matter of fact, it too frequently happens that these symptoms, little +dramatic as they are, reveal the existence of epilepsy, which will +ultimately result in progressive mental decadence. + +And yet this is not all. A few days or a few hours before such +symptoms occur, or immediately after them, or, lastly, according to +some authorities, entirely independently of them, the patient may +develop a peculiar condition of irritability, in which he will +transgress against discipline, make insolent remarks, or even give way +to violence. Such actions ought not to be suppressed by punishment, +because they are of morbid origin. + +All such symptoms possess this characteristic, that they leave no +trace on the memory of the child. He himself knows nothing about them, +or knows them only by what he has heard from other people. There can +now be no need to insist with what care inquiries must be made, +especially of the parents. + +Are epileptics to be admitted into the special class? On principle +they are refused admission to the ordinary school. They are, however, +to be found there. There are those whose attacks occur very rarely, or +are so slight as to cause no disturbance. There are probably also +unrecognised cases of epilepsy in which the symptoms occur during the +night, or on awakening, but never in class. Only the severe forms are +turned away. Probably the same state of affairs will recur in the +classes for the abnormal--at any rate until the time when provision +for epileptics is more extensive than it is at present. It will +therefore be necessary to recognise these cases, to supervise them +with special care during certain kinds of manual work, and, if +possible, to treat the nervous symptoms suitably while the patients +are receiving instruction. + +_Hysteria._--Although hysteria has not the same gravity, it is no less +advisable that cases should be tracked out. This neurosis is being +discussed to-day as never before. Without setting forth at length what +we think should be included under this term, let us point out a +characteristic of hysteria which is commonly recognised, and which is +of such importance that it indicates the line of treatment to be +followed. The two principal manifestations of the affection, +hysterical fits and the recital of lying tales, require for their +complete development the presence of a public, of a gallery. +Inversely, their disappearance is assured by isolation or apparent +inattention. + +The discovery of such tendencies before entrance to the school will +allow the doctor to forewarn the teacher, and point out to him the +best way of dealing with such children. + + * * * * * + +There are still three affections about which we must say a few +words--rickets, adenoid vegetations, and scrofula. + +_Rickets._--The chief characteristic of this condition is defective +ossification. Instead of possessing their usual rigidity, the bones +become curved, and multiple deformities result. The legs become bowed, +and the knees cannot be brought into contact when the feet are placed +together; the thorax becomes constricted or gibbous, etc. In addition +to the nutritive disturbance, which appears to be at the root of all +these disorders, there may be, according to some authors, an affection +of the entire system, and especially of the nervous centres. +Unfortunately, as rickets is a disease of the earliest years of life, +one often finds oneself in the presence of the sequelae which have been +left, and which simply must be made the best of. + +_Adenoid Vegetations._--Everyone has now heard of cases of this kind +where the appearance is so characteristic. The lips are always half +open, the appearance is sleepy-looking, the respiration is difficult. +If one looks at the throat, or if one introduces the finger into the +child's mouth in order to explore the pharynx behind the soft palate, +one will see or feel the large tonsils or the fleshy masses which +obstruct the posterior orifice of the nasal fossa. One would like to +find in these vegetations the cause of the habitual torpor of the +children, and of their want of progress. It is true that there is a +connection between mental backwardness and adenoids. The removal of +the swellings by a surgical operation will make more free the +respiration, whose obstruction prevented sustained attention, and will +also frequently cure the deafness, which was due to an obstruction of +the Eustachian tubes. The operation may therefore result in a marked +amelioration of the mental condition as well as of the general health. +If the amelioration is sufficient, the child can be sent back to the +ordinary school. + +_Scrofula, Tuberculosis._--A child with a lymphatic appearance, whose +tissues are infiltrated with serum, and whose glands readily become +enlarged, requires plenty of country air and a nutritious diet. If he +is admitted to the special school, it will be advisable to attend to +his health before subjecting him to any particular educational +methods. + +The doctor, then, will notice in passing the existence of such +conditions as rickets, adenoids, and scrofula in the children who are +submitted to him. Affections of the lungs and tuberculosis of the +bones will also attract his attention. But such affections in abnormal +children have no other significance than in the case of children of +average intelligence. They furnish no special indication regarding the +admission or non-admission of the child into a special class. Their +severity alone determines the course to follow with respect to their +treatment. + +We shall, however, say a few words about another +infirmity--incontinence of urine. If there is presented for a class +for defectives a subject, eleven years of age, who cannot control +himself in this respect, the course to follow is: submit the child to +examination by a specialist, who will decide the nature of the +incontinence. If it is curable, give the condition the necessary +attention, or give instructions at the school for training the child +properly; but if there is an incurable weakness of the sphincters, +supply the child with the same kind of apparatus as is used in such +cases by ordinary people. + + * * * * * + +Here, then, are a number of important points upon which the doctor may +be called to give his opinion. It is he alone who is able, by his +special knowledge, to enlighten the other members of the jury. If the +mental condition is doubtful and requires further observation, it is +for him to point it out. One will thus avoid the mistake of placing in +a class for defectives a lunatic, or a child poisoned by alcohol, who +would not find there the kind of care required. If the bodily +condition discovered complicates or aggravates the mental deficiency, +as adenoid vegetations may do, he will prescribe the proper treatment. +If he suspects the coexistence of some neurosis, he will give +directions by which the condition may be recognised, and consequently +treated. The doctor therefore has to recognise the physical and mental +ailments by which the defective may be affected. He makes this +diagnosis for two reasons. In the first place, in order that mental +deficiency may not be confounded with conditions of illness of a +different kind; and, secondly, in order to relieve or cure if possible +coexisting affections which may aggravate the condition of the +children and interfere with the work of the school. + + * * * * * + +We shall conclude here what we have to say about the role of the +doctor, since in this volume we are specially concerned with the +recognition and segregation of the children. To discuss the role of +the doctor quite fully would take us too far. + +The details we have given show that the part of the doctor with regard +to defectives is quite different from that of the teacher. It is not +so much to determine the child's precise mental level as to diagnose +the condition of his brain, and to discover, by analysis of all the +symptoms, the original responsible agent. That, however, is the second +part of the doctor's work, and is of scientific interest; whereas the +first part, which consists in diagnosing the ailments which co-exist +with the mental deficiency, is of immediate practical utility. + +Let us note, in conclusion, the scientific trend of the present day. A +large proportion of medical work is of scientific interest rather than +of direct utility for the patient. A concrete example will explain our +meaning. A severe shivering, a sudden elevation of the temperature, a +dulness on one side of the chest, the presence in the same position of +crepitant rales, a rusty, sticky expectoration--such is the syndrome +by which a practitioner recognises an attack of acute pneumonia. He +knows its duration; he knows the relief which will be produced by the +application of poultices. To ideas such as these may be reduced all +that is indispensable for the doctor to know in order to exercise his +art. The post-mortem examination of the hepatised lung, its increase +in density, the histological study of the engorged air cells and +bronchioles, the researches upon the pneumococcus, its culture, its +vitality--all this constitutes a search into etiology and +pathogenesis, whose aim is quite different. + +The same distinction may be made in the medical study of defective +children. And from this point of view the results which at first seem +of secondary importance reappear in the foreground. This is the case, +for example, with the stigmata of degeneration. It would be +unreasonable to attribute to them an individual value, and to utilise +them for arranging children serially in the order of their mental +deficiency; but in the work of synthesis they are decidedly +significant, since their study leads one to consider them either as +the effects of, and therefore as witnesses to, alterations in the +nervous system, or as the consequences of causes sufficiently powerful +to have modified that system. + +One would not deny all practical bearing to such investigations of +pathogenesis. It is a mistake of Tolstoy to regard them as the pastime +of refined dilettantes. When the biological study of defectives leads +to this idea, that the mental weakness of the defectives, like the +peculiarities in the character of the ill-balanced, is the result of +degeneration--the result, for instance, of the alcoholisation of a +people--it will quickly result in measures of social hygiene. + +The point is, however, that this second part of the work cannot, in +our opinion, be carried out under the same conditions as the first. +One would like to believe that, in making observations upon heredity +and stigmata, the doctors are collecting, in their daily work, +materials for a great scientific work which will be produced by +degrees. No doubt all their schedules may some day be extracted from +the drawers in the office where they will sleep for a long time; but +with what object will they be taken out, if not to compile statistics +of doubtful value? The truth is that scientific investigation cannot +be carried on automatically and collectively. There is always a +personal element which is independent of all administrative +prescription. What use can be made of observations which are often +merely a collection of paper? If we are some day to understand the +role of heredity, of alcoholism, of insanity, of poverty, in the +production of defective children, it will be necessary for someone, +who wants to do a really good piece of work, to set aside all these +equivocal documents, and go straight to the facts, collecting his +information at first hand and in a critical spirit. Scientific work +can be done in no other way. When it is done otherwise it is worth +nothing. + +We therefore suggest the following schedule for the medical +examination of defective children. The schedule includes two +parts--one part optional, because it is only of indirect interest; +another part which is obligatory. None of the questions in this part +should be left unanswered, and the doctor will also give the +instructions which he thinks ought to be followed. + + +MEDICAL SCHEDULE. + + Date of examination: Height: + Name and date of birth of child: Weight: + +Part 1. Obligatory. + + (i.) Has the child any mental symptoms other than mental + deficiency? Signs of alcoholism, etc.? + + (ii.) Is there reason to think the child has any weakness, + congenital or acquired? Cretinism? + + (iii.) Are there any (_a_) Sensory defects--sight? + hearing? + (_b_) Motor defects--paralysis? + tremor, etc.? + + (iv.) Is the child epileptic? What symptoms are + present--convulsions, vertigo, loss of consciousness? Their + frequency, etc.? + + (v.) Has the child adenoids? + + (vi.) Is the child hysterical? + + (vii.) Any other ailments? + + (viii.) What directions are to be given to the schoolmaster? + +Part II. Optional. + + A. Cephalometry and stigmata of degeneration. + B. History: Birth. + Convulsions. + Age at commencement of dentition. + Age at commencement of control of bladder + Age at commencement of and bowel. + Age at commencement of walking. + Age at commencement of speech. + Infantile diseases. + C. Heredity. + Father-- + Name: + Date of birth: + Place of birth: + { syphilis. + Illnesses { alcoholism. + { insanity. + Mother: _Ibid._ + Brothers and Sisters-- + Number: + Age: + Mortality: + Health of survivors: + Etc. + +To sum up, we do not think that the doctor will often have to reject a +child, but he will often furnish indications which will help to direct +the efforts of the teacher. He will proclaim the opinion, at once so +just and so humane, that the symptoms of mental deficiency and want of +balance in abnormal children do not arise from laziness or +naughtiness, but require no methods of treatment except such as are +likely to relieve them. And this conviction which animates him he will +impress little by little on the teacher. He will accustom the latter +not to regard a defective child at fault like a normal, responsible +child, whom he is sometimes tempted to punish in anger, but rather as +a patient whose faults should be overcome by persevering patience. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[13] For the sake of greater completeness, let us refer to a type of +imbecile with very characteristic features--namely, the _Mongol_. A +little round head, chubby cheeks, rosy as if painted with rouge, +oblique eyes, a nose broad at the base and with a tip like a little +ball, skin slightly yellow--the whole appearance of the child is such +that one doubts his European origin, and thinks of a Chinese doll, +with limbs of india-rubber, so great is the looseness of the joints. +During his first year the Mongol is rather drowsy and quiet--too +"old-fashioned," as the mothers say. In the second or third year he +becomes lively. His countenance acquires a comic and jolly expression, +and his imitative instincts become curiously developed, and as a +general rule he is very sweet-tempered. They all resemble one another, +and all "promise much and achieve little," for they never cease to be +imbeciles. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL RETURN OF SCHOOLS AND CLASSES FOR +DEFECTIVES + + +=An Inquiry in the Hospitals.=--Two years ago one of us betook himself +to M. X., an important official in one of our ministries, in order to +ask him to join a Ministerial Commission which was going to pay a +visit to one of our asylum-schools. M. X. shrugged his shoulders, and +replied energetically: "No, no, no! I have had enough of such visits. +I will go neither to the Salpetriere nor to Bicetre. What would I see +there? An idiot who allows his saliva to collect in his open mouth; +another who has epileptic fits; a third who can say nothing but 'Ba, +ba!' What would that prove? The only way in which one can find out +whether a school for bad cases of mental deficiency is good for +anything, is to find out the mental condition of those who leave. How +many defective subjects are there who, after having been treated at +the Salpetriere or at Bicetre, are able to gain their own livelihood? +That is what one would like to know, and that is what no one ever +tells us!" + +The listener to these incisive and sensible remarks replied, after a +moment's reflection: "I entirely agree with you. The information which +you desire is of the greatest importance for judging the value of a +school. I imagine that such information would be difficult to obtain. +But one can try. I am willing to make the attempt." + +A few days later the two authors of the present work took the field. +The long preliminary conversations which they had had together about +this subject had convinced them that they would encounter opposition. +But they decided to treat the question as one treats a scientific +matter--with perseverance, with courage, and without _parti pris_ of +any kind. + +Let us subdivide the question to make it more plain. We proposed to +discover the value of a school. To make such an inquiry really +complete, it would be necessary to consider the question from two +points of view--the one educational, the other social. + +The educational return consists in the degree of instruction which the +institution succeeds in giving to its pupils, after so much time, and +with so much expense. In the case of an institution for the sick, the +return will take the medical form of a cure or improvement of health. +In order to estimate such various returns, it would evidently be +necessary to be in possession of various data: (1) A knowledge of the +state of instruction or the state of health of the subjects on their +admission to the school; (2) a knowledge of their state of instruction +or of health on leaving, so that one would be able to estimate by +comparison what they owe to the school; (3) a knowledge of the cost +for each pupil, whether for instruction or for medical expenses. + +The social return consists in the place taken by the pupils in +society. This depends in part, it is clear, upon the educational +return, but only in part. One could imagine a school, and there are +some of the kind, which only cares about producing graduates, without +thinking of what will become of them in life, even if they go to the +dogs. Every class, every school, for defectives ought to aim at +rendering its pupils socially useful. It is not a question of +enriching their minds, but of giving them the means of working for +their living. This is an important question. Upon this depends our +complete and final judgment of the utility of special education. + +And be it understood this is not a simple question. Nothing is simple +in the sphere of sociological phenomena, and one cannot get hold of an +atom of truth except by inquiries bristling with difficulties of all +kinds--inquiries whose rules, moreover, are not yet known, but which +will certainly be known some day. It is quite necessary. + +In order to discover the social return of an institution, school, or +hospital, there are many data to be brought together. Here are some of +them. What is the number of those who are ultimately able to look +after themselves? For how long a time are they able to do so? To what +extent have they been assisted by what they acquired at school? And, +lastly, what becomes of the failures? + +But whatever the social or educational return may be, it would be most +important to know what would have become of similar cases who had +received no such instruction, or, rather, who had been instructed or +treated by different methods. + +A single example will show the importance of these reservations. +Recently an alienist wanted to prove that all the idiots, without +exception, who had been treated in his asylum had been improved. He +published copious notes upon these children, which had been taken during +several years by different people--the physician, resident doctor, +attendant, teacher, etc. On reading these observations one learned that +one child, who on admission was unable to walk, by-and-by began to do +so. He had grown; he had also begun to speak, etc. In all this there was +nothing surprising, and we imagine that, in spite of his optimism, the +doctor, who is the author of these observations, would not pretend to +credit an increase in size to his medico-pedagogical treatment. As to +the rest of the development of the faculties we know nothing. It is +possible that an idiot who has ceased to be dirty, or who has learned to +dress himself, would have done so in any case without object-lessons. It +would be necessary to understand the natural development of idiocy in +order to estimate exactly the service which had been rendered by the +medico-pedagogical treatment. Otherwise sceptics will suspect that +three-quarters of what is claimed to be the result of treatment is +really due to nature. + +After these preliminaries, let us now turn to our inquiry. + +=At the Salpetriere.=--Here we were received most kindly. The +superintendent of the hospital introduced us to a most excellent +woman, Mme. Meusy, who was at that time head-mistress of the school +for defectives at the Salpetriere. This is a little school with about +140 girl pupils. It is part of the clinique of Dr. Voisin. The school +is divided into four classes, each of which is under a lady teacher. +It is a modest school, and, we think, little known. Elementary +education is given there, and, be it understood, the teachers make a +point of object-lessons and the training of the senses. But this +education has no original feature. It simply follows what is done +elsewhere. There is a workshop where the patients skilfully +manufacture artificial flowers. Dr. Voisin has for a long time been +asking for a laundry, for the sake of the patients who require +physical exercise, but he has not been able to get it. + +Mme. Meusy had prepared us to some extent for the work which she had +done in the school by intelligent organisation. It was a pleasure to +us to see with our own eyes the notes she had kept regarding each of +her pupils. All the schedules were in perfect order, regularly filled +up to the day. They contained all the medical information, as to +diagnosis and treatment, which Mme. Meusy had been able to procure +from the doctor by reiterated requests. They contained also full +particulars as to the state of instruction of the child, her +character, her aptitudes, and the amount of her school attendance. +Such notes were repeated periodically, so that it was easy to find out +approximately whether or not the child had progressed during her stay +in the school. Finally, her history after discharge was noted. It is +only just that we should here express once more to Mme. Meusy how much +we admired the care, the order, and the intelligence with which she +had kept these individual histories. It is an example to be followed. + +Mme. Meusy readily placed before us one after another all these +documents, and allowed us to extract from them the notes which seemed +of most value for our work. While one of us was taking the notes, she +contributed much valuable information in a lively voice; for she knew +her pupils admirably, she followed them after they left school, and +often received visits from them. But, although she clearly understood +the importance of our inquiry, she could not keep to herself a +distressing thought, which was that a large number of these +unfortunate girls had obtained no benefit from the instruction +received at the school during a long series of years. The majority, on +leaving school, had been transferred to asylums for adults. It +saddened her to acknowledge such impotence officially. However, +neither she nor her devoted staff of teachers was responsible, for if +their educational success was restricted, that was due to the fact +that the administration had for some time been sending her the +epileptic defectives, while reserving for the Fondation Vallee the +privilege of having the non-epileptic defectives. Now, everyone knows +that when epilepsy, with repeated fits, is present, it produces a +mental decadence against which the best teacher is powerless. + +The information which we have collected about the work of the school +of the Salpetriere bears upon 117 children, who had left the school +during the period of four years. Now, this is how these children are +distributed, if they are classified according to their condition on +leaving: + +1. Children who had _improved_. Some of these had returned to their +families; they lived at home, and were employed, more or less, and the +directress states that they had improved in their mental condition. +These numbered eight. Others had become capable of following a +calling, either in the asylum as attendants, or outside as +seamstresses, ironers, laundresses, domestic servants, etc. These +numbered twelve. (None was employed in making artificial flowers, for +which there was a workshop in the school.) The total number who had +improved, therefore, was twenty. + +2. _Doubtful_ cases--children who had returned to their families, but +concerning whose mental state and employment precise information was +lacking. These numbered twenty. + +3. Those who had got _worse_. These are the cases who had been marked +"transferred." They are to be found in the lunatic asylums, where they +are destined to pass the rest of their existence. Of these there is a +formidable number--namely, sixty. + +4. Those who had _died_, of whom there were seventeen. + +From all these calculations we obtained a figure to remember, and also +an opinion. + +The figure is that the school for defectives at the Salpetriere +returns to active life 12 per cent. of its pupils. + +The opinion is what one might have known in advance, that in the +majority of these cases the education given was a waste of effort, for +none of the pupils who had acquired a calling had been affected by the +worst degree of mental deficiency, idiocy, or imbecility. Moreover, none +of these was epileptic as well as mentally defective. In other words, +the two worst degrees of mental deficiency do not permit any hope that +the child will be made capable of following any calling; and even a +lesser degree of deficiency--that is to say, feeble-mindedness--is +equally cut off from hope when the feeble-mindedness is complicated by +epilepsy. + +Before drawing from this first inquiry any practical conclusions, we +should like to reach a comprehensive view of the question. We shall +give our conclusions after we have synthetised all our results. + +After the Salpetriere, Bicetre. + +=Bicetre.=--The reader would be wrong to imagine that in these visits +to the hospitals we are forgetting the school cases of mental +deficiency; we are at the heart of the question. Whether we are +dealing with hospital cases or school cases, there are details of +organisation which are the same for all, and there are similar +mistakes which we must try to avoid. + +The asylum-school of Bicetre, which owes its origin, in 1892, to the +General Council of the Seine, and its organisation to Dr. Bourneville, +has a world-wide reputation. Dr. Bourneville has set himself to +demonstrate, by every possible means, that idiots can be improved if +they are treated methodically and progressively. It is thanks to his +initiative that the medico-pedagogical treatment of idiocy, a +treatment which has been much vaunted by the doctors, is now known +everywhere. His clinique has constantly been cited as a model. This +model has been imitated in France and more especially abroad. The +asylums of Saint-Yon, of La Roche-sur-Yon, of Clermont, of +Sainte-Gemme, and of Auxerre, have been inspired by the example of +Bicetre, and have followed its methods. The State supports 440 boys in +the asylum-school of Bicetre, and 230 girls at the Fondation Vallee. + +We have no intention of describing here at length the organisation of +these establishments. All who are interested may join in the Saturday +morning visits, when Dr. Bourneville goes round the whole of his +clinique. We shall content ourselves by saying that the children in +the asylum-school of Bicetre are divided into three groups: + +1. The group of _invalids_--children who are idiotic, dirty, +epileptic, demented. In this group are those who are regarded as +incurable, and some who, although completely idiotic, are capable of +some slight improvement. By means of a _swing_ or _see-saw_ their +limbs are strengthened, by means of a _go-cart_ they are taught to +walk, and by means of the _parallel bars_ they are taught to keep +themselves upright. + +2. The _healthy_ children of the _little school_, all of whom are able +to walk alone. These undergo treatment for uncleanly habits. Special +chairs are kept for the dirty, who are placed at stated times upon +conveniences in order to regularise their functions. Then come +_strengthening exercises_, which are gymnastics of a very simple kind; +_toilet lessons_ to teach them to wash themselves; _table lessons_, to +teach them to feed themselves, with spoon, fork, and even knife; the +_training of the senses_; and, lastly, _training in speech_. + +3. The third group includes children in the _big school_. These are +less defective than the preceding. They are fit and healthy. But, on +the other hand, there are found here a great many abnormal children +(perverse and ill-balanced) who are not wanting in intelligence. The +big school includes four classes, each under the charge of a +professor. The education, especially in the last class, is carried +pretty far, and many of the pupils possess their certificate of study. + +For reasons upon which we will not insist, we were not so delighted +with the hospital of Bicetre as we had been with the Salpetriere. We +might have dispensed with this visit. The medical superintendent of +the school for defectives at Bicetre has taken the trouble for a long +time to publish regularly every year a volume of several hundred +pages, which contains the most diverse statistical information about +everything that goes on. We have studied the volumes bearing upon four +years only--the years 1899, 1901, 1902, and 1903. Moreover, we profess +that we have some knowledge of the school at Bicetre, having not only +joined several times in the Saturday visits, but having on several +occasions carried on there researches in cephalometry; and, in the +last place, we have had the pleasure of following in their inspection +two members of the ministerial commission, who had had the idea of +finding out how the teachers in the big school were fulfilling their +functions. + +It will be remembered that we made a distinction between the +educational and the social return. This distinction is not recognised +by everyone, and many good people take into account only the social +return. There are those who would judge the school of Bicetre by one +thing only--the number of patients who are made useful to society. +This is a question of great interest, but it is wrong to think that it +is the only one to be considered. It would be unjust to confine +oneself to it. The injustice can be understood by supposing that one +is considering an institution which receives idiots only. Would one +judge such an institution by asking how many of its patients become +capable of winning their livelihood? Certainly not. It is possible to +be of real service to the patients without raising them to such a +level. The cure of dirty habits, for example, is not a thing to be +disdained. Not only does it result in an economy of linen and washing, +but it makes the patient less disgusting, less difficult to take care +of. Here we have material and moral improvement which, even for those +who consider expense only, cannot be considered negligible, for in the +end the result is pecuniary economy. But, having stated this +principle, it would be necessary to find out what is the value, what +is the duration, what is the frequency of such improvements. It would +be necessary to know what is their cost, and to compare the cost with +the results in order to find out where one was. This kind of +stock-taking, both financial and medical, has no place in the +publications of the Bicetre, and cannot be replaced by isolated +observations on the treatment and improvement of idiot children. There +is here, therefore, a first lacuna. We note also with regret the +absence of any inspection of the teachers in the schools, who are left +to themselves without any supervision but that of the doctor. Now, the +doctor is not usually an educationist, and it is to be regretted that +he does not himself recognise his incompetency in pedagogy, but that, +on the contrary, his nature, often prone to take offence, will not +submit to any collaboration in his work. Having said this, we are +going to confine ourselves to the social return of the school of +Bicetre, since it is affirmed that such a return exists. + +We would like to know exactly how many boys and girls have been able, +after their discharge, to work at a trade and to maintain themselves. +Upon this point of capital importance the publications of Bicetre tell +us nothing--absolutely nothing. It is, therefore, impossible to find +out the real value of this institution, so richly endowed, where the +visitor perambulates palatial buildings, is saluted by a fanfare, and +admires museums of natural history which would be the envy of many a +public educational establishment. The publications give a number of +particulars as to the number of dancing lessons, the walks to the +Jardin d'Acclimatation, and the cost of laundry, etc.; but we are left +in entire ignorance as to what all this is good for, and what is the +practical tangible benefit which society receives from it. + +Everyone knows, however, that the director of the school for +defectives at Bicetre is an enlightened philanthropist, who has +devoted himself with remarkable zeal and activity to procuring for his +old pupils situations which they are capable of filling. He has +understood, and was one of the first to do so, that the question of +the education of defectives will never be settled until one has +settled that of the social usefulness of these children. + +We have even learned indirectly that he has made many endeavours to +induce employers to engage his defectives as workmen; but it is likely +that these suggestions have not met with the success they deserved, +for the employers, threatened by the new law regarding accidents at +work, hesitate to saddle themselves with workers who, being liable to +attacks of epilepsy, or affected by motor inability, would lay upon +them a very heavy responsibility. On the other hand, the school +education has had a good deal of success since it has happened, as we +have already remarked, that several of the pupils obtained their +certificates of study.[14] But the only publications which we have +consulted say no more about these certificates of study than about the +trades followed by the defectives after leaving school. This silence +is very significant. In spite of oneself, one puts a bad +interpretation upon it. One has an irresistible tendency to believe, +not that all the effort at Bicetre has been in vain, but that it has +been disproportionate in relation to the result achieved. + +We have no difficulty in admitting that idiots have been improved, but +to what an extent this amelioration loses in importance if the +majority of these idiots are destined to pass the rest of their life +in an asylum, where they will be nourished in absolute idleness, and +where, consequently, the heedless administration will gain nothing for +what has been taught them at the price of such great efforts! + +Let us try, however, to interpret the silence of the text. In four +years 240 boys have left the school at Bicetre. In studying the school +of the Salpetriere we distinguished three classes of children--the +_improved_, the _stationary_ or _doubtful_, and those who have got +_worse_. We have consulted the statistical tables of Bicetre, and we +have not found a single one marked _worse_, although one-third of the +entire contingent are epileptic. Now, this is very surprising, since +we know that epilepsy with repeated fits inexorably results in mental +decadence. It is an enigma, which we explain in the following manner: +Those who are really decadent have been marked _stationary_ by +medical or pedagogical optimism. If our interpretation is correct, it +recoils forcibly upon the expression _improved_, which is applied +frequently to those discharged. To the interpretation of this word +_improved_ we are, therefore, obliged to turn our attention. + +What, then, must be understood by _improved_ when this word is found +in the publications of Bicetre? First of all we must subtract a +certain number of subjects who have been marked _transferred_. We know +what is meant by this little word _transferred_ when it is applied to +the children. It is lugubrious. It amounts to a sentence for life. A +subject _transferred_ is one who, his time at school come to an end, +is removed to an asylum for the insane, where, in all probability, he +will stay to the end of his useless existence. If we eliminate the +transferred, and if we keep amongst the improved only those who, +having been so designated, have returned to their families, we get a +proportion of 58 in 290--that is, 20 per cent. of boys. + +This proportion seems to us too large, on account of the optimism +which these documents exhibit. It is to be noticed, however, that +children are sometimes marked _very much improved_, or _notably +improved_. If, for the sake of prudence, we consider as improved only +those who are designated in this way, we have only eighteen, or 7 per +cent. + +This new proportion, if small in absolute value, still seems to us an +exaggeration, because it is reached only by including a certain number +of children affected with epilepsy. It must, therefore, be believed +that their epilepsy has improved. But the amelioration or cure of +epilepsy is not a matter of education; it cannot be considered as a +success to be credited to active medico-pedagogical treatment. Let us +therefore put the cured epileptics aside. There will then remain only +seven who have undergone a notable amelioration and have returned to +their families. What percentage is this? The total contingent upon +which we have been making our calculations numbered 290, but it is +right to exclude all the epileptics, for the reasons we have +mentioned. This brings the number down to 216, and the number of +children really improved, calculated upon 216, amounts, for the boys, +to from 3 to 4 per cent. + +By similar calculations, into the details of which we will not enter, +we have shown that the improved amongst the girls are more +numerous--namely, 20 per cent. But Vallee contains relatively far +fewer epileptics than Bicetre. We do not know, also, how many of them +have become capable of working at a trade. + +We therefore conclude with the following propositions: + +1. _At the school of the Salpetriere, 20 per cent. of defective girls +improved, and 12 per cent. are able to work at a trade._ + +2. _At the Fondation Vallee, also, 20 per cent. of defective girls +have improved. No return has been furnished as to their future +employment._ + +3. _In the case of Bicetre, the number of defective boys improved is +from 3 to 4 per cent. It is not known how many of these defectives are +employed after leaving school._ + + * * * * * + +=Some Conclusions.=--It seldom happens that one finishes an inquiry +without experiencing some disappointment. One starts with great +ambitions, intending to make everything plain, but on the way one is +forced to lower one's flag. The truth escapes one. Sometimes it is the +facts which conceal it from us, sometimes it is man who has an +interest in concealing it. But the disappointment which has attended +our inquiry would surpass the foresight of the most sceptical. On the +other hand, if the school for defectives at the Salpetriere has +enabled us to collect valuable information, we owe this good fortune +entirely to the intelligent initiative of a woman. It was the +directress of the school who, apart from all intervention, medical or +other, had had the idea of instituting these very complete schedules, +which enabled us to discover the economic return of her school. The +management deserved none of the credit. As to the school of Bicetre, +we have studied it only through its annual publications, and we have +managed with great difficulty to obtain only an infinitesimal amount +of information of very doubtful value. + +What lessons are we to draw from these examples as to the future +organisation of our schools for defectives? We had hoped that the +study of these institutions would have provided us with ready-made +experience as to the measures to be taken for founding schools for +defectives under good conditions. The contrary has happened. The +example of these institutions has taught us one thing--the faults +which we ought not to repeat. + +Every impartial mind ought to be with us when we express the view that +henceforth the activities of the schools and hospices should be made +plain by precise information. For this it would be necessary to take +the following measures: + +1. That the definition of the grades of mental deficiency should not +vary from one doctor to another, but that one should know what is +meant by the word _idiot_, the word _imbecile_, and the word +_feeble-minded_. A purely conventional but precise definition would be +infinitely better than the present want of any; and we refer to the +convention which we have suggested above. + +2. That upon entrance and leaving, the mental condition and the state +of instruction of the pupils should be precisely noted, so that by +comparison of such notes, rather than by arbitrary estimates, one +should be able to determine in what way the pupils have changed during +their stay in school. + +3. That on leaving the institution, the children, whether they return +to ordinary life or are transferred to asylums for the insane, should +be followed up, and that particulars regarding their condition should +be transmitted to, and centralised in, the office of the school, so +that the masters may be able to judge the ulterior destiny of these +children whom they have surrounded with so much solicitude during a +period which often amounts to twelve or even fifteen years. + +By such organisation one would at last know exactly, or at any rate +approximately, what are the services rendered by such an institution. +One would compare these services with the expenses, and one would see +whether the receipts were sufficient to justify the expenditure, or +whether, on the contrary, the money had been foolishly squandered, as +we have reason to fear may be the case. We would also see upon what +children educational effort should be directed, in order to obtain the +maximum return. It would be possible to find out, for example, whether +it is worth while continuing for five years, eight years, or more, to +give lessons in reading to a child who, after two years, is still +unable to spell. We will also consider very seriously whether a child +who is unfortunately subject to repeated attacks of epilepsy, which no +medical treatment has improved, and who is destined to descend +progressively and inevitably through all stages of mental decadence, +should be kept in his place in a class; and whether the teachers would +not be doing better to leave the child at peace than to teach him +laboriously the rules of arithmetic and grammar, which will certainly +be forgotten soon afterwards in the cloud which will obscure the +intelligence. + +One day, when we were walking through a residential school, we were +struck by the spectacle of a poor epileptic. This was a little girl of +about fifteen years of age. She was wearing her school apron, and upon +her head was the little osier cap which epileptics are made to wear, +to avoid the danger of falls upon the head. It was lesson-time. Pale +and thin, the little patient was sitting quietly in her place, +listening to the lesson of her mistress, who was explaining the rule +of the agreement of the participle. Did she understand? We hope so, +since she belonged to one of the higher classes--the second, if we +remember rightly. In any case, she was making a great effort to follow +the grammatical explanation, and her forehead was thrown into +wrinkles. All at once she gave a slight sigh, slipped down in her +seat, and fell. The attendant took her in her arms and carried her +into a corner of the room. The lesson continued with general +indifference. The children pay little attention to such accidents, +because they are so used to them. Now one, now another, has her attack +of epilepsy. After a few minutes our little scholar came to herself. +She appeared quite dazed. The attendant spoke to her with kind +indifference. "Come, now, that is better. It is nothing. It is all +over." The child did not reply, but docilely allowed herself to be led +to her seat. She took up her former position, appearing to listen +vaguely; and on her pinched face, with its drawn features, the lesson +in grammar continued to fall. The people, visitors and professors, who +were present at that scene, and thought it quite natural, surely did +not understand the heart-break of it. Some time afterwards we made +inquiries about this pupil, being curious to know how she was, and +what she was doing. We were told: "She is a poor little thing, who has +forgotten a great deal. Formerly she was a bright child. Now she is +going back every day. By-and-by she will no longer be able to read. +This is nearly always the way with our epileptics!" + +This sad story, which we have just recalled, we give as a striking +illustration of our statistical calculations regarding the ultimate +fate of these institution cases. Be it remembered, we had reached this +very important conclusion: that epileptics, whether feeble-minded, or +imbecile, or idiotic, never become capable of working at a trade. This +somewhat vague conclusion it would be of great interest to examine +more closely. Our little epileptic, who is gradually falling back, is +an example. She has already reached the height of her development; she +is fifteen years of age, and she is beginning to decline. We foresee +the time when she will no longer know how to read. Is there, then, +any use in wearying the poor thing by teaching her an abstract grammar +rule? + + * * * * * + +Let us turn now to our school cases. Our conclusions may be divined. +We expressly demand that the utility of the schools shall be +rigorously established, and that the teachers and inspectors shall be +bound to take exact notes of the mental condition and the state of +instruction of the pupils on entrance and on leaving. In this way one +will act like any good shopkeeper, who considers it one of his chief +duties to keep accounts of what he is doing. His system of +book-keeping shows his position in a way which is indispensable if he +is not to lose his money. He knows at what price he buys, at what +price and under what conditions he sells, and whether, in consequence, +his profits are sufficient to encourage him to continue to deal in +such and such articles. + +In the same way, in a well-managed school for defectives, it is +necessary to know the exact details concerning the condition of the +pupils on entrance and on leaving, in order that one may be able to +judge the services rendered by the school; in order that one may be +able to find out whether the educational methods employed are good, +bad, or indifferent; whether they are better than those of another +school, where different methods are followed, and so on. Such control +is equally necessary in order to find out whether a particular +category of children gives greater degrees of success than another; +whether certain degrees of mental deficiency are capable of +improvement only to an infinitesimal extent. Such things cannot be +known in advance, and should not be decided lightly in credence of an +_a priori_ opinion, but should be determined by accurate scientific +methods, in the interest of the schools, in the interest of the +pupils, and also in the interest of the tax-payers, who bear the cost. +It will not do to content oneself with admiring _in abstracto_ the +goodness of the methods and the progress of the pupils, but it must +ever be remembered that the aim of the schools should be to fit the +defectives to take a useful place in society. The school should not +aim at turning out brilliant pupils, stars in competition, but +individuals capable of looking after themselves and gaining their own +livelihood. This should be the constant pre-occupation of the +teachers. They should not shut themselves up within the four walls of +their school, saying, "The life outside is no concern of ours." It is +their imperative duty to consider the school life as a preparation for +life outside. They ought, therefore, to pay attention to the needs of +the immediate school environment, in order to know what are the +industries which require workers, to take account of which of them are +accessible to defectives, and to direct their education accordingly. +Domestic service in the country, for example, which requires but +little initiative, would seem to be an excellent refuge for +feeble-minded girls with good instincts. Agricultural labour supplies +an excellent outlet for the boys, for in the country life is less +complicated, and adaptation is more easy, than in the towns. There is +a certain, practical, even easy way of finding out whether the teacher +has been trying to keep in contact with real life, and whether his +school for defectives is well managed. It is to find out what becomes +of the defectives on leaving school, and what percentage he has been +able to place in situations with a suitable salary. + +Such measures of control are so logical that they only require to be +formulated to obtain the immediate assent of all sensible minds. Yet +one may ask whether, as a matter of fact, in the schools managed by +the State, the inspectors occupy themselves sufficiently with this +practical side of education, and do not even make the mistake of +judging the education by itself, according to a conventional, +literary, or scientific ideal. We are not speaking of public schools, +colleges, and lycees. These establishments are attended by normal +children, and it may be admitted that it is not, strictly speaking, +the business of the State to prepare these for social life. As a +matter of fact, that is not our own opinion, but that does not matter. +What is certain is that the duty of the State becomes more precise and +more pressing when it is a question of assuring the lot of the +defectives. Has it always been kept in mind that their education +should put them in the way of an occupation, and that one should teach +them nothing useless, so as not to make them lose their time? We do +not think so. We hope that the schools for the blind take care to know +whether the Braille which they teach their pupils is a method of +reading and writing which will be useful to them in life; whether the +manual arts, such as caning chairs, the making of brushes and +mattresses, are the best means which they can teach to the +non-musicians whereby to gain their bread. We equally hope that in the +schools for the deaf and dumb, which are teaching their pupils by the +oral method--with what effort, what expense, and what devotion one may +imagine--they have inquired what percentage of their pupils attained +the ability to communicate verbally with people other than their +teachers, and also what is the percentage of pupils who, ten years +after leaving school, still use that method and find it advantageous. +All these questions should be asked, and conscientious minds should +try to find an answer to them by impartial inquiry, in order to find +out whether the methods are useful, and whether the school is +directing its energies well. What is being done about this with +respect to the schools for defectives? + +We must do this justice to the legislation at present projected with +regard to defectives, that it is not indifferent with regard to this +question of control. The Ministerial Commission, in which one of us +took part, heard many demands for guarantees of this kind. Its +mistrust was awakened, and it made a number of suggestions which have +been included in the Bill. + +Thus, an elementary school inspector is trusted with the duty of +taking account of the educational progress of each child. A little +book must be kept recording full particulars of each individual case. +The principle of supervision by a Care Committee after leaving school +has been adopted. All this is excellent. The law cannot enter into +minute details. Administrative rules must be drawn up to provide +against the two causes of error, prejudice and negligence. + +Let us consider this question from our own point of view, and +distinguish clearly between the educational and the social return. + +=The Educational Return of the Special Schools and Classes.=--In the +first place, in order to gauge the advantages of special education, it +is necessary to find out what becomes of defectives when they are left +in the ordinary schools. It is quite clear that special education +should be condemned and suppressed if it does not do more than the +ordinary schools. We have seen that, in the latter, the defective is a +dead weight, and the ill-balanced is a nuisance. Nevertheless, one +must not jump to the conclusion that these children are in no wise +modified by the school influences, and do not profit in any degree by +the instruction. We have already pointed out some very touching facts: +a little defective girl has learned to read, thanks to the persevering +help of one of her normal companions. This proves, at least, that +association with normal children may be good for something, but let us +leave such anecdotes and attempt to reach a comprehensive view of the +situation. + +We have been able to collect in the primary schools of Paris, thanks +to the kind assistance of M. Belot, particulars which are very +valuable, though restricted in amount. These particulars we have +examined in every possible way, and we always reach the same +conclusion: _the defective makes very slow progress in the ordinary +schools_. + +Let us consider, for example, _en bloc_, forty-five defectives of +whom we possess records, and see to what extent they are behind at +different ages. We get the following table: + + Age. Retardation. + 7 2 years } + 8 2 " } about 2 years. + 9 1-1/2 " } + + 10 3 " } + 11 3-1/2 " } about 3 years. + 12 3 " } + 13 3-1/2 " } + + 14 6 " } + 15 5 " } about 5 years. + +Thus, the amount of retardation increases with the years. It is at +first two years, then three, then five. But this augmentation in the +amount of retardation, which is the first fact to strike the +attention, ought not to conceal from us that there is real progress in +the mental condition and in the studies; in fact, we may remark that +if a defective child, in passing from the age of eight to eleven, has +an augmentation of retardation of one year with respect to his +companions, this proves that in the same time he has progressed two +years with respect to himself. It is like an omnibus which goes more +and more slowly, yet advances all the same. To be more precise, let us +say that, since the defectives reach, as an upper limit, the +intermediate course, and that in the proportion of two-thirds, one may +conclude that they make nearly half the progress of the normal +children. Be it understood, this is only roughly true, and many +reservations must be made with regard to details. But the indication +which these documents afford is, nevertheless, very instructive, for +it shows us that the majority, two-thirds at least, of the defectives +appear regularly to duplicate each class, or to take two years to pass +a stage which the normal child passes in one. It is important to +remember this, for the teachers do not always give the facts their +true value. They have a tendency to compare the slow progress of the +defective with the more rapid progress of the normal, and to conclude +from this comparison that the defective remains stationary. This is a +pure illusion, which may be compared to what one experiences when +looking out of the window of a train in motion. One sees another train +going in the same direction but more slowly, and imagines that the +second train is not moving. Let us retain, therefore, provisionally, +the following important idea: _Only half the defectives in an ordinary +school reach with difficulty the intermediate course, first year, +passing through the different stages in double the normal time._ No +doubt one would find many examples of slower progress still, three or +four times the normal. On the other hand, the teacher sometimes points +out a defective who has improved very rapidly, as if his intellect +awoke from a long sleep. Such cases exist, but they are very rare, and +they are open to the suspicion that an error in diagnosis has been +made, and that the child who has improved so greatly was wrongly +considered defective. + +With regard to the ill-balanced, the success of the ordinary school is +much greater. A recent inquiry taught us that in the course of two +years half the children noted as ill-balanced were regarded by the +teachers as improved. This figure speaks for itself. + +From this we may conclude in a general way that it is essential that +the special schools and classes should bring more than half of their +defective pupils to the level of the intermediate course, and improve +more than half of the ill-balanced, if they are to render public +services superior to those of the ordinary schools. + +This must be the aim. How are we to know whether it is attained or +not? By supervision exercised in the most serious manner, by well-kept +individual records, in which are noted only facts which can be +controlled. + +We remember, a dozen years ago, having turned over the records of +young defectives in an asylum-school which had the reputation of +perfect organisation, a reputation otherwise deserved, for everything +that was shown to the public on visiting days was perfect. But a +distinction must be drawn between what one sees and what one does not +see. The records were kept with surprising negligence. They were dirty +in appearance, torn, disordered, falling to bits. On reading them one +only met with vague estimations, loosely expressed, about children +who, as was repeated to satiety, "would make progress if they would +work better." The less we say the better about contradictory +diagnosis, such as one we noticed on a certificate of discharge: +"Complete idiocy--very much improved"; or the too optimistic +prognosis, really very naive, if the writer has not had the bad taste +to be ironical: "Vicious child--would make an excellent housemaid." If +documents could be kept in this way, it is quite clear that those who +so kept them felt pretty sure that nobody would ever read them. + +We demand that the notes which show the educational progress of the +pupils should be written under the constant fear of control, in order +that they may be guaranteed against negligence and interested +optimism. The manner of control is very simple, and may be summed up +in three paragraphs. + +1. The estimation of the progress of the children should be made by +the professors themselves, since they know each child well. The +professor will always keep in mind that his notes will be checked by +the inspector. With regard to instruction, notes will be kept with +regard to reading, writing, arithmetic, spelling, according to the +methods which we have indicated, and such remarks as "good," "very +good," "passable," each signifying absolutely nothing, will be +avoided. With regard to the manual work, it goes without saying that +the record would have to be made in a somewhat different way. + +2. The inspector will examine a certain number of cases chosen +haphazard. He must carry out this control with an open mind and +without prejudice. + +3. He will make use of methods of control of a strictly impersonal +nature. + +=Social Return.=--We are surprised to find that abroad there have been +published very few particulars concerning the social return of the +schools, although they have been in existence for a long time, some of +them for forty years. Statistics are rare, without commentaries, and +some of them are apparently prejudiced. In order to find out what they +are worth, we think it would be necessary to live in the country, and +to observe carefully for oneself the work of the schools. The official +documents do not teach very much, and one may suspect that every +public service which is not supervised in the most intelligent manner, +and incited by competition, will slip into routine and empiricism. We +demand an inquiry on the two following points: How many defectives are +provided with a trade when they leave the special schools? How many +defectives are provided with a trade when they do not leave the +special schools? + +Such an inquiry, we may be certain, has never been seriously +undertaken. Here are some statistics. Mme. Fuster, after a stay in +Germany, where she visited some _Hilfschule_ and _Hilfsclasse_ +(literally, "help-schools" and "help-classes") made a communication to +the Societe de l'Enfant, from which it appears that in the case of 90 +classes for defectives in Berlin, 70 to 75 per cent. of the defective +pupils who were there became able to carry on a trade; 25 to 30 per +cent. died in the course of study, or returned to their homes, or were +sent to medical institutions for idiots. + +According to a more recent inquiry, made under the auspices of M. de +Gizycki at Berlin, and published in a book by Paul Dubois, 22 per +cent. of the children were sent home or to asylums; 11 per cent. were +apprenticed; 62 per cent. worked at occupations which required no +knowledge and yielded little pay (labourers, crossing-sweepers, +ragmen). If we add together these two last groups, we reach a +proportion of 73 per cent. of defectives who have been made, or who +have become, more or less useful. + +We shall quote a last document, to which we attach more importance +than to the preceding, for we have full confidence in the author. Dr. +Decroly has kindly arranged at our request a few figures relating to +the occupational classification of the girls discharged from a special +class in Brussels. He states that the class was opened only in 1903, +that education in Belgium is not compulsory, that many of the pupils +leave the class too soon--all circumstances which explain the +smallness of the success. He firmly believes in the educational value +of special instruction, provided one does not expect miracles. He has +a good critical mind. We cannot publish here the whole table. We shall +summarise it thus: + +Of three idiots, practically nothing is known; of eight imbeciles, one +is employed at home, one unemployed (?), and one is messenger to a +shoemaker. One can scarcely expect any real return in the case of +imbeciles and idiots, and the merit of Dr. Decroly's statistics lies +in the fact of distinguishing between such children and the +feeble-minded. Let us speak more fully of the latter. They are thirty +in number. Concerning nine there are no particulars. Two have entered +a Catholic school, and nothing more is known about them. If we +subtract these eleven, there remain nineteen. Some of these are "kept +at home," or "occupied at home"; of these there are five. We do not +know exactly what they are doing. There are others who "work," but it +is not stated whether this is outside, or whether the work deserves to +be taken into account. Four belong to this category. There remain the +apprentices (tailors, cigarette-makers, sewers, etc.), of whom there +are nine. Perhaps the last figure is the only one which deserves to be +taken into account. Finally, then, out of nineteen feeble-minded +subjects, regarding whom particulars have been supplied, one half, or +50 per cent., have been apprenticed; or more than half, 75 per cent., +if we count the defectives who "work." We are not, therefore, very far +from the figures collected by Mme. Fuster for the special classes of +Berlin, nor from those published by Gizycki. + +We do not think enough of the ordinary school, and of the service it +renders to the defectives; or, rather, we are too ready to assert that +it does nothing for them. Yet, all the defectives who leave it do not +turn out badly. There are journalists who try to attract the attention +of public bodies by declaring that defectives, left to themselves, +inevitably fall into mendicancy and crime. What do they know about it? +Absolutely nothing, since no serious inquiry has ever been carried +out. Even we, for several years, allowed ourselves to be influenced by +such suggestions, until the day when one of these journalists went +rather too far. We refer to an alienist who published in a morning +paper a series of articles on the defectives. After having estimated +their total number at 40,000, he called them "the madmen of +to-morrow," truly an excellent title for a sensational article. But, +little as one might think it, of all that was written nothing was +really proved. Those who think that the defectives are destined to +become lunatics are just as much in a dream as those who declare they +will become criminals. The fact is that we are in complete ignorance, +because one has always recoiled from an inquiry which promised to be +as long as it would be troublesome. And it is a disgrace, let us say +frankly, that no State has ever undertaken it. + +Through the intervention of an inspector, M. Belot, we have inquired +of twenty heads of schools what has become of the defectives whom they +notified to us two years ago. We have made these inquiries with regard +to sixty-six children only. Poor figures, indeed, and we would not +give them, but that a little is better than nothing. These sixty-six +children may be classified thus: Thirty-five are defective, +twenty-six ill-balanced, and three both defective and ill-balanced. +Retardation is quite plain in the unstable, amounting to from one to +two years; it is very marked in the case of the defectives (one alone +has a retardation of two years, the others have a retardation of +three, four, six, and even seven years). We give these figures only +that it may not be imagined that we are dealing with cases of slight +feeble-mindedness with a retardation of one or two years. It is +necessary to understand these details in order to form a correct idea +of the value of the figures. + +The particulars regarding the ultimate destiny of these sixty-six +children are as follows: + +1. _No Return in the Case of Fourteen Children._--Some left the +district without giving an address. Some even left school with insults +from the parents directed against the teachers. + +2. _Children still at School._--These number twenty-two. We have +already spoken about this little group, and have remarked that some of +them have improved. + +3. _Children sent Home or placed in Asylums._--There are three who +have been sent to asylums. We know one of them, an imbecile, but he +had bad instincts, and who knows but that he might have been made +useful? With regard to the others, who have been sent home, we have +only very vague particulars, and the interpretation of their condition +is quite arbitrary. Some of them seem to be useful. Some girls help at +home. Some boys assist their fathers at their work, but are said to be +wanting in balance or to require constant supervision. We have thought +it well to include them in this third category, which stands for the +social waste. They number ten. We repeat that the limits of this group +are extremely ill-defined. With a little optimism one might have +passed three-quarters into the following group; with a little more +strictness, on the other hand, the present group would have been +larger. We emphasise the difficulty of limiting the frontier +impartially. It would be a good thing to make use of a criterion, +good or bad, but exact. One will, no doubt, be found, but in the +meantime we have none. + +4. _Children who have become Useful._--These are they who have become +capable of following some calling. It is evident that one should take +account of the nature of the calling followed; many are misery in +disguise. A little time should also be allowed, for a child may not +find definite occupation immediately on leaving school. In fact, the +only particular we have regarding this last group of children is, that +they have entered on an apprenticeship. Girls are apprenticed to +dressmakers or laundresses. Boys are apprenticed as hairdressers, +tinsmiths, gilders, printers, carpenters, etc. These children number +seventeen. These results have impressed us rather favourably. We did +not expect that the majority of defectives from the ordinary school +would enter an apprenticeship; but, in fact, the majority did so. If +we abstract the two first groups, those about whom the particulars are +wanting, and those who have not yet left school, there remain +twenty-seven children, of whom seventeen have been apprenticed, or 76 +per cent. + +From these statements the following conclusion is reached--namely, +that, contrary to an opinion which attempts are being made to spread +abroad, the ordinary school does render real service to the defective +child. We have already seen, _a propos_ of the educational return, +that the ordinary school carries a proportion of the defectives as far +as the intermediate course. All these facts are mutually confirmatory. + +Is it possible to go farther? We have just seen that the ordinary +school permits the occupational classing of 76 per cent. of the +defectives. Now, this proportion is, by an unexpected agreement, +identical with that obtained in the classes of Berlin and Brussels, +whence an opponent of special instruction would hasten to argue that +such instruction is useless, or that, at least, it could not prove +its usefulness except on the condition of insuring occupational +classing superior to 76 per cent. We do not think, after mature +reflection, that this proposition would be justified. All our figures +show is that the majority of defectives who pass through the ordinary +school had not entirely lost their time, since they reached the stage +of entering upon an apprenticeship. But it will not do to take account +only of the proportion of children classed as workers; it would be +necessary also to take account of the duration of such classing, and +especially of its quality. A defective enters upon an apprenticeship. +That is good, but how long does he retain it? Will he be discharged as +incapable at the end of a few months? If he is kept, will he remain in +the lowest employments--for example, unskilled labour? In connection +with all trades, there are minor occupations in which defectives +stagnate. Our figures do not take account of these differences, which +are of considerable interest, nor do they give any fuller ideas with +regard to the utilisation of the defectives. And it would be necessary +for the statistical method to be carried out with greater perfection +to enable us to measure the services rendered by special instruction. +It is probable that the special school would render greater services +than the ordinary school, because it has greater advantages: teachers +experienced in the training of defectives, a curriculum better fitted +to the aptitudes of the latter, and, most important of all, the +possibility of individual instruction. + +Let us stop here. In the meantime this is all that we can say with +regard to the organisation and control of special education. If we +were to attempt to go farther we could do so only on _a priori_ +grounds. The time has come for experiment. The new classes which are +being formed in Bordeaux, Paris, and elsewhere, must be carefully +watched. We shall grope, we shall make attempts, certainly we shall +commit mistakes, which will not matter very much if only we have the +mind to recognise them and the courage to put them right. The +essential thing is for all the world to understand that empiricism has +had its day, and that methods of scientific precision must be +introduced into all educational work, to carry everywhere good sense +and light. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] In trying to explain this success, one must, no doubt, take into +account the comparatively advanced age of the children, the probable +leniency of the examiners, and, above all, the fact that the +ill-balanced subject is a moral rather than a mental defective. + + + + +APPENDIX + + [N.B.--Throughout the Appendix Roman numerals refer to + ages--_e.g._, IV. 2 = second test for children of four years.] + + +Part of the interest of this work on defective children consists in +the fact that in it we find the origin of those ideas and +investigations which culminated in the formation of the Binet-Simon +Scale of Intelligence, now so widely known throughout Europe and +America. + +The ideal that Binet set before himself was the formation of a scale +which should measure intelligence in something the same way as the +foot-rule measures height. The first difficulty was the unit. If we +regard intelligence as the power to cope with a situation, we see that +this power in a general way increases with the experience of the +child, or, we may say, with his age. A child of nine should have more +intelligence than one of eight, a child of eight than a child of +seven, and so on. We may suppose, then, that there is a normal +intelligence for each age just as there is a normal height for each +age, although in the first case, as in the second, many children fall +below and many rise above the standard. It is clearly by no means so +easy to establish a norm for intelligence as for height, nevertheless, +the method should be the same; that is, we should begin by finding out +what the intelligence of children of different ages actually is, and +from these results we should derive averages which might be used as +norms. + +In the course of his work with defectives, Binet, as we have seen, +had gathered a number of questions which he had found useful as tests +of intelligence. He now, in conjunction with Dr. Simon, proceeded to +extend the number of these tests and to assign each to its appropriate +age. The method he adopted was this: He tried each test on a great +number of normal children of the same age. If a large majority +answered satisfactorily, he set the test down as suitable for that +age; if a majority failed, he moved it to a more advanced age, and +tested it again on older children. When we consider his scale then, we +must remember that the arrangement is no arbitrary one, but has been +derived from actual experiment. + +In 1908, after having been tried on over two hundred Parisian school +children, the tests were published in the form of a scale, giving a +measure of intelligence graded from three to thirteen years of age. By +this scale it was held a child's mental age, which, of course, was +often not the same as his chronological age, could be determined. + +In 1911 there was published a revised scale in which, owing to the +results of further experiment and criticism, a considerable number of +alterations in the grading of the tests was made. This revised form of +the scale is given below. For convenience in use the _exact_ words to +be said to the child are placed first, the particular directions for +each test being given afterwards. General directions regarding the +tests and the method of marking will be found at the end of the scale. + + +Tests of Intelligence. + +_Three Years._ + +1. "Show me your eyes." "Show me your nose." "Show me your mouth." + +Count the child correct if he indicates in any way that he +understands. + +2. "I am going to say two numbers. Say them after me--3, 7."--"Again, +6, 4."--"Again, 0, 5." + +The examiner must say the figures slowly; an interval of half a second +should be allowed between the two. The child passes if he is +successful once out of the three trials. + +3. "Here is a picture; tell me what you see." + +The child passes at this level if he simply enumerates objects seen in +the pictures (Figs. 1, 2, 3). + +4. "What is your name?" + +For a pass the surname must be given, but if the child says his +Christian name only, the examiner may press him by asking "What else?" + +5. "Say this sentence after me--'I am cold and hungry.'" + +If the child is timid, he may be tried first with shorter sentences. +He is not allowed to pass unless his enunciation is perfect. A +sentence containing six syllables should be remembered at this level. + + +_Four Years._ + +1. "Are you a little boy or a little girl?" + +If necessary, this question may be divided: "Are you a little boy?" +"Are you a little girl?" + +2. "What is this?"--"And this?"--"And this?" The examiner shows the +child successively a key, a penny, and a knife. + +3. "I am going to say three numbers. I want you to repeat them. +Listen. 2, 7, 5."--"Again, 9, 0, 4."--"Again, 3, 8, 1." + +One success suffices. + +4. "You see these lines. Tell me which is longer." See Fig. 7. + +No hesitation or uncertainty is satisfactory. + + +_Five Years._ + +1. "You see these boxes. Tell me which is heavier." + +The examiner places two boxes precisely the same in appearance, but +weighing respectively 3 grammes and 12 grammes, before the child. He +repeats the test with similar boxes, weighing respectively 6 and 15 +grammes, and then the first pair is again presented. The boxes should +be arranged so that the heavier one is alternately at the right and at +the left side. Very young children nearly always indicate one of the +boxes by chance without testing them. In this case the examiner is +allowed to say, "You must take the boxes in your hand and weigh them." + +2. "Copy this picture for me." + +The examiner shows the child a card on which is drawn a square, the +side of which measures an inch and a half. The child is given pen and +ink, an unfamiliar instrument to him at this age. He passes if his +square can be recognised as a square. + +3. "Listen to this, and repeat it after me: 'My name is Charlie. Oh! +the naughty dog!'" + +Memory of a sentence containing ten syllables is required. + +4. "You see these pennies. Now count them with your finger." + +Four pennies are placed before the child. They are juxtaposed, but not +superposed. In order to pass, he must count them, touching each with +his forefinger as he says its number. Some little children begin to +count before they touch the first penny; thus they may reach five or +six or even more. + +5. "Put these pieces together so as to make them look like this." + +The examiner has two oblong cards--postcards do very well--one of +which is cut in two pieces along the diagonal. Before giving the +direction to the child, he places the intact card on the table, and, +nearer the child, the two pieces of the other card arranged so that +the two hypotenuses form a right angle.[A] + + +_Six Years._ + +1. "Is it morning or afternoon now?" + +As many little children tend simply to repeat the examiner's last +words, it is better to reverse the terms "morning" and "afternoon" +when the examination takes place in the afternoon. + +2. "What is a fork?"--What is a table?"--"A chair?"--"A horse?"--A +mamma?" + +Three levels of intelligence may be distinguished in the responses. +The lowest is that of silence, or repetition of the term, or +designation by gesture. The second, which should be attained at the +age of six, is that of definition by use, as: "A fork is for eating +with." The third level is attained by the ninth year; the child at +this level attempts to describe the object or to say what it is made +of. The type of the majority of the definitions determines one's +judgment of the level attained. + +3. "Copy this picture for me." + +The examiner shows the child a card on which is drawn a diamond, of +which the side measures an inch and a half, and the acute angles 60 +degrees. The drawing must be done with pen and ink. + +4. "Count these pennies." + +Thirteen pennies are placed on the table in a group (not in a line) +touching one another, but not superposed. + +5. "Which is the prettier of these two faces?"--"And of these?"--"And +of these?" + +See Fig. 4. + +Three correct responses required. + + +_Seven Years._ + +1. "Show me your right hand."--"Show me your left ear." + +2. "Here is a picture. Tell me what you see." + +Description of picture required (Figs. 1, 2, 3.) + +3. "Do you see this key? Go and put it on that chair. Then close the +door. Then take the box which is lying on the chair near the door and +bring it to me. First put the key on the chair, then close the door, +then bring me the box." + +No help or suggestion by word or look must be given during the +execution of this task. + +4. "How much money is there here altogether?" + +Three pennies and three halfpennies are placed on the table before the +child. + +5. "What is this colour?"--"And this?"--"And this?"--"And this?" + +The examiner shows the child successively the four colours--red, +yellow, blue, and green. + + +_Eight Years._ + +1. "You know a butterfly?"--"And you know a fly?"--"Are they like one +another?"--"Well, in what way are they not alike?" + +The same questions are asked about wood and glass, and paper and +cardboard. Two comparisons at least must be given correctly. + +2. "You can count, can't you?"--"Well, will you count for me backwards +from twenty to nothing? Begin 20, 19...." + +One error is allowed, but the task must be finished in twenty seconds. + +3. "What is missing in this picture?" The child must not be allowed to +see the figure in the diagram until he has answered the questions +regarding the heads. Otherwise, when shown a head, he may say, being +influenced by suggestion, "It has no body." See Fig. 5. + +The same question is put for each of the four pictures. + +4. "Can you tell me what day it is?"--"And will you tell me the date +also?" + +The year must be given; three or four days' latitude is allowed in the +day of the month. + +5. "I am going to say five numbers. Listen and repeat them after me. +5, 8, 2, 9, 1."--"Again, 3, 7, 5, 2, 0."--"Again, 1, 3, 7, 2, 9." + +One success suffices. + + +_Nine Years._ + +1. "Would you like to play shop? You be shopkeeper. I will buy from +you this box. It costs twopence." Here the examiner hands the child a +shilling. "Now, will you give me change out of this money here?" + +In order to give the change the child is provided with one of each of +our current coins--sovereign, half-sovereign, crown, half-crown, +florin, shilling, sixpence, threepence, penny, halfpenny--and in +addition five halfpence and six pennies. + +_Note._--Binet gives the child a franc for an article valued at 20 +sous, and the child has to select his change from the following coins: +8 coins of the value 0 fr. 05, 4 of the value 0 fr. 10, and 1 of each +of the others--viz., 0 fr. 25, 0 fr. 50, 1 fr., 2 fr., 5 fr., 10 fr., +20 fr. + +2. "What is a fork?"--"What is a table?"--"A chair?"--"A horse?"--"A +mamma?" + +For a pass three at least of the definitions must be given in a form +superior to the "use" type. + +3. "What is the name of this coin?"--"And of this?"--"And of this?" + +The examiner in this way goes through in irregular order all our +current pieces of money. Coins like one another should not be shown in +immediate succession. + +4. "Will you tell me the names of the months in order?" + +One omission or one inversion is allowed to pass. + +5. "What would you do if you missed a train?"--"What would you do if +one of your playmates should hit you without meaning to do so?"--"What +would you do if you broke something belonging to someone else?" + +For a pass two at least of these questions must be answered sensibly. + + +_Ten Years._ + +1. "You see these little boxes. They are not all the same weight. Some +are heavy and some are light. Place the heaviest one here, and at its +side the one which is a little less heavy, then the one still a little +less, and finally the lightest of all." + +The boxes in question weigh respectively 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 grammes, +and all look the same. They are placed in a pile before the child, and +as the examiner gives the directions he indicates with his finger the +place he appoints for each box. Three trials should be given, the +boxes being mixed after each trial. In order to pass the child must be +correct at least twice. The time should not exceed three minutes. The +material for the test can be easily made from match-boxes. + +2. "Now I am going to show you two drawings. You may look at them for +ten seconds, which is a very short time. Then I will ask you to draw +them from memory." + +For the drawings see Fig. 6. The child is counted correct if he +reproduces the whole of one drawing and half the other. + +3. "I am going to read you some sentences, each of which contains +something foolish. Listen attentively and tell me each time what is +foolish." + +The examiner reads the sentences impressively, but without any special +emphasis on the part the child should comment on. Each time when he +finishes he changes his tone, and demands, "What is foolish in that?" + + _Sentences._--(1) An unfortunate bicycle rider fell on his head + and was killed instantly; he was taken to a hospital, and they + fear he will not recover. + + (2) I have three brothers, Paul, Ernest, and myself. + + (3) The body of an unfortunate young girl, cut into eighteen + pieces, was found yesterday on the fortifications. It is thought + that she killed herself. + + (4) There was a railway accident yesterday, but it was not a bad + one; the number of dead is only forty-eight. + + (5) Someone said If I should ever grow desperate and kill + myself, I will not choose Friday, because Friday is an unlucky + day, and will bring me unhappiness. + +Three satisfactory answers are required. + +4. "What would you do if you were delayed in going to school?"--"What +would you do before taking part in an important affair?"--"Why is a +bad action done when one is angry more excusable than the same action +done when one is not angry?"--"What would you do if you were asked +your opinion of someone whom you did not know well?"--"Why should one +judge a person by his acts rather than by his words?" + +Three sensible answers must be given. + +5. "I am going to read you three words, and I want you to make a +sentence and use in it the three words. The words are Paris, fortune, +stream." + +The expression "make a sentence" must not be further explained, but +the instructions may be repeated. The child is given a pencil and +paper, and, if necessary, should be urged to write something. For a +pass the sentence should be well co-ordinated. At this stage it may +contain two distinct ideas, but not three; at the higher level it must +contain only one idea (see XII. 2). One minute is the time allowed for +writing. + + +_Twelve Years._ + +1. "Which is the longer of these two lines?"--"And of those?"--"And of +those?"--"And of those?"--"And of those?"--"And of those?" + +This test is aimed at the suggestibility of the child. For the +material see Figs. 8-13. The first three pairs of lines differ in +length, the longer being at the right hand; the last three pairs are +equal. It is sufficient if the child correctly judges two of the last +three pairs to be equal. + +2. "I am going to read you three words. I want you to make a sentence +and use in it the three words. The words are Paris, fortune, stream." + +For directions see XI. 5. + +3. "I am going to allow you three minutes, and I want you to say as +many words as you can think of. Some children have said more than two +hundred. Let us see how many you can do. Ready? Start." + +In order to pass the child must say over sixty words. + +4. "What is Charity?"--"What is Justice?"--"What is Kindness?" + +Two correct responses are required. + +5. "Put these words in their proper order and find the sentence which +they make." + +Three cards are successively presented to the child, on each of which +is very clearly written or printed one of the following sets of words +arranged in three lines. + +(1) For--an--the--at--hour--early--we--country--started. + +(2) To--asked--exercise--my--I--teacher--correct--my. + +(3) A--defends--dog--good--his--master--bravely. + +One minute is allowed for each sentence, and two correct answers are +required. + + +_Fifteen Years._ + +1. "I am going to say seven numbers to you, and I want you to repeat +them after me. Now, 5, 2, 7, 9, 1, 6, 0."--"Again, 6, 4, 1, 3, 9, 7, +5."--"Again, 8, 0, 4, 2, 7, 3, 6." + +One success suffices. + +2. "Do you know the meaning of the word 'rhyme'? Two words are said to +rhyme when they have similar endings, such as hour and flower, or +candy and dandy. Do you understand? Now, find all the words which +rhyme with day." + +The child is required to find three rhymes in one minute. + +3. "I am going to say some sentences to you, and I want you to repeat +them exactly after me. Ready? 'The other day I saw on the street a +pretty yellow dog. Little Maurice has stained his nice new apron.'" + +The examiner is advised to have ready a series of sentences formed of +words easy to understand. He should begin with one somewhat shorter +than that suggested, which consists of twenty-six syllables--the +length required by Binet at this age. + +4. "Here is a picture. Tell me what you see." + +At this level interpretation of the picture is required. Mere +description of the activities represented is not sufficient. + +5. "Listen to what I am going to read to you: A woman was walking +through a park in Chicago. Suddenly she stopped, dreadfully +frightened. She ran to the nearest policeman and told him she had seen +hanging to the limb of a tree"--after a pause--"a what?" + +"Again: My neighbour has just received some singular visitors: one +after another a doctor, a lawyer, and a priest called. What is +happening at my neighbour's?" + +Both problems must be solved satisfactorily. + + +_Adult._ + +1. "Here is a paper folded in four. Suppose that here" (pointing to a +small triangle that has been drawn in the middle of the edge which +presents a single fold) "I cut out this little triangle. Now, if I +unfold the paper, how would it look? Draw the paper as, it would +appear if unfolded and show how and where it would be cut." + +The paper is square to begin with, and is folded twice so as to show a +square one quarter of the original size. The required drawing will +show two diamonds drawn in line with each other, and each in the +centre of one half of a square. + +2. "Look at this card. Suppose I lift this lower part and place this +edge (tracing the edge _A C_ with the finger) on this edge (the +diagonal of the upper piece). Suppose also that this point (_C_) is +placed just on this point (_B_). Now I will take away the piece, and +do you draw the whole figure as it will appear when the proposed +change is made. Begin by drawing the upper part." + +[Illustration] + +A right angle must be represented at _B_, and the edge _A C_ be shown +shorter than the edge _A B_. + +3. "What is the difference between laziness and idleness?"--What is +the difference between event and advent?"--"What is the difference +between evolution and revolution?" + +Two correct answers required. + +4. "There are three principal differences between a King and a +President of a Republic. What are they?" + +Required answer: Royalty is hereditary, the tenure of office is for +life, and its powers are very great; the President is elected, his +tenure of office is for a limited time, and his powers are less +extensive. + +5. "Listen to what I am going to read to you. When I have finished I +shall ask you to give me the sense of the passage: 'Many opinions have +been given on the value of life. Some call it good, others call it +bad. It would be more just to say that it is mediocre, for on the one +hand our happiness is never so great as we would have it, and on the +other hand our misfortunes are never so great as others would have +them. It is this mediocrity of life which makes it just, or rather +which prevents it from being radically unjust.'" + +=Directions to Examiners.=--In the use of the Binet scale there are +various pitfalls that await the beginner. In the first place he is +almost certain to array himself on the side of the child and to +declare in some instances that the test is not a fair one--the child +could have passed had he understood what was wanted. One frequently +sees this attitude towards the puzzle test. (V. 5.) For example, the +examiner is dissatisfied when the child simply moves the pieces of +card about in a meaningless way, and he tries to explain more clearly +what is wanted. I have seen one examiner go so far as to show the +child the solution, and then give him a pass when he repeated it. The +examiner must always remember that a child who has reached the +required level of intelligence will himself see what is wanted. This +comprehension is indeed the very thing we are testing for. + +Secondly, the examiner is apt to show by his manner when he is +dissatisfied with a child's answer. In some cases this may lead him to +correct himself--_e.g._, VII. 1. The examiner must bear constantly in +mind that _all answers are equally pleasing to him_; he is not there +to instruct the child, but to test him. When meaningless or absurd +responses are given, as they frequently are, the examiner must accept +them cheerfully, even in some cases with praise, and record a failure. +The record, of course, must never be visible to the child. + +Again, the examiner must not suppose that the scale can be applied +mechanically. Both experience and judgment are necessary before the +results can be correctly gauged. In certain tests--_e.g._, the +absurdities--a child's manner tells as much as his words. The children +on whom I have tried this test nearly always laughed when they really +grasped the point. Before he lays much stress on his results an +examiner should have tested at least twenty children. + +There is another factor which prevents any mechanical use of the scale +leading to satisfactory results, and that is the variability of the +child's responsiveness. With an unsympathetic examiner, or with an +unfortunate start, he will do himself less than justice. It is the +business of the examiner to keep the child in that state of mental +exhilaration which enables him to do his best. Words of encouragement +and praise should in some cases be freely used, but, of course, care +must always be taken to avoid, whether in word, tone, gesture, or +facial expression, the slightest suggestion of the correct solution. +The happy state of mind must be secured at the very beginning, and for +this purpose the choice of the first test is very important. I call to +mind a bright child of eight who was confronted first with a simple +puzzle test. For some reason, probably over-anxiety to do well, she +did not see the solution, and being too intelligent not to perceive +her own failure, she burst into tears. Such unfortunate accidents are, +however, rare. The children usually enjoy the interview. + +To secure a good start one must begin with a test which the child will +regard as easy and pleasant. One soon knows almost at sight of the +child what it is best to try first. One usually begins with tests for +an age at least a year younger than that of the little subject, and +works upward. + +The examiner should be alone with the child except for the presence of +someone whose business it is to make notes. In such tests as the +description of a picture, the definition tests, the questions of +everyday life, the child's full answers should be written down. The +examiner should, however, record his own judgment as to whether the +child has passed or failed _at once_, as there are various factors +which tend to make an immediate judgment both more certain and more +accurate than a delayed one. + +So far as the actual testing is concerned, the examiner should confine +himself to the words given in the text. He will find himself tempted +sometimes "to draw the child out." For instance, in the picture test, +when the child has given him a brief enumeration of objects and then +stopped, he will find himself saying, "But what is this man doing?" +The child can probably tell; but he must not on this account be +accorded a pass on the descriptive level; he has already shown that +his level is that of simple enumeration. + +Some of the tests (definitions, comparisons, suggestion) bring out a +tendency to automatism which is present in many children. Thus, a +child having replied correctly that a butterfly is bigger than a fly, +may go on to state that wood is bigger than glass, and paper than +cardboard; or having found that "It is a fork" is well received as a +definition of that implement, he may give similar replies to the other +queries in the definition test. This automatism should not be checked: +it should be recorded. The more intelligent children begin to exhibit +a certain dissatisfaction with their own answers, however readily they +are accepted. + +It is not always easy to follow the working of the childish mind, and +it is not usually advisable to press for further explanation. Such a +course is apt to puzzle the child, and render the conditions less +favourable. If you are not certain that he should be allowed to pass, +you may be practically certain that he should not. Sometimes one gets +interesting glimpses into the subject's mentality. A little boy once +told me he had never seen a butterfly. Nevertheless, I asked the +comparison question, and he gave what is a very usual answer: "A +butterfly is bigger than a fly." "How do you know," I said, "if you +have never seen a butterfly?" "It's a bigger word," he replied. +Another time a little girl, who also declared she had never seen a +butterfly, gave another answer which is also very common: "A butterfly +is yellow, and a fly is black." The source of this knowledge was not +discovered; but one of my students told me later that a child whom she +questioned about a butterfly said: "I have seen one; it was blue, but +it _ought_ to have been yellow." On being asked why, she responded: +"Butter is yellow." The test, of course, is not for the knowledge of +the things, but for the power of making a comparison. Occasionally one +has to mark a child as doubtful. Thus, in defining abstract terms +(XII. 4) Binet records that out of forty-five nine-year-old children, +four passed, thirty-six failed, and five were doubtful. This test, +however, gives an unusually large percentage of doubtfuls. + +=Method of Marking.=--The examiner should have a large sheet of paper +or a note-book with the names of the tests written in column at the +left-hand side. Opposite each in a second column he should enter a +sign indicating his judgment. Binet recommends the use of the +following signs: + ! excellent, + pass, + ? almost a pass, ? doubtful, +0 silence,-- ? almost a failure, -- a failure, -- ! a bad failure. +Later this record should be supplemented from the notes taken by the +secretary, also by information regarding the child's personal history, +and by comments on his behaviour during the examination. The mental +age assigned to him is determined in this way: one finds the age-level +at which he passes all the tests, and adds a year for every five tests +that he passes above that level. Thus, if a child of seven passes all +the tests for seven years, three of those for eight, and two of those +for nine, he has a mental age of eight years. Binet allows the use of +fractions, one-fifth of a year for every test passed, but he admits +that this gives an appearance of a degree of exactitude which is +probably not attained. Should a child's mental age show a retardation +of three years as compared with his chronological age, and should +there be no evident explanation of this, such as ill-health, neglect +of school attendance, etc., he is reckoned as deficient mentally. + +Binet's scale has been criticised from various points of view. +Generally speaking, it seems to be found too easy at the lower end and +too difficult at the higher end. It seems certain that some of the +tests have not yet found their proper level, or, indeed, that the +proper level may vary from country to country, from school to school, +and from one social rank to another. Thus, the writer has found that +practically all the five-year-old children present in a certain school +during the past two or three years are able to pass the colour test +assigned by Binet to seven years of age. These children, however, +probably belong to a higher social class than the five-year-olds +tested by Binet. An examiner very quickly learns which of the tests +beyond his age it is advisable to put to the particular child he is +dealing with, and owing to the method of marking it does not matter +much if one or two tests are misplaced with reference to a particular +group of children. The important thing is that there is a general +consensus of opinion on the part of those who have tried the scale as +to its value as a mental probe and register of mental attainment. +Revisions and elaborations of it have already been published,[B] but +in view of its simplicity and brevity, and the valuable analytical +work of which it has proved itself capable, the 1911 form will +probably remain a standard for at least some years to come. + +For the complete series of tests the examiner will require the +following material in addition to the diagrams: + +Three suitable pictures. + +Key, penny, knife. IV. 2. + +Weights. V. 1 and X. 1. + +Drawing of square. V. 2. + +Drawing of diamond. VI. 3. + +Rectangular card and divided rectangle. V. 5 and Adult, 2. + +Colours. VII. 5. + +Cards with mixed sentences. XII. 5. + +Square of paper. Adult, 1. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] The directions for this test, given in 1908, are to arrange the +two triangles so that the _hypotenuses are as far distant as possible +from one another_. In the 1911 article the directions are as above. It +seems to the writer that both directions are ambiguous. In certain +experiments in which she followed the 1908 directions she placed the +triangles thus [Illustration: oblique triangle point up, oblique +triangle point down], so that the children had to lift one across the +other to effect a solution. A very small percentage of five-year-old +children succeeded. If the triangles are placed thus [Illustration: +oblique triangle point up, oblique triangle long side down] the task +would probably be easier. + +[B] See _Journal of Educational Psychology_, 1912: "A Tentative +Revision and Extension of the Binet-Simon Measuring Scale of +Intelligence," by Terman and Child. For an excellent brief review of +the experimental work which has been done with the tests, see the same +volume, pp. 101-110. The 1911 scale, with detailed instructions for +the application of each test, appeared in the _Bulletin de la Societe +Libre pour l'Etude Psychologique de l'Enfant_, Nos. 70 and 71, April, +1911. This article has been translated by Clara Harrison Town +(_Chicago Medical Press_). See also Meumann, _Vorlesungen Z. +Einfuehrung in die experimentelle Paedagogik_, Leipzig, 1913. + + + + +DIAGRAMS + + +For the picture tests Binet used the following: + +Fig. 1. Man and boy pulling a barrow with furniture. + +Fig. 2. A poor old man and a young woman sitting on a seat outside on +a wintry day. + +Fig. 3. A prisoner standing on his bed to look out of the window of +his cell. + +The student should choose pictures which contain familiar figures and +objects, and which "tell a story" capable of sympathetic +interpretation. They should not be too childish. + +The following pictures, all in the Tate Gallery, may be suggested: + + The Doctor, by Luke Fildes. + The Blind Beggar, by J.L. Dyckmans. + The Wedding, by Stanhope A. Forbes. + A Hopeless Dawn, by Frank Bramley. + The Man with the Scythe, by H.H. La Thangue. + +Mark the pictures chosen Figs. 1, 2, and 3. + +[Illustration: FIG. 4.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 5.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 6.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 7.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 8.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 9.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 10.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 11.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 12.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 13.] + + + + +INDEX + + + Abnormal children, 5 + + Abnormality, frontiers of, 92 + + Adenoids, 110 + + Alcohol, 102 + + Appendix, 146 + + Aptitudes, 23 _et seq._ + + Arithmetic, 58 + + Asylum cases, 74 + + Attendance, irregular, 50 + + + Bicetre, 6, 123 + + Bromides, 106 + + + Cretin, 104 + + Curriculum, 14, 26, 32, 131 + + + Definitions: + _abnormal_, 5 + _defective_, 7 + _feeble-minded_, 78 + _idiot_, 77 + _ill-balanced_, 6 + _imbecile_, 77 + + Distribution of defectives, 15, 43 + + Doctor, role of, 88 _et seq._ + + Dunces, 47 + + + Employment, 126, 129, 134 + + Epilepsy, 7, 107 + + Examination: + _pedagogical_, 36, 65 + _physical_, 91 + _psychological_, 67 + + + Feeble-minded, 78 + + Frontiers of abnormality, 92 + + + Heredity, 99, 102 + + Hospital cases, 74 + + Hydrocephalus, 103 + + Hydrotherapy, 106 + + Hysteria, 110 + + + Ill-balanced, 6, 8, 15, 21, 72, 138 + + Inspector, role of, 50 _et seq._ + + Instruction: + _scale of_, 54 + _tests of_, 52 + + Intelligence, tests of, 28, 67, App. + + + Knowledge percentage, 64 + + + Laboratory of pedagogy, 9, 27 + + + Medical examination, 91 (Chap. IV.) + + Medical schedule, 115 + + Mental deficiency, _v._ Definitions + + Microcephalus, 103 + + Microgyria, 103 + + Mongol, 105 + + Moral deficiency, _v._ Ill-balanced + + + Pedagogical examination, 36, 65 + + Physical examination, 91 + + Physiognomy, 95 + + Picture tests, 30 + + Psychological examination, 67 + utility of, 71 + + Psychology of defective, 19 + of ill-balanced, 21 + + + Reading, 55 + + Retardation, 16, 38 + + + Salpetriere, 6, 120 + + Scale of instruction, 54 + + Schedules: + _instruction_, 65 + _medical_, 115 + _suspected mental deficiency_, 85 + + School, special, 7 + _educational value_, 118, 136 + _social value_, 118, 140 + + Spelling, 61 + + Statistics, 7 + + Stigmata, 93 + + + Teacher, role of, 38 _et seq._ + + Tests: + _instruction_, 52 + _intelligence_, 28, 67, 148 + _marking of_, 162 + _material for_, 164 + _method of conducting_, 159 + + + Unstable, _v._ Ill-balanced. + +PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY BILLING AND SONS, LTD., GUILDFORD AND +ESHER + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 28: comparsion replaced with comparison | + | | + | The following words are correct: | + | Page 25: superposable | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mentally Defective Children, by +Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MENTALLY DEFECTIVE CHILDREN *** + +***** This file should be named 36458.txt or 36458.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/4/5/36458/ + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, Bryan Ness and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |