DEPARTMENT FOR TRAINING TEACHERS OF BACKWARD AND DEFECTIVE CHILDREN THE New York University HE DEPARTMENT is planned for two types of students. For those who are teaching and wish to advance in their profession, courses are arranged at convenient hours, and it is possible to get the elementary certificate in one year with Summer work. For students giving full time, special work is arranged, including field work and observation at city clinics. Courses in Psychology, Mental Testing, Physical Education, Industrial Education, Methods, Speech Defect, Medical Clinic, Clinic in Psychopathology, Organization of Ungraded Classes and other specialized courses given by Dean Balliet, Dr. J. M. McCallie, Miss Helen Hamilton, Miss Mary H. Leech, Miss Elizabeth Walsh, Dr. John E. Reigart, Dr. Edward Fisher, Dr. Marcus Neustaedter, Dr. George E. Kirby and Miss Elizabeth Farrell. A number of new courses are opening in the Second Term under Miss Helen Hamilton: UNGRADED FEBRUARY, 1917 Entered as second-class matter March 28, 1916, at the Post Office at Concord, N. H., Signed articles are not to be understood as expressing the views of the editors or publishers VOL. II No. 5 THE TYPE OF FEEBLE-MINDED WHO CAN BE CARED FOR IN THE COMMUNITY GEORGE N. WALLACE SUPERINTENDENT, WRENTHAM STATE SCHOOL, MASSACHUSETTS There has been a gradual reaction against the old and harsh methods of dealing with all classes of moral and mental defectives and delinquents. The growth of knowledge in the community of the close relationship of mental diseases, mental deficiency, crime and poverty, has displaced the early methods of resort to physical punishment and, later, the method of segregation of the individual; and in their place has grown up a broad sympathy and willingness to study the individual whose reactions are not entirely in accord with the best interests of society. A few years ago the probation system, of which this state can now be justly proud, was unheard of. During this last year Massachusetts has placed on probation more than 28,000 people. That is, has permitted this number of individuals to lead comparatively normal lives in the community at a great financial saving to the state, to say nothing of the saving in self-respect to the individual, the family and the community, for the present and for the future. In the treatment of the physically sick, hospitals are necessary but the whole treatment is directed toward returning the individual to the community. In the modern treatment of the insane, large hospitals are necessary, yet in this state, under the supervision of the various hospitals, many patients are successfully boarded out with families. Also, there are large numbers of the insane who recover and resume their normal activities. Then, in Massachusetts, there are no state orphan asylums, thus again showing the growth of tolerance in the community towards its unfortunates. If we were to follow the light of the first flash in the pan ignited by our "Eugenic" friends (to whom we are greatly indebted for throwing much light upon the whole problem) it could very plausibly be argued that for the betterment of society, anyone convicted of crime should never have his freedom. Any person who has been adjudged insane should be permanently incarcerated; any person who has been physically seriously ill, should not again take his place in society; any child who has been so unfortunate as to lose his parents and thus become a public charge, should remain in custody, it being possible in any of these cases that the defective germ plasm of his progenitors which, perhaps, is the cause of his own misfortune, he himself carries and possibly may transmit to his offspring. But with our growing regard for the individual and belief in the individual and his rights, our conscience at once revolts against such extreme measures. When the eugenic light was turned on this problem, it would not have been surprising had the social worker in his search for a solution of so many social problems, advocated wholesale segregation of unfortunates of all kinds. Instead, he is giving more earnest endeavor to the study of the individual, applying all the tests of modern research in his desire to do what is best for each individual case. It is impossible to study this subject without recognizing that that which is for the best interest of the individual is also for the best interest of the community. Therefore, the ground is very safe on which is built a system that has for its first aim the interest of the individual. There has never been a time when so many activities have been intelligently directed towards the betterment and improvement of the individual who, for any reason, is not reacting normally in the community. When it was determined how large a factor heredity is in the cause of mental defect, it was but natural that the community should turn towards the idea of segregation as a great means for the prevention of mental deficiency. The segregation idea is most important and there is little danger of it being too strongly emphasized. The need for more institutional provision for the care of the feeble-minded in this state, is most apparent. With the knowledge, however, of the part that heredity plays in the problem of the feebleminded, yet so strong is the desire in the heart of every parent, guardian, judge, teacher, minister, physician and social worker, that every child shall remain in and be a part of the community, that there have not been presented for admission to the institutions, any cases of the higher grade types until all means of their remaining in the community have been exhausted. There are, indeed, hundreds of applications for admission on file at our institutions at the present time that show that the only chance for these boys and girls is in the protection and education that an institution affords as well as for the protection of the community itself. With the large number of feeble-minded in this state, it cannot be considered a practical solution of the problem, however, to segregate all of them in institutions. In fact, such a course, if it were practical from a financial standpoint, would be neither necessary or desirable. The institution, important as it is, must be considered but a factor in the solution of this problem. There are large numbers of the feeble-minded in the community and there always will be large numbers in the community, even after most liberal provision is made. Therefore, it seems that the most practical thing to do is to make still more liberal provision for them and aim at a better understanding of how to safely care for the feeble-minded in the community. In considering what class of feeble-minded individuals may safely remain in the community, it is of more importance to study what communities are safe for the feeble-minded. Most communities have certain conditions that make them unsafe for any unsupervised feeble-minded person. Much more depends on the community than on the individual. All feebleminded persons depend on others for either their proper or improper social reactions. No feeble-minded person has good judgment or can properly adjust himself to his environment. He is dependent on others to properly order his course for him. The majority of the feeble-minded are not vicious but are simply drifters-easily influenced for good or evil. It is, therefore, impossible to pick out a feeble-minded person and say that he will do well in a community for his reactions will depend upon the influence to which he is subjected and the only safe prediction that can be made for his welfare must be based upon knowledge that he will receive proper supervision. Without special training the feeble-minded person cannot learn to perform the ordinary duties that the normal child naturally picks up and, for this reason, we find in the community large numbers of feeble-minded persons who cannot perform satisfactorily the simplest activities. After he has tried this job and that, only to find that he is a failure, is it any wonder that he becomes a serious social problem? How many normal people could continue to react normally in the community if they were robbed of the great opportunity of industry. With the spread of knowledge of the feeble-minded problem, there has been a great demand for increased provision by the school systems for special classes. These classes are becoming powerful factors in the solution of this problem. The teachers for these classes are selected for superior ability. Their remuneration is greater than that of teachers of the ordinary grades, thus giving permanency to their work, making it possible for a teacher to have the same group of children under observation for a period of years. These classes, all under the general supervision of a trained supervisor, and under medical supervision that is provided, make a most excellent organization for caring for the defective children in the community. They are giving these children the advantage of an education such as is provided in an institution with the advantage also of receiving home care. They are also extending their activities, in some degree, beyond the school by assisting these boys and girls in securing positions and, in some cases, carrying supervision to them in their work. These classes also provide a splendid opportunity for the study of the social reactions of these children in the community, a side of the work that it is impossible for the institution to perform. The supervisor of these classes thus has the opportunity to arrive at a fair conclusion as to what children should have institutional care and what children have fair chances for leading harmless and, possibly, useful lives in the community. With the extension of this movement for special classes, until every school system of any size has a sufficient number to accommodate all children with mental defect, it would seem that the larger number of children with ordinary mental defect could be safely protected and educated in the community. It is, however, with the advent of mature life, that the more difficult problems of dealing with the feeble-minded in the community arise. The adult feeble-minded are more difficult to control than the children, due to the more complex social relations into which they are thrown, but chiefly to the failure of the community to disassociate age and responsibility and make proper provision for the supervision of the irresponsible. This state has already taken a census of its feeble-minded. Would it not be desirable for the Commission on Mental Diseases to keep a permanent registry of all the feeble-minded in the state and work out a system whereby it can place them all under intelligent, coördinating supervision? It would be necessary to have a corps of trained workers selected, preferably from institutional employees and teachers of the special classes, a group of workers who have lived with, worked with, and who know the feebleminded. These workers could follow defective children leaving the special classes and give them a kindly oversight and supervision that will largely insure against their becoming harmful agents in the community. The feeble-minded most in need of institutional care could better be determined. The institutions could also perform a larger service by coördinating with the community in the way of admitting those most in need of institutional care and placing out in the community many trained cases, were it possible to place them under the supervision of trained workers-those who know the danger signals of the feeble-minded and who have authority to remand to the institutions. At the present time we are touching the problem only in spots. We are training and caring for the children in the special classes to a certain age and then turning them out into the community-large numbers to become social problems because they have no longer intelligent supervision. There are already hundreds of social problems of the feeble-minded who need institutional care but for whom there is no provision. There is no doubt that many of these problems could be prevented if there were room in the institutions where some of the children leaving the special classes could be placed for a time and thus complement the work of the special classes by tiding these children over, perhaps, an especially critical period in their lives; and while doing this, teaching them a useful occupation and placing them later in the community and still carrying to them the supervision they need. The activities of the various organizations are based upon the expectation of normal reactions by the individual aided. Therefore, too often are their agents applying the same methods with the feeble-minded person that they use so successfully in dealing with the normal person, and, consequently, expecting the same results only to be disappointed time after time |