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these items as amongst those most appreciated. I suggest that differences of this kind may,
perhaps, be attributed to the difference in cooking at the various schools. It is generally agreed,
however, that the children seem to prefer uncooked fruit and salads to stewed fruit and vegetables
such as cabbage, and at most schools as much of the former as possible is given.
Work in school usually begins about 9 o'clock, after the arrival of the " first-round " children,
and continues until 11 o'clock, when there is a short break. In some schools, especially those
for younger children, half-a-pint of milk is served to each child at this time. Lessons then continue
until 12 o'clock, when the school dinner is served. After this is over the children play in
the playgrounds, or rest if they are under medical orders to do so. In the schools for younger
children, i.e., those with children about seven years old, all are made to lie down and rest after
the meal, but in the others it is only those with specific medical instructions that have to do so.
School begins again at 1.30 o'clock and continues until 3.30 o'clock.
The subjects studied are the ordinary ones such as reading, writing, arithmetic, history,
geography, singing, etc., but more time is devoted to handwork than at an ordinary school.
Boys are taught wood-working—if fit—and boot and watch-making ; and girls learn fine sewing,
dressmaking, embroidery, etc. A certain proportion, who are very anxious to do so, do some
clerical work, and are forwarded, if possible, to commercial schools when they leave. The older
children devote half their school hours to this vocational training, and a very large proportion
of them are successfully placed in positions where they are at least partially self-supporting when
they leave school.
As a general rule these children have very little exercise. The very bad cases, of course,
have to rest during the play-hour, and the other children have to be continually checked from
running about too hard, or fighting, which many of them are very apt to want to do, in the playground.
Mild games of ball are generally allowed, provided that the children do not run too
much, but there is little systematic exercise. The difficulty, in arranging this, is in large part
due to the divergent views of the physicians and surgeons under whom the children are placed
for treatment. In one school carefully selected and supervised cases are allowed to do simple,
carefully graduated, and severely rationed exercises to slow music, and it is found that these
are greatly appreciated. At another school the milder cases are allowed to participate in
eurhythmies, and to beat time to music, but no beating above the shoulder is allowed.
The amusements of the children are also limited. At school, in the playtime, those that are
made to rest often read comic newspapers, or play snakes and ladders, ludo, etc. It is usually
found impossible to make the children sleep during their rest hour, and it is very difficult as a
general rule, to keep them quiet at all. Outside school, the children generally play in the streets
most of the time. In cases when they can afford to do so, they usually go to the cinema far
too often. Amongst children who are fairly well-off it is common to find them going two, three,
or even four times a week. It is found that where they can, to some extent, choose their amusements
these children nearly all prefer those of an exciting type to those of a milder character.
The intelligence of these children is generally just as good as that of the physically normal
child, some mistresses going so far as to assert that it is often quicker. Their schooling, however,
is usually very much interrupted by illness and absence, and they are generally reckoned to
be two years behind the average child of their age in their school work.
The children are usually extremely energetic in a peculiar way, in that they always want
to dash about and are very excitable and emotional. They are easily upset by trifles, and need
firm control. They usually lack concentration and are slap-dash in their work. Generally
speaking they rarely have the patience to complete anything that needs applied energy over a
long period, but they are definitely not lazy. With systematic training, however, concentration
can usually be achieved, and the physically defective child will work just as well, and with just
as good results, as the ordinary one.
An important point that has been stressed by authorities at the special schools is the very
bad effect that is produced upon such children by allowing them to remain in an ordinary school
after they have been certified as physically defective. Such children are often put at the back
of the class, and the teacher is given instructions that they are not to be pressed or worried in
any way. The effect upon the character is naturally disastrous. The child becomes imbued
with the idea that it is different from its fellows, and that there is no necessity for it to work ;
it loses the habit of doing, as well as the inclination to do, anything.
In the case of the conscientious child who, while perhaps feeling weak, tired or ill, makes
the endeavour to keep up with strong and healthy companions, a sense of failure of effort, "getting
behind" and consequent inferiority, is likely to be produced,which may develop into a permanent
mental outlook of apprehension and a lack of self-confidence.
As a result, when these children are finally transferred to a school for the physically defective,
it is found almost impossible to do anything with them, and a long and difficult period of intensive
training in mental discipline is necessary. There is a very marked difference between children
who are immediately transferred toa P.D. school when found to be physically defective, and those
that are left for some time in an elementary one ; and it is very desirable that all children should
immediately be so transferred. It is felt that the mental deterioration which results from their
being left in an ordinary school—especially from the point of view of encouraging the children
to think themselves "different"—has necessarily an extremely deleterious effect upon them
generally ; and that they would sooner improve physically as well as mentally, were they placed
in an atmosphere suitable to their condition.