of words only after very many repetitions. How often must the child hear
"Mamma," "Look at mamma," "See, here is mamma," "Mamma is coming,"
"Mamma is here," "Where is mamma?" "Do you love mamma?" "Mamma loves
baby," etc., etc., from morning to night, day after day, week after
week. The mother does it for pleasure; to play with and pet the dear
baby. She does not think of it as a teaching exercise, but it is a very
important one. The deaf baby will learn gradually to associate a meaning
with the various sequences of movement of the lips, if a little care is
taken to watch his eyes and to speak when they are directed toward the
speaker, and to stand in such relation to the light that it falls upon
the speaker's face. The speech should be the same as to the hearing
child, but it takes a little more care and watchfulness to have the deaf
child _see_ the same word or phrase as _many times_ as the hearing child
hears it. If it is spoken when the baby is not looking, it does not
help.
When the little one is learning to walk, the mother says, "Come to
mamma," "Go to daddy," and gradually he learns "come" and "go." She has
him play hide and seek with another child, and she says, "Where is Tom?"
"Where is the baby's mouth?" "Where is the baby's nose?" etc., and by
and by he knows "where" and "mouth" and "nose," and the names of his
playmates or brothers and sisters. When he is sitting on the floor she
picks him up, saying "up." When she puts him from her lap to the floor
she says "down." If he is naughty she says "naughty," and perhaps spats
his little hands, and so on through the day. A little care on her part,
a little added thought and watchfulness, perhaps a few more repetitions,
and little by little she will find her deaf baby learning to look at her
always, and to understand much that is said to him. She must all this
time remember, also, that the shades of feeling, pleasure,
disappointment, approval, disapproval, doubt, certainty, love, anger,
joy, which are largely conveyed to the hearing child by intonation of
voice, must be conveyed to the deaf baby by facial expression and
manner. They become very keen at interpreting moods by the look. Let
the face be sunny and kind and INTERESTED, if possible. The first
indication of impatience, of being bored and weary, will destroy much of
one's influence with the deaf child.
Sometimes it is harder to disguise one's feelings in the face than in
the voice. Do not be caught unawares. Interest, cheerfulness, and
patience are tremendous forces to help the little deaf child.
Some one has said:
"When you consent, consent cordially;
When you refuse, refuse finally;
When you punish, punish good-naturedly."
XI
FORMING CHARACTER
And now that the little one is two or three years old, it may be well to
say a few words about his general training in character and habits.
There is a strong, and a not unnatural tendency to maintain an attitude
toward the deaf child that differs from that maintained by sensible
mothers toward their other children. They often set up a different
standard of conduct and of obligation for the afflicted child. His
brothers and sisters are taught to always defer to his wishes; even to
the extent of yielding to improper and selfish demands on his part, and
conceding that they have no rights where he is concerned. He is not
required to perform the little duties demanded of the other children. He
is given privileges which the others do not, and which no one of them,
including himself, should enjoy. He grows tyrannical, domineering, and
selfish. The mother says: "Poor little chap; he has trouble enough, we
must do all in our power to make up to him for what he misses by reason
of his deafness." This is, however, a shortsighted, and really a cruel
policy. It lays up much misery for his future, and in the end proves a
serious handicap to one who needs to have as few additional difficulties
as possible. Though it may seem hard-hearted, it is really kinder to put
him on the same basis as any other child. Make him do everything
possible for himself. Insist upon his being independent; dressing
himself as soon as he is able, buttoning his own shoes, and performing
all the little self-help acts that the wise mother demands of all her
children. Make no distinction in the treatment accorded him. Ask the
same services, reward right actions and punish wrongdoing as impartially
as if he was not deaf, only being sure that he clearly connects the
punishment with the wrong act. This, in the case of a deaf child,
requires a little more care than with a hearing child. Train him to be
thoughtful for the comfort of others, and respectful of their rights,
just as you insist that the others observe his rights. He cannot be
argued with, object lessons and example must be the means of teaching
him manners and morals.
XII
CULTIVATING THE SOCIAL INSTINCT
Between the ages of two and four years all the games and exercises
heretofore described can continue to be used, together with others
increasingly difficult and complicated, as the child's mind develops and
his powers of observation, attention, and memory increase. Take very
special care that he learns all the childhood games that other children
know and enjoy. Devote yourself more to him in this respect than you
would in the case of another child. Encourage the neighbors' children to
come and play with him by making it especially pleasant for them. Teach
them yourself to play "Hide the Thimble," "Hide and Seek," "Drop the
Handkerchief," "Going to Jerusalem," "Old Maid," "Bean Bag." Follow the
Leader is an excellent game by which to teach watchfulness and
imitation. Cat and Mouse, Hot Potato, Ring on a String, are all games
that can be played by groups and cultivate quickness. Ping Pong Football
is excellent as a lung developer. That is the choosing of sides and
trying to blow a ping pong ball between the goal posts formed by a pair
of salt shakers at opposite ends of a table. Or blowing a feather across
a sheet by opposing sides. Encourage good, romping, noisy games in which
the children naturally laugh and shout. They are the best of
voice-developing exercises, and by such means, and his long-distance
shouting and calling to his playmates, the little hearing child gains
much of his lung and voice power. In all his games, as in all his other
activities, take very _special_ pains to talk to him, using the
regulation expressions and training him to watch for the "It's your
turn," or "Now, Tom," "Ready," "Whose turn is it?" etc., etc.
If the foregoing suggestions have been carefully carried out since he
was twelve months old, he will long ago have arrived unconsciously at
the knowledge that all things, and all actions, and all feelings, have
names, and that the mouth always makes the same sequence of movements
for the same thing. In the babbling exercises recommended, he will
gradually come to utter many of the vowel and consonant sounds of his
native language; especially those that are made by the lips, and by
evident positions of the tongue. Those sounds that require hidden
positions of the organs, such as the sound of C and K in cat and ark, or
G in go and dog, or ng in long, he is unlikely to have stumbled upon.
These can be taught when the proper time comes, but their absence for
the present need cause no anxiety. In fact, up to the time when he is
three and a half or four years old, the matter of speaking is not one to
be much troubled about. If the conception of language has been given him
through lip-reading, and some ability to understand the necessary
language of his daily life, his future success is assured.
XIII
SOMETHING ABOUT SCHOOLS AND METHODS
Till the child is at least four years old, the proper place for him is
at home, and if he must be sent to one of the large public schools for
the deaf it should not be till he is five or even six years of age.
But during these years the mother can gain much knowledge that will help
her by visiting as many schools for the deaf as possible. There are
about a hundred and fifty such schools in the United States and eight in
Canada. They vary in size, in character, and in methods of instruction
employed. There are public boarding schools, and public day schools,
free to the resident of the state, or city, in which they are located.
There are private boarding and day schools, maintained by charity, or by
the tuition fees. Some of each class are oral schools; that is, they
employ only speech methods of instruction, without any signs or finger
spelling. Others are called "Combined" schools; that is, they permit,
and in some exercises encourage, the use of finger spelling and gestural
signs, while they also give some instruction by the speech method. There
are sectarian and non-sectarian schools, both oral and combined.
A very considerable number of schools for the deaf in the United States
and Canada still use manual, or silent, methods of instruction, at least
in part. But the speech, or oral, method is steadily growing in
popularity, and gradually supplanting manual spelling and gestural
signs. The time will certainly come when the public will be too
intelligent to any longer tolerate the use between teacher and pupil, or
between any employee and the pupils, in a school for the deaf, any
system of manual communication.
_Every deaf child, no matter if born totally deaf and of a low order of
intelligence, can be given as much education by the exclusive use of the
speech method as it can by any manual, or silent, method or by a
combination of the speech and the silent method._ This is not the mere
expression of an opinion, but the statement of a fact; a fact firmly
established by actual results in state institutions where,
unfortunately, the law requires the admission of pupils too poorly
equipped intellectually to belong in a school with normally bright
children. In addition to acquiring all the education of which his mental
endowment makes him capable, he can be taught to speak and to understand
when spoken to. The degree of perfection attainable depends upon the
ability of the child, the skill of the teaching, and especially upon
_the environment_ in which the child passes its formative educational
years. The probability of the child's acquiring a maximum proficiency in
speaking and in understanding others when they speak, is lessened in
direct proportion to the extent to which he is permitted to use the
silent or manual means of communication. In the so-called "combined"
schools, the _environment_ is largely manual. A visit to the
playgrounds, the baseball fields, the shops, dining rooms, and
dormitories of "combined" schools will disclose the pupils using silent
means of communication, not only between themselves, _but with those in
charge of them. They do not think in spoken forms, but in finger
spelling and signs_. The powerful influence of environment in those
schools is _against_ the acquisition of the speech and lip-reading
habit.
The mother who has faithfully followed the suggestions offered in the
foregoing pages will be able to appreciate what she sees on visiting the
schools, and will gain much more from such visits than one who is
entirely inexperienced in the problem. Every mother should make it her
business to visit at least one _purely oral_ school, in order that she
may make herself thoroughly intelligent on what may be expected of a
deaf child.
Unfortunately, pure oral schools are not as plentiful as "combined"
schools, but it will well repay any parent to make a journey, even
across the continent, if necessary, in order to study the workings of
some good, purely oral, school. Do not be satisfied with a visit to the
nearest "combined" school.
_You owe it to your child_ to make yourself thoroughly intelligent as to
the _possibilities_ open to a deaf child. You will not be intelligent
till you have personally visited some good _purely oral_ school.
The number, character, location, etc., of the schools are constantly
changing. A descriptive list of all schools corrected to date will be
gladly supplied by the author to any one requesting it.
XIV
THE PRESERVATION OF SPEECH
WHEN DEAFNESS RESULTS FROM ACCIDENT OR ILLNESS AFTER INFANCY
Up to this point it has been assumed that deafness occurred before the
age of two years, and before the child had begun to speak. In cases
where, through accident or illness, impairment of hearing has come after
the child has begun to talk, the mother should bend all her efforts upon
keeping the speech of her child. The younger the child, the more
difficult is the task. Without the greatest vigilance and increasing
attention, the speech of a little child who has become deaf will fade
rapidly away, until it is lost entirely, and must be artificially
recreated when he is old enough to grasp the complicated ideas involved
in speech teaching to the deaf. But by persistently encouraging him to
talk, and never, even for a day, allowing him to lapse into silence, and
_by not accepting careless and faulty utterance, but pretending not to
understand till the child speaks distinctly and correctly_, the natural
speech, which was his before deafness occurred, can be preserved, and
the speech habit thoroughly fixed. If, by good luck, the little one has
learned to read even a simple primer before becoming deaf, it will be
much easier to prevent a loss of speech. For this reading can be made an
excuse for frequently using his speech. But when the child cannot read,
the mother must depend entirely upon inducing him to talk to her,
refusing to give him anything, or grant his request, till he asks for it
in good spoken form; showing him pictures, playing games, frolicking
with him; doing everything that a mother's love and ingenuity can
suggest, to keep him talking all day long.
The tendency of the child will be to drop, or slur, the final syllables
of the words; to leave off the sound of final _ed_; to lose the
sharpness of the _s_; to blur the _l_; and sometimes to lose the sound
of _k_ and _c_. But, if he has learned to read, by pointing to these
letters in the words he has spoken imperfectly, he will correct his own
mistake. Prompt and increasing attention to the little fellow's speech
during the first year after deafness occurs will usually serve to fix
correct habits for life.
XV
TEACHING LIP READING
All that has been said about training the little deaf child to read the
lip movements and associate them with the names of things and of
actions, will apply also to the little boy who has suddenly been made
deaf, after speech has been learned. Be careful that he is looking at
you always when you speak to him or reply to some question he has asked,
but speak just as you would have done before he became deaf. You may
have to repeat things to him very often at first, but do not permit any
sign of impatience in your face. Do not let him get the idea that it is
a hardship to talk to him. Remember that you are changing his manner of
understanding speech over to another way, and that his present and
future happiness depends very greatly on the thoroughness and promptness
with which it is done. In all dealings with a deaf child the mother
should remember that the child draws his impressions of the character
and the feelings of those about him from the expression of their faces,
and many almost unconscious little acts and gestures. Avoid very
carefully any appearance of being impatient, or bored, or contemptuous
at his failures. Try to understand the difficulties under which he is
working to maintain his place in the world. Do not humor his whims, or
spoil him by indulgence, yet treat him with the greatest consideration
and fairness. Above all, be cheerful and, at least apparently,
interested in his doings and sayings.
XVI
SCHOOL AGE
The question of what is "school age" for a deaf child is answered very
differently by different people. Most of the state institutions for the
deaf in the United States, Canada, and Europe will not admit children
younger than six years of age. Seven years is still the age of admission
in some institutions, but the tendency is to lower the age limit. In
some schools children of five are admitted, in a few those as young as
four, and in two or three small schools babies of two and three are
received. Any statement here must, therefore, be taken as only the
expression of the author's opinion, resulting from more than twenty-five
years of active teaching, combined with wide observation.
It would appear that, where home conditions are not bad, either
physically or morally, the proper place for the little deaf child till
he is nearly, or quite, five, is with his mother. Very much can be done
for the little one before he is five to prepare him for the instruction
which should be given at that age, but it is possible for the mother to
do what is necessary, and even the simplest home conditions are
preferable for very little children to the institutional environment. It
is impossible, in a school of from one hundred to five hundred pupils,
to create a real home environment, such as the very little child should
have. It is really a pity that the child of five should have to be
placed in the institutional environment as it at present exists. If the
legislative bodies of our states, and the gentlemen who manage the
schools, could only be induced to adopt the cottage plan of housing in
small units, the disadvantages of institutional life would be enormously
reduced.
XVII
ORGANIZED EFFORTS BY PARENTS TO OBTAIN BETTER EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS
It should be possible for every taxpayer in every state who has a deaf
child and who has not the means or the wish to place that child in a
private school, to have the child educated in a free public school as
completely by the speech method as his hearing children are educated by
that method. He should not be compelled to send his child out of the
state or else subject him to the influence of signs and finger spelling,
with the probability that he will leave school a deaf mute.
Unfortunately, in many states, this is not possible at present. But if
the parents of deaf children would organize themselves into "Parents'
Associations" and send representatives to the governors and legislative
committees; and arrange for demonstrations by orally educated deaf
children from pure oral schools; and carry on an active campaign of
enlightenment and of agitation, the present state of affairs would soon
cease to exist.
I wish to make an urgent plea for the energetic efforts of all parents
of deaf children to improve the speech-teaching conditions in their
respective localities. At present, very far from all that is possible is
being done to give deaf children a ready command of spoken English, and
a working ability to understand when spoken to. The persons who have the
most at stake in this matter, and who should be most active and
persistent in demanding from the school authorities and legislatures
better facilities for the acquisition of speech by deaf children, are
the parents of those children. In each locality these parents should
organize into "Parents' Associations." These local associations should,
in turn, be connected by a statewide organization composed of
representatives from each local association. These state organizations
could then be combined by representation in a national organization of
all the parents of deaf children in the United States. Such complete
organization once effected, the reasonable demands made in the interests
of better results in speech teaching would quickly be complied with by
the respective schools and the legislatures or boards of directors that
control them. The associations could induce their local papers to aid in
a campaign to educate public opinion by printing facts concerning what
is done elsewhere. If all parents of deaf children only knew what might
be accomplished, and were so organized as to permit them to present
their wishes forcibly to those able to change conditions, the deaf child
would quickly come into his own.
XVIII
A PERSONAL MATTER FOR EACH PARENT
Let some parent in each locality make it his or her business to get the
names and addresses of all other parents of deaf children in the
vicinity. Induce them to come together some evening and choose a
chairman and an executive committee of three. Let these four people make
a point of studying the education of the deaf as conducted in the most
advanced communities. Let the executive committees of the several local
associations get together once or twice a year for a sort of state
convention of parents. Let them invite leading educators to address
them, and let them appoint committees to visit schools in other states
where different methods are employed. If such a movement was once
started there would be found plenty of subject-matter for discussion,
and plenty of opportunities to work for a betterment of conditions. The
author of this little book would be glad to give any aid in his power to
such a movement, and to place the results of his twenty-five years of
experience at the disposal of any parent, or parents' organization.
The first efforts should be directed to inducing, or compelling, the
so-called "Combined Schools" for the deaf throughout the United States
to wholly segregate at least a small oral department from the manually
taught pupils. The orally taught pupils should never come in contact
during their school life, either in the shops, dining rooms,
playgrounds, or schoolrooms, with those pupils with whom finger spelling
and signs are employed. All employees, whether superintendents,
teachers, supervisors, teachers of trades, or servants, who have to do
with the orally taught pupils should be _compelled_ to use only speech
and lip reading (and writing, if absolutely necessary) under penalty of
dismissal for failing to do so. Only by means of such segregation, and
the enforcement of speech as a universal medium of communication, can
the appropriations for oral work be made really productive of good
results in what are now called "Combined Schools." This can be done on a
small scale at the beginning, with the little entering beginners. Then
if all beginners are put into this oral department it will gradually
grow at the expense of the manual department, until, after a period of
eight or ten years, the entire school will have become oral.
This is the only method of procedure by which satisfactory results in
speech teaching for practical purposes can be obtained in return for the
generous appropriations that the states make. It has been fully
demonstrated by actual operation in the state of Pennsylvania, where the
largest school for the deaf in the world has in this manner been changed
from a "Combined School" to a pure oral school.
_All_ the deaf children in the State of Massachusetts are now taught
wholly by the oral method. If that polyglot and heterogeneous
population can be so treated, there is no state in the Union where the
same could not be done if there were the desire and the ambition to do
it.
In many states deaf children have been, either by definite statement, or
by tacit understanding, exempted from the enforcement of the compulsory
education law. This is all wrong. They need the protection of that
excellent law even more than the hearing child, and if the law for
compulsory education does not, in fact, apply to them, it should at once
be amended to do so.
XIX
DAY SCHOOLS
The parents are the ones most interested in this matter, and it is
through their efforts alone that improvement can be brought about. In
Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois,
Ohio, Washington, Oregon, Texas, Missouri, and California, free public
oral day schools have been established. This movement has reached its
highest development in Wisconsin and Michigan. In Wisconsin there are
twenty-four such schools scattered throughout the state, and in Michigan
fourteen. New schools are opened by the Board of Education under
prescribed conditions upon the request of a certain number of parents of
deaf children. Such a law should be on the statute books of every state,
and will be when the parents of deaf children organize and demand it.
XX
THE DEAF CHILD AT FIVE YEARS OF AGE