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60
According to the estimate of the Royal Commission, .79 per
cent. of the children in the Public Elementary Schools were feebleminded
or imbecile.
Deaf Children.
The deaf child is in an entirely different category. He is
often normally intelligent, but as one of his channels of communication
with the outer world is cut off, he is much handicapped, and
needs a special training to enable him to overcome his handicap.
For practical purposes there are three grades of deafness:—
A. The totally deaf, including deaf and dumb.
B. The "hard of hearing," who can hear a little, but not
sufficiently to follow in an ordinary class.
C. The slightly deaf, who can hear sufficiently to be in
an ordinary class if they can be near to the front.
Classes A and B need special provision.
The Committee has at present three children at the Royal
School for Deaf and Dumb at Margate.
The modern idea is that it is better for deaf children to attend
a Day School, because the conditions are more like those they
will be obliged to meet later in life. They live with hearing
people, and are obliged to use oral speech, while in institutions
they tend to prefer the finger language. Moreover, if deaf
children are brought up together, they tend to intermarry. As a
large proportion of deafness is hereditary, and the chance of transmitting
it is much increased when the tendency is on both sides,
this is a somewhat serious consideration. The whole question of
the marriage of deaf people needs investigation, and the gradual
education of public opinion, but, in the meanwhile, to encourage
intermarriages is not advisable. Of course, these remarks apply
entirely to hereditary deafness, not to acquired or congenital
forms.