The principles of hygiene must be extended to the dress of the child and to the environment in which it lives.
Clothing: The child's clothes should be so made as to be easily put on and off. They should not hinder normal functioning of the body (breathing). They should afford no opportunity for dangerous vices (onanism). If the child can dress and undress without difficulty, it will learn the more readily to look after itself even in those little necessities of daily life where partial undressing is necessary. Special attention should be given to stockings, which affect the development of sensitiveness in the soles of the feet and also concern the process of learning to walk.
Environment: Just a few reminders: for defectives perfect ventilation of course; but the walls and furniture should be upholstered in the case of impulsive defectives or of defectives who do not know how to walk. There is danger in furniture with sharp projections and in toys which may be thrown about. A "child's room," the luxury of which consists in it hygienic location, its elastic walls, and its very emptiness, is the best gift a rich family can make to the education of a defective child.
MUSCULAR EDUCATION
Muscular education has for its object the bringing of the individual to some labor useful for society. This labor must always be executed by means of the muscles, whether it be manual labor, speaking or writing. In a word, the intelligence must subject the muscles to its own purposes and, that the muscles may be equipped for such obedience, it is necessary to prepare them by some education which will reduce them to coordination. Muscular education in defectives accordingly has for its object the stimulation and coordination of useful movements.
It prepares: for exercise; for the activities of domestic service (washing, dressing, preparing food, setting and clearing the table, etc.); for manual labor (trades); for language (use of the vocal organs). The preparation consists in bringing the child to tonic quiescence in standing posture. The child must learn first to stand still with head erect and with his eyes fixed on the eyes of the teacher. From this position of tonic quiescence we must pass to exercises in imitation. We obtain tonic quiescence by a variety of procedures, the variation depending upon individual cases. We must stimulate the apathetic and the sluggish; we must moderate the hyperactive; we must correct paresis, tics, etc. In other words, medical education must precede pedagogy itself. It may be a question of applying medical gymnastics both for active and passive movements, alternating this treatment with massage, electric baths, etc.
Let us note one or two motor abnormalities which are easy to detect in defectives. Atony: the child does not move; he cannot stand; he cannot sit upright nor execute any movement whatever. Hyperactivity: this is characterized by almost constant incoordinated or disorganized movements which have no useful purpose, e.g., jumping, beating, tearing up of objects within reach and so on. Such patients are dangerous to themselves and to others.
MECHANICAL MOVEMENTS
(A).—Movements executed upon the person of the child: sucking of the fingers; biting of the nails; constant stroking of some part of the body. These movements are caused by imperfectly developed sensibility; the children stroke or caress, for example, that area of the skin which possesses greatest tactile sensitiveness, etc.
(B).—Movements executed upon surrounding objects: rapping on tables; constant and careful tearing of pieces of paper into small bits, etc. This too is associated with some sensory pleasure on the part of the patient.
Rocking: (a) with patient reclining: the head is nodded from left to right, from right to left; (b) with patient sitting: the trunk is rocked backward and forward; (c) with patient standing: the whole bod; rocks from left to right, the whole weight resting now on one foot and now on the other. Difficulty and hesitation are experienced in walking. These motory defects proceed from the difficulty experienced by the child in finding his center of gravity, his equilibrium.
Inability to perform local movements: (a) Inability to move certain of the fingers, the tongue, the lips, etc. From such defects arises the impossibility of performing certain simple manual exercises (bringing the finger tips of the two hands together; taking hold of objects, e.g., inability to button, etc.) and the inability to pronounce certain words; (b) Inability to contract the lip and sphincter muscles (loss of saliva, involuntary defecation).
Atony and hyperactivity may be overcome by appropriate educational remedies which we will now discuss. Local agitations disappear with the general education of the senses; while rocking is cured by exercises in balancing.
(A).—Stimulate active movements in the atonic child until he is able to stand erect in tonic quiescence.
Begin by stimulating the simple movements, gradually working up to the most complicated. We have a sure guide for this education in the spontaneous developments of movements in the normal child: he begins with the easiest spontaneous movements and gradually arrives at the harder ones.
The first movement which develops in the child is the prehensile act (grasping). Next comes the movements of the lower joints used in creeping and walking; next the ability to stand; and finally the ability to walk alone. Grasping: if no external stimulation is capable of interesting the defective of low type, grasping cannot be stimulated merely by presenting to the child some object or other which might seem to be interesting for color taste or some other quality. In such a case we must have recourse to the instinct of self-preservation, to that innate fear of void which defectives almost always have. The child feeling himself fall will instinctively grasp at some support within his reach. This is the simplest point of departure for our possible development of the grasping faculty in the defective child.
Method: The hands of the child am mechanically fixed around the rung of a ladder suspended to the ceiling. Then the child in left to himself. Since his fingers are already around the support he needs only to clench his hands to find support. He may not succeed even in this simple act the first time. The teacher must patiently repeat the exercise, always being ready, of course, to catch the child if he should fall. In this exercise the defective is very much alarmed as a rule and all his muscles are as a result more or less stimulated.
Likewise based on the instinct of self-preservation is the swing, where the defective must cling to some support with his hands to keep from falling.
Finally a ball is hung from the ceiling and swung in such a way as continually to strike the child in the face. To protect himself he must keep it away by seizing it.
In still lower types we must have recourse to the instinct for nutrition which exists even in such children.
Standing: Under this heading we include also the movements which precede the actual attainment of the standing posture. To overcome the sinking of the knees, which impedes standing, the swinging chair may be used. The seat must reach nearly to the child's feet and the knees are tied to the seat. The child's foot, as he swings, strike against a board. This exercise prepares the lower joints to hold themselves in position when resting on a plane surface. Next the child is placed on parallel bars. The bars pass under the arm-pits and support the child while his feet rest on the floor. In these exercises we try to stimulate the movements which appear in walking (exercises of the lower joints). Next we exercise the muscles which support the spinal column. The child is made to sit down: first the spine in upright against the back of the chair; finally it remains upright when the support is removed. Little by little walking can be produced if the child is taken away from the bars and supported with a simple gymnastic belt. The exercise is continued until he can be left entirely without support.
When the child has learned to walk we can command him to stop in the position of tonic quiescence.
(B).—Moderation of hyperactivity by forced quiescence.
In hyperactive children the arms must first be restrained by holding them tight in our hands. The movements of the lower limbs may be checked by holding the child's legs tight between our knees. Finally the child may be kept entirely quiescent with his legs held between the teacher's knees, his arms in the teacher's hands, with the trunk pushed back and held firmly against the wall. By a similar process he can be kept quiet while standing; then later in a position of tonic quiescence.
General Rule: Exercises of the limbs beginning with the arms should precede those specifically directed toward the spinal column. Séguin says "tonic quiescence is necessarily the first step from atonic quiescence; or if you wish, from a disordered activity to an activity which represents harmony between the muscular system and the mind."
We noted above that the posture of tonic quiescence involves a fixity of gaze on the part of the child. This is the point of departure for the development of coordinative movements and imitation of what the child sees the teacher do.
EDUCATION OF THE FIXED GAZE
If the child is kept in the dark for some time and is suddenly shown a bright light he will experience the sensation of red.
Keeping the child in a dark room for a shorter time a sudden light will attract his gaze.
Move the light along the wall until the child's gaze follows it.
Next, in a light room, the child is shown a red cloth kept in motion; a red balloon hung from the ceiling keeps striking him in the face.
After these preparatory exercises the teacher can try to get the child to fix its eyes on his own and to maintain the fixed gaze. Here use may be made also of the sense of hearing (words of command, encouragement, etc.).
Finally to obtain complete fixity of gaze, one may use the large mirror, before which lights may be passed. There the child can gaze at his own face and at the face of the teacher, which will be kept motionless and which the child may come to imitate.
Exercises of imitation: (1) The child is taught to become acquainted with himself. The various parts of his body are pointed out to him and he is made to touch them. This continues up to the point of distinguishing right from left. Begin with the larger members of the body (arms, legs, trunk, head) to be named in connection with movements of the whole body. Then pass to the smaller members (the fingers, knuckles, the organs of the mouth), to be referred to respectively in the education of the hand and in the teaching of speech.
(2) The child is taught coordinative movements relating to gymnastics (walking, running, jumping, pushing, etc.).
(3) Movements relating: (a) to the simpler forms of manual labor (exercises of practical life: washing, dressing, picking up and laying down various objects, opening and closing drawers); (b) to more complex kinds of manual labor (elements of various trades; weaving, Froebel exercises, etc.).
(4) Movements relating to articulate language. For this educational process the following general rules are to be followed: first, movements of the whole body must precede movements of specific parts; second, only by analyzing complex movements in their successive stages and by working out their details point by point can we arrive at the execution of a perfect complex movement.
This latter rule applies especially to manual education and the teaching of language. When movements of the whole body have been obtained it will often be necessary, before going on to movements of particular members, to alternate the educational cure with the medical: (1) to overcome the weakness of some of the muscles (perhaps of some finger), use local electric baths, passive gymnastics, etc.; (2) for retractions, retarded development of aponeurosis of the palms, etc., use orthopedic treatment.
Gymnastics, manual labor, trades and speaking are special branches of teaching, that usually require specially trained teachers.
EDUCATION OF THE SENSES
Outline for examination.
Sight: Sense of color. It is necessary to call the attention of the child several times to the same color by presenting it to him under different aspects and in different environments. The stimulus should be strong. Other senses tend to associate themselves with the chromatic sense, for example, the stereognostic and gustatory senses. Whenever the teacher gives an idea she should unite with it the word, the only word which is related to the idea. The words should be emphatically and distinctly pronounced.
(1) Pedagogical aprons: The colors are presented on a large moving surface, as for instance, an apron worn by the teacher; e.g., a red apron. The teacher points to it, touches it, lifting it with noticeable movements of the arms, continually calls the attention of the child to it. "Look! See here! Attention!" and so on; then saying in a low voice and slowly, "This is (and then in a louder voice), red, red, red!!!" Now take two aprons, one red, the other blue; repeat the same process for the blue. There are three stages in the process of distinguishing between colors: (a) "This is ... red!" (b) "Your apron is red!" (c) "What color is this?" Then try three aprons, red, blue, and yellow, bordered with white and black.
(2) Insets—color and form. The red circle, the blue square. There are three stages: (a) "This is red, red, red! Touch it! Do you feel? Your finger goes all the way around, all the way around. It is round, it is round, all round. Put it in its place!" (b) "Give me the red one!" (c) "What color is this circle?"
(3) The dark room. A Bengal red color is shown: "It is red!" The color appears behind a circular disc: "It is red!" The blue is shown behind a square window: "It is blue, blue, blue," etc.
(4) The child is given a circular tablet of red sugar to eat and a square lump of blue sugar. He is made to smell a red piece of cloth strongly scented with musk; or a blue piece of cloth scented with asafetida, etc.
(5) The color chart.
(6) The first game of Froebel.
The first pedagogical material given should contain the color already taught. The notion of color should be associated with its original environment.
Shapes: Solids, Insets: The procedure is always in the three stages mentioned. (1) Show the object to the child. (2) Have him recognize it. (3) Have him give it its name.
Dimensions: Rods of the same thickness, but of graduated length. First the longest and the shortest are shown. The child is made to touch them and interchange them "Pick up the longest!" "Place it on the table!" etc. Repeat this exercise, adding some intermediate lengths; again finally, with all the rods. Next the rods may be disarranged; the child is to put them back in order of length. Notice whether the child makes an accurate choice in the confused pile of the graduated dimensions; or whether it is only by placing two rods together that he comes to notice the difference between them. Notice how long it is before the child makes an accurate choice in the pile and of what degrees of difference in length he is accurately aware.
Try the same exercise for thickness: prisms of equal length, but of graduated thickness, using the same procedure in analogous exercises. Games may be used for the estimation of distances.
The tactile sense proper: One board with a corrugated surface (like a grater) and one smooth. Another board with five adjacent surfaces of graduated roughness. Similar exercises may be used in the feeling of cloths (guessing games).
Games: The child is blindfolded and lightly tickled. He must seize what is tickling him, putting his hand rapidly to the irritant. ("Fly catching," a game for the localization of stimulants.)
Liquids Astringents Glues Oils Tactile muscular sense:
Elastic bodies Balls Rubber Non-resilient bodies Wooden Use skins, leather gloves, and various kinds of cloths for feeling.
The muscular sense: Balls of the same appearance, but of graduated weights. Differentiation of coins by weight.
The stereognostic sense: Recognition of elementary forms, of rare objects, of coins.
Thermal senses: Hot liquids, iced liquids; relative warmth of linen and wool, wood, wax, metal.
Olfactory sense: Asafetida, oil of rose, mint, etc.,
Odors of Tobacco smoke Burned sugar Incense Burned maple
Odors of burning
substancesWood Various applications to
practical life.Straw Paper Guessing games Wool Cotton Edibles Odors of foods (practical life): fresh milk, sour milk, fresh meat, stale meat, rancid butter, fresh butter, etc.
Taste: The four fundamental tastes (guessing games). Instructive applications to practise in the kitchen and at meals.
Tastes of various food substances:
Exercises of practical life milk gruel (milk and flour); diluted wine; sweet wine; turned wine (vinegar), etc. The practise of the senses begins in the lower classes in the form of guessing games; in the higher classes the education of the senses is applied to exercises of practical life.
Hearing: Empirical measurement of the acuteness of the sense of hearing. Specimen game: the teacher about 35 feet away from the blindfolded children and standing where an object has been hidden, whispers the words "Find it!" Those who have heard her will be able to find the object. Having removed from the line the children who have heard, the teacher steps to another place about a yard nearer and repeats the experiment to the children who are left over, etc.
Intensity of sound:
Throw to the floor metal blocks of various sizes, coins of graduated weight.
Strike glasses one after the other according to size.
Bells of graduated size.
Quality of sound: Produce different sounds and noises.
Bells of metal of terracotta Open Bells.
Closed Bells.
Strike with a wooden stick on tin plates, glasses, etc.
Identify various musical instruments.
Identify different human voices (of different people).
Identify the voice of a man, a woman, a child.
Recognize different people by their step, etc., etc.Pitch: Intervals of an octave, of a major triad, and so on; major and minor chords. However, musical education requires a separate chapter.
Sound projection, localization of sound in space: The child is blindfolded. The sound is produced; (1) in front of him; behind him; to the right; to the left; above his head; (2) the blindfolded child recognizes the relative distance at which the sounds are produced; (3) the child decides from which side of the room the sounds come; he is made to follow some one who is speaking.
The horizontal plane: This is the first notion imparted to the child concerning his relationship to the objects about him. Almost all the objects the child may perceive around him with his senses rest on the horizontal plane: his table, his chair, and so on. The very objects on which the child sits or puts his toys are horizontal planes. If the plane were not horizontal, the objects would fall, but they would strike on the floor which, again, is a horizontal plane. Place an object on the child's table and tip one end of the table to show him that the object falls.
Guessing game for the plane surface: This game serves to fix the notion of the plane surface and at the same time trains the eye and the attention of the child.
1. Under one of three aluminum cups is placed a small red ball, a cherry or a piece of candy. The child must remember under which cup the object is hidden. The teacher tries herself and fails, always raising the empty cups and returning them to their places. The child, however, finds the object immediately.
2. The teacher now begins to move the three cups about on the plane surface. The child has to keep his eye on his cup and never loses sight of it.
3. Repeat this exercise with six cups.
Checkerboard game: This serves to teach the child the limits and the various divisions of a plane. The squares are large and in black and white. The whole board should be surrounded by a border in relief. Various points are indicated on the plane: forward, backward, right, left, center, by placing a tin soldier at each point indicated. The soldiers may be moved about by the child in obedience to directions of the teacher: "The officer on horseback to the center": "Standard-bearer to the right, etc.!" Finally, make all the soldiers advance toward the center of the board over the black squares only; then over the white squares only, etc.
These notions may be applied to exercises of practical life. The children already know how to set the table without thinking of what they are doing. From now on, the teacher may say: "Put the plates on the plane surface of the tables!" "Put the bottle to the left! In the center!" etc. Have a small table set with little dishes, having the objects arranged in obedience to commands of the teacher. After this, we may proceed to the Froebel games on the plane surface with the cubes, blocks, and so on.
Inset game as a preparation for reading, drawing, and writing: After the child knows the different colors and shapes in the inset, the color tablets of the big inset can be put in place: (1) on a piece of cardboard where the figures have been drawn in shading in the respective colors; (2) on a cardboard where the same figures have been drawn merely in colored outline (linear abstraction of a regular figure).
Inset of shapes where the pieces are all of the same color (blue): The child recognizes the shape and puts the pieces in place: (1) on a cardboard where the figure is shaded; (2) on a cardboard where the figure is merely outlined (linear abstraction of regular geometrical figures). Meanwhile, the child has been touching the pieces: "The tablet is smooth. It turns round and round and round. It is a circle. Here we have a square. You go this way and there is a point; this way, and there is another point, and another, and another; there are four points! In the triangle there are three points!" Then the child follows with his finger the figures outlined on the cardboard. "This one is entirely round: it is a circle! This one has four points: it is a square! This one has three points: it is a triangle!" The child runs over the same figures with a small rod of wood (skewer), etc.
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