UNGRADED PUBLISHED BY THE UNGRADED TEACHERS ASSOCIATION ELIZABETH E. FARRELL, Inspector of Ungraded Classes, President Editor ELISE A. SEYFARTH Associate Editors KATHARINE MCGINN ELIZABETH A. WALSH, on Methods SARAH E. FISKE, on Class-Management Business Manager For Advertising rates, address: Advertising Manager, 47 Baxter Ave., Elmhurst, N. Y. Published monthly, excepting July, August and September, at 10 Depot Street, 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: VOL. II UNGRADED JUNE, 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 No. 9 THE FUNCTION OF SPECIAL CLASSES FOR MENTALLY DEFECTIVE CHILDREN IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS ADA M. FITTS Along with the many closely related groups that are working to find a solution of the ever-increasing and urgent problem of the mentally defective, public school authorities all over the country have come to see the need of providing training for pupils not able to make good in the grades. When a child is late in walking and talking, when he does not go to school at the usual age, when he does not develop in the kindergarten and primary grades and is obliged to repeat his work, he should be reported to the proper school authorities. If, after careful examination, the pupil proves to be in need of Special Class work, he should be placed where he can be given the individual attention he requires and the form of training that is educational for him. Probably at least between two and three per cent of all the children in the elementary schools are unable to profit by regular grade work. We may subdivide this group of mentally defectives as follows: first, those who are of such low grade mentality that they should not be kept in the public schools at all, but should either be kept at home or placed in the institution; second, mentally defective children who show marks of an abnormal mental condition and who have been found nearly or quite unimprovable under ordinary class room instruction; third, normal but very dull children who are nevertheless not beyond the reach of class room instruction skilfully administered. It is not often possible to distinguish these children from the normal pupils, for the normal may look dull and the high grade child may look bright. We must not judge by appearance. The decision should be made by a trained expert and not by an experimenting amateur. The Special Classes are designed for mentally defective children who have been found nearly or quite unimprovable under ordinary class room instruction and their function is first: to educate the community and the teachers of normal children to the need of providing opportunities for the mentally defec tive to the limit of their capacity and to the dangers of unprotected mentally defective persons in the community. Miss Cheney's work in Springfield, Massachusetts, is one of the best examples of how a wise teacher may secure the coöperation of the public and provide a definite plan of awakening community interest in the problem of the feeble-minded of her city. The second function of the Special Class is to seek out the children for Special Class instruction and help them. Someone has said: “A teacher is a discoverer of girls and boys, discovering their powers and latent possibilities, discovering also their lack of powers and latent possibilities of the better kind and devising ways and means for making up this lack.” In every class room there is a group of children who are not to be promoted, those who are not able to keep step with the rank and file of children. Some of this number are deficient because of prolonged absence from school, serious illness or inattention; but after these are eliminated, there still remain a few children who perplex both principal and teachers. The kindergartner remembers the child when he first came to school. She remembers how he has never played, was troublesome or inattentive. The first year teacher remembers him as one of those who was a drag on her class for one or perhaps two years and knew but little at the end of that time, although she had worked faithfully to help him. The Special Class teacher should be on the lookout for these “suspected" defectives. With the coöperation of expert physicians and psychologists she soon learns that the children are really defective and in the Special Class she tries so far as possible to develop them. A third function of the Special Class is to relieve the grade teacher who gives a large part of her energy to the few mentally defective pupils with no material benefit to such children and to the great disadvantage of the normal pupils. A teacher writes: "The following is a brief statement of the demoralizing effect upon my class caused by the retarded pupils. On account of their mental deficiency it is impossible to secure from them either attention or interest in the regular school work. It follows that they cannot be kept profitably employed; this results in frequent acts of disorder. They occupy themselves by whispering or annoying other children. The discipline of the class is thus rendered very difficult. The normal children do not realize that these special children are not really responsible for their naughtiness and the listlessness is often contagious. The loss of time entailed by attention to frequent cases of discipline is a real injustice to forty normal children. They not only lose actual time which should be given to teaching, but their attention as well as the teacher's, is distracted from the lesson. To sum up the situation, I should say that the four mentally defective children in my class gain nothing by being there. They are, however, a serious drawback to the class as a whole.' The principal of a large school district writes: "It is a vital necessity that the defective children in the regular classes be removed and placed where they can have special care. Where they are now, they are a constant menace and a hindrance to the other children in the class. I found six of these cases in one room recently and had the teacher not had remarkable self-control, patience and common sense, she could not have borne with them plus her other work. I believe that there is no other question so vital to the good of our elementary schools as what shall be done with this class of children." A fourth function of the Special Class is to secure justice for the mentally defective as only in such a class can we do our best for these children. We should realize the unhappiness that these pupils must suffer who are unable to profit by experience or to adapt themselves to life with the normal. One of the most pathetic things I have ever known is a composition written by a girl of fourteen trying to do third grade primary work. It is as follows: THE STORY OF MY LIFE I am a girl who would like to have more brans than I have got because a branns is a very good then to have to work by and to see by and to hear by. Some pepoles have a very good brans and some pepoles have a very sleepy brans indeed but I would like a smart brans. I would not like to have the brans that I have got any longer. Not all defective children realize this difference but I think many are conscious of their inability to make good when in competition with the normal. As teachers we should be especially careful never to cause these children unhappiness by discussing their cases before a class or before other teachers. Again, we should through the Special Class secure justice for the parents of such children. They are troubled by the failure of their child to make good in the grades; sometimes they will admit that there is backwardness; sometimes they blame the teacher; much more often they promise help and coöperation; but after a time they reluctantly admit that they are helpless. At this point they may be brought to see the value of the Special Class, to realize that there their children are better cared for-and instead of opposing, they come to request that the opportunity be given. Finally, the function of the Special Class is to secure justice to society, for it is a matter of social justice that the mentally defective be recognized early and treated according to their needs. Emphasis is more and more being laid on the urgent need of early recognition of the feeble-minded who are likely to become public charges. We need not wait until they reach the courts, for most of them are now or have recently been in the schools. The Special Class teacher has information and records which are of the greatest value in determining what is best for the group when they reach adult life, and with this available information, early recognition is possible. The problem of the mentally defective is one of the greatest sociological and economic questions of modern times and needs the coöperation and help of church, school, medical society, charity bureau and social workers. These, then, are the arguments for those who question the wisdom of |