Educa Tion of Subnormal and Feeble-Minded

SUBNORMAL AND FEEBLE-MINDED, EDUCA TION OF. The mentally handicapped are most frequently thought of as those who, because of failure of development of the brain, cannot carry out the activities which are considered normal. Especially because of the finding of developmental defects of the brain, there is a tendency on the part of pathologists to consider some of the mentally handicapped to' be essentially different from the normal. On the other hand there are equally cogent reasons for the belief that from the lowest to the highest degree of intelligence there may be an unbroken line. For purposes of convenience we may be justified in isolating mentalities into groups, but we must not forget that the groups are contiguous, and even overlapping.

Method of Classification.

The most convenient method of classification of the mentally handicapped is by comparison with average mentalities of children. If a 20-year old boy knows and can do only those things which are known and done by children of 16 years or over he is considered normal; if he can suitably adjust himself only to those things known ordinarily to and appropriately reacted upon by a two-year old child he is known as an idiot if he knows and acts as an average child from three to seven years of age, he is considered an imbecile; and if his knowledge and reac tions resemble those of an eight to nine-year old child he is spoken of as a moron. These divisions, it will be noted, are artificial limitations in that (I) they take a positive view of the "average" intelligence, (2) they are based on "abstract" knowledge or social behaviour, or on both; and (3) they do not take into account special aptitudes or capabilities.

The acquisition of modes of behaviour other than those of a fixed reflex character is a characteristic of normal development.

As development proceeds and the child has new experiences the adjustments become more complex. In the lowest form of feeble mindedness, idiocy, there is a retention of the infantile reflex activities without the acquisition of more than the simplest modi fications of the reflexes. The idiot is helpless, he does not control

his physiological functions, he cries and he makes inarticulate sounds. A few idiots learn to feed themselves and occasionally to select their food, but many will eat whatever comes to hand,— earth, lime, wood, cloth, etc. The imbecile adds to the advanced learning of the idiot the activities of play, the performance of simple home duties and sometimes the ability to read and to write short sentences, as well as consecutive, though limited, vocal speech. The moron can be taught to carry on without immediate supervision operations such as digging, cultivating land, simple carpentering, driving a horse or automobile ; he does housework well and he has some social characteristics of co-operation in group activities. He can learn to read simple books and he can talk on ordinary every-day topics. Notwithstanding the limitations ex pressed above, it is not unusual to find some feeble-minded who far surpass the performances of normal or even mentally superior persons because of special aptitudes. Thus, an "imbecile" who had not learned to read or write was able to give accurately the day of the week for any date in the past century. Another was able to multiply "mentally" four- or six-place numbers in less time than most normal persons could do with pencil and paper.

These deviations in capability, especially the limitations, of the feeble-minded make their educational training both simpler and more tedious than the educational handling of the normal child.

The simple character of their accomplishments makes for ease of instruction ; their slowness of learning makes their instruction tedious, irksome and monotonous. An unwearying drill master is usually required, and because of this many of the higher grade feeble-minded become excellent teachers for the routine training of those who are of lower intellectual grade. A feeble-minded child may attain a three-year mental level by the age of four, but al though he may continue to develop mentally he does so only slowly. At the age of 12 he may attain the normal six-year level.