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little out of date, and we substitute for this virtue of the rich the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.