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58
Mentally Defective and Deaf Children.
During the last year the London County Council have notified
the Acton Education Committee that they are not prepared to
admit any more outside children to their Special Schools for deaf
or backward children. The consequence is that at present there
are children in our schools who are quite incapable of benefiting
by the ordinary class teaching, and the question of providing for
them becomes a pressing one.
The presence of an abnormal child in ordinary classes is bad
in several ways.
In a large class it is impossible to give him constant
individual attention, the ordinary methods fail to arouse his
interest, while the work is entirely beyond his capacity. As a
result, he is entirely isolated, and either falls into an apathetic
condition, or diverts his energies to mischief. In the latter case
he acts as a storm centre to the class, displaying a. perverted
ingenuity in naughtiness. If, on the other hand, the teacher
devotes her attention largely to him, the whole class are retarded
to his slow rate of advance, and become in their turn uninterested
and restless. In either case, as he grows older and stronger, his
strength is disproportionate to that of the 'other members of the
class, and this often results in undesirable bullying of the smaller
children. The presence of such a child in the class always means
that the teacher's work is much heavier than usual and very disheartening.
Besides the definitely mentally defective child, who needs a
special syllabus, there is also the child who is backward. It is
often not possible to say at first whether this backwardness is due
to temporary causes, such as former ill-health, or to the very
slow development of an otherwise normal mind, or whether the
child is really mentally defective. Such a child needs much
individual attention, and a modified syllabus. If left in a large
class with a syllabus fitted to the needs of normal children his
time is wasted, and any advantage from the education provided