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Report of the County Medical Officer—Education. 213
A response to the arithmetical question has been called successful if any number of pennies
was written down irrespective of the correctness of the answer.
The children were also tested as to their power of building up a sentence or sentences to include
three given words. The types of response may be a complete failure, only one or two of the words
being used. Three sentences may be required, as "A cat drinks milk,'' "a dog catches rats,' "a horse
has a tail.' Two sentences may be used as "a cat drinks milk," "a dog has a tail," or one only as
"the dog bit the cat's tail" The nature of the response in 170 cases was:—
Ago last birthday 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Fail altogether 7 5 3,1 — — —
Three sentences required 11 10 8 5 5 1 -
Two sentences required 2 5 9 20 18 17 12
One sentence required — — — 4 7 12 8
Calculation.—All the children were able to count to four, and nearly all to 13. Counting up
the value of four or five coins, none above one shilling.
Age last birthday9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Correct 6 9 8 17 21 22 16
Incorrect 14 11 12 13 9 8 4
Writing is tested by transcription, dictation, and spontaneous writing, It is very rare for an
accurate result so far as spelling is concerned to be obtained in the two latter. The results from
the 170 cases investigated on this occasion have not been collected, but on a previous occasion in
writing to dictation the sentences "the cat was on the mat" and "two dogs saw a cat on the wall,"
the results were:—
Age last birthday 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Correct — — 1 6 7 7 6
Spelling errors 12 16 9 20 44 28 16
Practically no response 2 3 3 1 — — —
During the performance of such tests as the above, will power can be fairly judged, a long
task is useful to test perseverance. So far as the moral character is concerned evidence has usually
to be obtained from the teachers, but it appears that many children described as immoral or unfitted
to be with other children are those who are merely not amenable to discipline or who repeat in
school expressions which are in constant use in the home; there are others who have irregular outbreaks
of rage of an almost hysterical character. Sympathetically but firmly handled in elementary
schools these feelings are gradually controlled. In connection with the industrial schools a few cases
of actions of a criminal nature are to be met with, but are by no means always performed by those
who are mentally defective from an educational standpoint.
In view of the importance of the sense of hearing in the education of a child, special attention
is devoted to an investigation of all defects. Children noted by the teachers as partially deaf are
examined at the schools or at special centres by the school doctors, and all cases in which there
is marked impairment of hearing are referred for special investigation by Mr. Yearsley (the Council's
otologist). A certain number of cases have also been referred from treatment centres, and this closer
linking up of the treatment centre, and the examination by the special officers of the Council, is
a satisfactory feature of the year's progress. In his examinations at the Head Office Mr. Yearsley
has seen 402 cases, with regard to which the following decisions were arrived at:—
Fit for elementary school 47
Do. (front row) 96
Fit for hard of hearing class 83
Do. deaf school 138
Do. mentally defective school 20
Imbecile 3
*Physically defective 7
Invalid 4
Exempt 4
402
* Mostly cases of cleft palate requiring lessons in articulation.
In addition to these inspections at the Head Office, Mr. Yearsley visits the day and residential
schools for the deaf and partially deaf at frequent intervals. Every scholar in each school is seen
during the first quarter of the year; at subsequent visits all newcomers who were absent at the former
inspection are re-examined, and at every visit the otologist examines specially all scholars in regard
to whom the teachers require advice.
Classes for
the deaf and
partially
deaf.