[554] In many of the day school laws the use of the oral method is required, which is also partly the case in several state institutions.
[555] These statistics are taken from the Special Reports of the Census Office, 1906, p. 86, and the January issues of the Annals. See also Volta Review, xv., 1913, p. 90; Proceedings of American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf (Condition of Articulation Teaching in American Institutions), ii., 1892; Report of Committee of Horace Mann School, Massachusetts, 1891, p. 8ff.; 1895 (Proceedings of 25th Anniversary).
[556] The greatest usefulness of this speech is often found in one's own family circle, or with immediate friends.
[557] Jan., 1914, lix., p. 41.
[558] The choice of methods for pupils may often depend on their classification, as noted before, into deaf-mutes, that is, those who have never been able to hear; semi-mutes, those who have been able to hear and speak, and retain their speech to some extent; and semi-deaf, those able to hear a little.
[559] For accounts of possible correspondence or extension courses for the deaf outside the schools, see Report of California Institution, 1904, p. 18.
[560] From Annals, Jan., 1914, (lix., p. 23). For a few schools the figures refer to the number present on November 10, 1913. The total number on this date was 13,450. The Volta Review for May, 1913 (xv., p. 99), gives the total number present on March 1, 1913, as 13,143. The Report of the United States Commissioner of Education gives the number for 1911-1912 as 13,690: in institutions, 11,244; in day schools, 1,928, and in denominational and private schools, 518. The total number of volumes in the libraries of the institutions was reported to be 132,461. For tables respecting the schools, see [Appendix B].
[561] Normal departments for the training of hearing teachers of the deaf are maintained at Gallaudet College and the Clarke School, the latter having a special fund, largely contributed by the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf. Several of the institutions also have training classes, and there are normal departments in connection with the Chicago and Milwaukee day schools. On the subject of pensions for teachers of the deaf, see Annals, xxix., 1884, p. 304; Proceedings of Convention of American Instructors, xviii., 1908, p. 146; Report of California School, 1912, p. 12.
[562] Report, 1912, ii., ch. xiii.
[563] It is hardly necessary to state that physical education is provided for in the schools for the deaf quite as fully as in the regular schools.