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143
Report of the Medical Officer (Education).
common at an earlier stage, tew seem to regard reading as a continuous process, so much mental
effort being absorbed by the individual word. Persistent reversal of words, such as " on " reads as
"no,'' or " was " as " saw " occurred in 19 cases, the age distribution being—
Age—7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Number — 2 4 4 1 1 3 3 1
This is another example of the persistence of an infantile trait. It may be noted that no
characteristic case of complete word-blindness appeared in the series, that is to say, so far as inability
to reproduce the sounds of some words was concerned, for many, as will be seen, the words carried
little meaning.
The report on the matter read was tested wherever possible, the most interesting results being
from those who could read a newspaper passage. The passage employed was that used by Binet and
adapted by Goddard for use in New Jersey ; it is arranged to show the manner of marking the results—
Three / houses / burned / London / September 5th / A serious fire / last night /
destroyed / three houses / in the centre of the city / Seventeen / families / are without a home /
The loss exceeds / £5,000 / In rescuing / a child / one of the firemen / was badly / burned /
about the hands / and arms.
There are thus 22 ideas, and the child was marked according to the number he reproduced,
correct reports only being counted. After a brief experience, this was made easier by leaving out the
word serious, putting middle for centre, seven for seventeen, five thousand pounds for £5,000, and
saving for rescuing. The original version had proved a complete stumbling-block in the matter of
reading.
Forty-three children, all but four of whom were in the elder boys' or girls' schools, were able
to get through this piece of reading with more or less help, the number of points scored in the report
being—
1 4 4 4 7 3 10 1
. 2 7 5 7 8 2 11 1
3 8 6 4 9 2
Note was also made of the numbers who made serious errors, such as " five thousand children
were burned," four made one error each, two made two errors, and one three such errors.
Binet reports that by the age of eight, the child is almost invariably able to read the text and
recall at least two facts—that no child can report six or more ideas unless he can read the text within
the minute, and that even the slowest reader can recall two items.
The 169 remaining children who could not with any help read this passage (71 could not read
sufficiently to test even with a primer) were tested with passages from such reader or primer as was
within their limit, and were marked in a corresponding manner. None obtained one-third marks,
most being between one-sixth and one-twelfth, while twenty, although able to read very simple sentences,
could recall no facts at all contained therein.
The results show about 60 of the 209 children examined as fit to learn from anything they read.
In a few instances, the child was allowed to read the passage several times, but no great improvement
was noted.
The meaning to the child of matter he has read was also tested by noting the response to a written
command. The child was first asked if he knew what a letter was, such as would be brought by the
postman, and on a favourable response being obtained he was further asked if he knew that such a
letter might ask him to do something. He was then told that he would be given a piece of paper on which
was written, as it might be in a letter, something which he was to do. If it said "lie down/' he was
to lie down, etc. He was then given a strip on which was typed a command, such as "sit down,"
"pick up a pen," "open the door," etc., and the result noted. If he did nothing, he was asked if he
could read the typing, and if he said "Yes," was told to do what it said. Many only read it aloud or
tried to copy it. Finally, they were asked what does it say, e.g., "sit down," and on their replying,
they were told, "Well, sit down." "The effect of a second slip was then tried, and no case was entered
as a failure without two or three attempts. With those that responded, four separate tests were tried,
two being the commands as above mentioned, the third a question, as "What is twice two," or "What
does a cat eat," and the fourth a more complex question, "If you had a shilling and spent fourpence,
write down how much you would have left." The response to the last was often an oral and not a
written answer, in which case the children were asked to read it through again, and see if they had
answered it in the manner requested. A certain number responded correctly on the second occasion.
Except for this fourth test, the words used were rarely of more than three or four letters, and were
chosen with due reference to the reading capacity which had previously been ascertained. Several
slips were needed to check against any leakage of information as to the questions asked. One boy