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 THE 
 UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI 
 
 Volume 15 Number 28 
 EXTENSION SERIES 9 
 
 EDITED BY C. H. WILLIAMS 
 
 ABNORMAL AND DEFECTIVE 
 CHILDREN 
 
 BY 
 
 W. H. PYLE 
 
 Assist (I i}t Professor of Educational Psycliolof/y / 
 
 Issued Three Times Monthly; Entered at the Post- 
 office, Columbia, Missouri, as Second Class Matter 
 
 UNIVERSITY OP MISSOURI 
 
 coLUArF.iA, Missouru 
 
 October, 1914 
 
 ]lii&iiiia|'f;'<ph 
 

 \^^ 
 
 Abnormal and Defective Children. 
 
 It is the earnest wish of the University of Missouri to be of aid 
 in every way possible to the people of the state. In pursuance of this 
 desire the Extension Division of the University has issued this bul- 
 letin upon the care and training of abnormal and defective children. 
 
 Scientific Study of Children. — For some time we have been used 
 to the application of science to the solution of the farmer's problems. 
 Through the College of Agriculture and other agencies, our state spends 
 thousands of dollars annually in experimental investigations in trying 
 to find better ways of meeting the problems of the farm, and in spread- 
 ing the results of these investigations among those who can profit 
 from the information. The farmer can get expert assistance and 
 knowledge in dealing with his cholera hogs, the chinchbugs in his 
 wheat or his infested orchard. He can get expert advice concerning 
 soils and fertilizers and on all other subjects related to agriculture. 
 
 But we are not yet used to the idea of applying scientific knowl- 
 edge to the problem of rearing children, in spite of the fact that 
 children are very much like fruit trees and pigs and chickens, in 
 that they need constant care and oversight during the period of 
 growth. Among children, we find good stock and poor stock. When 
 a child gets sick, there is a cause for it. If a child's development 
 is retarded, there is a cause for that too. A child's body and mind 
 grow and develop and function according to definite laws, just as is 
 the case with all other kinds of living things. If a child's vision 
 or hearing is defective, this has an effect on the child's life. If a child 
 is not properly fed or clothed, or any vital organ is out of order, the 
 child suffers in consequence. A person's mind is intimately related 
 to his body, and generally speaking, whatever affects the body, affects 
 the mind. If the body is fast or slow in development, so usually is 
 the mind. Heredity is a great factor in the human race just as it is 
 with lower animals, and with plants. We do not expect to raise " 
 apples on peach trees nor beans on melon vines. With domestic 
 animals, we know that we get different results from different breeds. 
 We must expect the same factor to work with our children. Some 
 belong to good, strong, healthy stock and others to poor, weak and 
 unstable stock. All our various mental and physical characteristics 
 are, beyond doubt, transmitted by inheritance. Now, since all these 
 things are true — since everything that happens in the development 
 of a child is due to some cause — we must use every means known 
 to man of guiding and directing child-development, so that each child 
 
 (3) 
 
4 UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI BULLETIN 
 
 may come to maturity with the best possible equipment for its life- 
 work: having suffered no drawback from a cause that could have been 
 removed. 
 
 The School of Education in our State University should fill the 
 same place in the matter of rearing and educating children that the 
 the state College of Agriculture does in the work of farming. Ex- 
 perience proves that the state is justified in maintaining experiment 
 stations and schools of agriculture. It will also be justified in spend- 
 ing even greater sums of money in finding out what is best to do 
 for our children, and in spreading this knowledge among the teachers 
 and parents of the state. 
 
 The purpose of this bulletin is to set forth the possibilities in 
 one particular field — the proper education and treatment of abnormal 
 and defective children. 
 
 Subnormal or Feeble-minded Children. — We are all different. Just 
 as no two people are exactly alike physically, so no two people are 
 just alike mentally. Some of us have traits that others lack. Some 
 of us have traits developed to a higher degree than do others. 
 Some of us have good memories, others have very poor memories. 
 Some of us are capable of a high power of attention or concentra- 
 tion; others are scatterbrained and cannot apply themselves long at 
 a time. Now, if from infancy one lacks some trait or traits of social 
 importance, he is considered feeble-minded. Feeble-mindedness usually 
 involves all the higher mental powers, but it is not always so, for it 
 sometimes happens that a person has some trait unusually developed, 
 as memory, for example, while in all others respects his mind is 
 feeble. The feeble-minded person is usually incapable of concentrated 
 attention or of logical reasoning and is a slow learner. Most specialists 
 in this field look upon feeble-mindedness as a matter of arrested 
 development. The child stops in its development at an early stage 
 of growth. An adult person, for example, might have a mind much 
 like that of a six-year-old child. This retarded development may be 
 caused by some accident or disease, but in about two-thirds of the 
 cases it is due to heredity. In the latter case, the child belongs to 
 weak or poor stock mentally, and inherits the mental defect just as 
 it inherits its hair-color or stature. 
 
 Careful studies indicate that in this country there are about four 
 feeble-minded children in a hundred. One child in two hundred is a 
 low grade imbecile or idiot. If this estimate of the number of feeble- 
 minded holds good in Missouri, we have in the state 38,260 feeble- 
 minded children between the ages of six and twenty-one. If we exclude 
 the lowest grades, there are left 33,477, that are likely to be sent to the 
 public schools. In the feeble-minded institute at Lincoln, Illinois, it 
 was found that a large per cent of the inmates had been in the public 
 
ABNORMAL AND DEFECTIVE CHILDREN D 
 
 schools. Doubtless nearly all of the higher grade imbeciles are sent 
 to the schools and many of the lower grade imbeciles. Therefore the 
 problem of dealing with feeble-mindedness is no small matter for our 
 public schools. Taking the estimates above and allowing fifteen pupils 
 to a class, there are in the state enough feeble-minded children for 
 2231 teachers. 
 
 Importance of Early Diagnosis and Proper Education. — Although 
 only four per cent of the population are feeble-minded, 40 per cent 
 of the criminals, we are told by the criminologist, are recruited from 
 this class. The writer made a psychological study of the girls in the 
 state Industrial Home at Chillicothe and found that about two-thirds 
 of the girls were feeble-minded. It is therefore important that the 
 feeble-minded child be discovered as soon as possible in order that 
 the proper treatment and education may be provided. The child of 
 low mentality cannot learn the ordinary school studies. Such a child 
 gets along poorly in school and consequently soon comes to dislike 
 school. Truancy is usually the result. Truancy, in these cases, usually 
 leads to crime. Therefore, as soon as it can be discovered that a 
 child has a serious mental defect, it should bfc taken out of the ordinary 
 school and be given the kind of education suited to it. This should 
 be done for the good of the child itself as well as for the good of the 
 rest of the pupils. There will be found, on the average, one or two 
 feeble-minded children to a room. These children cannot do the 
 ordinary work of the school and often give the teacher as much trouble 
 as all the other children together. This is not right. The public 
 school teacher should give her time to the normal children. On the 
 other hand, the defective and subnormal child has its rights. When 
 the state undertakes universal education, compelling attendance at 
 school, it assumes the obligation of making it possible for each child 
 to learn, and of giving to each child the kind and amount of training 
 that each is capable of receiving. We must get hold of the unfortunate 
 child early in order that we may not waste its life in fruitless endeavor 
 and before the child has started on a life of crime. 
 
 The Diagnosis of Menta! Defects. — The accurate diagnosis of 
 mental defects and disease is a matter for the expert just as is the 
 case with physical defects and disease. Of course continued failure to 
 do the work of the school is an indication of feeble-mindedness, if no 
 other cause for such failure can be discovered. There is usually no 
 trouble in discovering the lower grades of imbecility. But the higher 
 grades, particularly the highest grade known as morons, are difficult 
 to determine and an accurate diagnosis demands the service of an 
 expert. The time will doubtless come when every community will have 
 the services of an expert — the expert on child life, he may be called — 
 a man trained in medicine, psychology and education, particularly in 
 
6 UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI BULLETIN 
 
 the needs of growing children. Under his direction, the children will 
 be examined and educated according to their needs. At the present 
 time only the largest cities can command the services of such men, 
 and in the smaller communities, we must get along for the present 
 the best we can. Our superintendents and principals can qualify 
 themselves to diagnose feeble-mindedness for practical purposes with 
 fair success. The main criterion must be inability to do the ordinary 
 work of the school, slowness in understanding and in executing com- 
 mands, backwardness in meeting the needs and demands of ordinary 
 life. There are now available mental tests that can be applied to all 
 the children of the school. Norms of performance have been worked 
 out for all ages and for both sexes. After the tests are given the 
 results for each child can be compared with the norm for his or her 
 age. It will be evident at once whether the child is above or below the 
 average. If a child is several years below the norms for his age in 
 all or most of the tests, he is probably of inferior mentality. But after 
 the group tests have been given to all the pupils, those that show the 
 greatest retardation of development, particularly if the school work 
 corroborates the findings of the mental tests, should be given special, 
 individual examination. For this purpose, the Binet-Simon tests can 
 be used. These tests enable one to determine the mental age of a 
 child, and have proved of great service to those who have had to deal 
 with subnormal children. The tests are very simple. Though an 
 expert psychologist is required to interpret the results properly, a 
 wise superintendent with a knowledge of psychology can by practice 
 acquire enough skill with the tests to make them of much service to 
 him when considered in connection with other criteria. At the end 
 of this bulletin will be found a list of books that will assist in mental 
 diagnosis. 
 
 Sensory and Other Defects. — Often a child is retarded in school 
 work not because it is feeble-minded, but because it cannnot see well 
 or cannot hear well. Sometimes defective teeth, adenoids and other 
 diseases retard development and prevent school progress. Therefore 
 every school should have medical inspection, and mental and physical 
 examinations annually. The sight and hearing of every child should 
 be examined at least once a year. Every child found to be suffering 
 from poor vision or defective hearing should be sent to a physician 
 for careful examination. With just a little bit of trouble any teacher 
 can qualify herself to test sight and hearing and determine whether 
 a child's school work is being hindered by low acuity in either. When 
 such is the case, the child should be sent to a specialist if possible. 
 No one but a competent and honest oculist should prescribe glasses for 
 a child. Poor vision is a very serious bar to school progress. Probably 
 two-fifths of all school children could have their vision much improved 
 
ABNORMAL AND DEFECTIVE CHILDREN / 
 
 by glasses. There are not more than half as many cases of serious 
 ear defects, but defective hearing is a most serious hindrance to a 
 child and should be treated as soon as discovered. There is con- 
 siderable prejudice against the wearing of glasses. Teachers should 
 overcome this by explaining to parents the nature of visual defects and 
 the principle of their correction by glasses. It is a teacher's duty to 
 ascertain the visual and auditory acuity of every child in her charge, 
 and not only to make proper recommendations w^here defects are found, 
 but to advise and instruct the parents concerning the importance of 
 attending to such matters. Causes of retardation may also be looked 
 for in adenoid growths and defective teeth, as mentioned above; also 
 in poor nourishment, insufficient exercise, insufficient sleep and some- 
 times in defective speech. There are various forms of word-blindness 
 as well as color-blindness that are sometimes found. 
 
 There is no use to pay out enormous sums of money to educate 
 children and then waste a considerable portion of it trying to teach 
 children who cannot hear, or cannot see or who cannot learn because 
 of some cause that could be removed. 
 
 The Education of the Feeble-minded.— The feeble-minded child, 
 lacking the higher mental powers or having them in but feeble degree, 
 can make little progress in the ordinary school studies that have in 
 them so much that is abstract and symbolic. Reading and writing 
 can be learned only by the highest types of mental defectives, and only 
 poorly by them. The proper education for the feeble-minded child is 
 motor and manual. They should have a great deal of play and should 
 work much with their hands. Manual and industrial work is infinite 
 in variety and complexity and can therefore be adapted to all grades 
 and degrees of development. 
 
 In cities with a school population of five hundred to a thousand 
 and upward there will be found a sufficient number of subnormal 
 children for one teacher or more. Fifteen subnormal children make 
 a class large enough for one teacher. Children three years or more 
 retarded in their mental development should be taken out of the 
 ordinary school and put into a special class. This should be called 
 the "ungraded class." In charge of this class should be put the best 
 teacher available — one successful with little children, particularly in 
 dealing with individual children. Each child in this ungraded class 
 will constitute a problem for the teacher. She is, by proper treat- 
 ment and care, to lead each to the highest point of development pos- 
 sible. Some children whose development is retarded from temporary 
 causes, under the good treatment received in this special class may 
 be returned later to the proper grade in the regular school. Others, 
 as the years go by will be found to be of such low mentality that 
 they must be sent to some institution for the feeble-minded,, where 
 
8 UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI BULLETIN 
 
 they must spend their whole life, not being allowed to marry and 
 reproduce their kind. This will usually be the case with the type 
 known as moral imbecile. 
 
 The curriculum for the special class should consist of plays and 
 games of great variety, well planned and graded, and every kind of 
 hand work and construction. A really feeble-minded child is one for 
 his whole life, and the sooner we recognize this fact and give up the 
 hope of making a genius out of him, the better it will be for him. We 
 must try to fit these children to live out their lives in very humble 
 capacities. The special class will be the place where the future possi- 
 bilities for each child will be determined, some to live a free, inde- 
 pendent life in society, others to live out their lives in segregated 
 communities. It is doubtful v/hether any of those whose defect is 
 clearly from inheritance, should be allowed to marry. 
 
 The teacher of special classes must, in large measure, work out 
 her own curriculum and methods. Experience will give her wisdom 
 and skill. 
 
 In smaller towns and in rural communities where there is not 
 enough subnormal children to justify the employment of a special 
 teacher for them, it is still advisable to make an accurate study to 
 determine who is feeble-minded. Although they cannot have a special 
 class, they should be treated differently from the other children, and 
 given the right kind of work as far as the teacher is able to provide 
 it for them. They should be allowed more freedom and given more 
 time for play, and the teacher need not worry about their progress 
 in the ordinary school studies or their promotion. 
 
 The work and play here outlined for this type of children will 
 make them happy and fit them to live such lives as nature has made 
 possible. 
 
 A Clinical Room for Diagnosis. — Connected with the superintend- 
 ent's office there should be a room fitted up with apparatus for the 
 mental and physical examination of the pupils. For the present, the 
 examinations can be carried out by the superintendent and the special 
 teachers. For about $150 such a room can be fairly well equipped. 
 And the good that would come from only the careful visual and audi- 
 tory tests would abundantly justify the expenditure, to say nothing of 
 the good from the mental examinations. The apparatus and other 
 equipment should consist of charts and frames for testing vision, a 
 Pilling-McCallie audiometer for testing hearing, apparatus for testing 
 muscular speed and strength and muscular steadiness, for measuring 
 height and weight and for determining the lung capacity, for testing 
 for color-blindness, for determining the ability of distinguishing dif- 
 ferences in pitch. Besides these, there should be various pieces of 
 apparatus, and blanks and printed forms for mental examination. 
 
ABNORMAL AND DEFECTIVE CHILDREN V 
 
 The University Will Help. — For three years the university has 
 offered a course on the Abnormal Child for the purpose of fitting 
 teachers for the work of detecting feeble-mindedness and for teach- 
 ing such children. This course will be continued and extended. As 
 occasion demands, the university will plan special courses in medi- 
 cine and psychology that will aim at fitting teachers for this special 
 kind of work. In addition to this work of preparing teachers, the 
 university through the Extension Division will undertake to help any 
 school in the work of diagnosis and in organizing the work of this 
 special class. When it is desired the department of educational 
 psychology will, if possible, send a representative to give personal 
 assistance. In such a case, no charge will be made except the actual 
 expenses of the trip. Any help that can be given by correspondence 
 will always be promptly and freely given. Requests for personal 
 assistance should be sent to the Secretary of the Extension Division; 
 other correspondence concerning abnormal children may be addressed 
 to the writer of this bulletin. 
 
 Supernormal Children. — While the main purpose of this bulletin 
 is to set forth the educational needs of the subnormal and defective, 
 a word must be said in the interest of the supernormal child. The 
 argument for the segregation and separate education of the subnormal 
 child is partly that of economy. The state will save money by giving 
 the defective child the kind of education that he needs. The child 
 will thereby be fitted for the only kind of life that it is possible for 
 him to live, and in many cases, saved from a life of crime. It will 
 be much cheaper for the state to spend money for the proper educa- 
 tion of the defectives than to spend it maintaining courts, jails and 
 penitentiaries. No one is interested in the subnormals because he 
 thinks geniuses can be made of them. Our interest in the super- 
 normal child, however, is for an entirely different reason. While there 
 are about four per cent of subnormal children, there is about the 
 same number of children distinctly supernormal or superior. They 
 are capable of a great deal more intellectual work and of a higher 
 order than their fellows of the same age. Now it is of the greatest 
 importance to society that these children of superior ability advance 
 as fast and as far as their best interests demand. The child of 
 superior mind can usually make his progress through the grades much 
 faster than the normal child. He should either be allowed to do this 
 or else given much more work and more difficult work than is given 
 to the others of the same age. The important thing is that each 
 child be doing just the work that his development at the time demands 
 and be working with others of the same mental age. It is to the 
 interest both of society and the individual that the child of superior 
 mind be given the most favorable opportunity for development, for 
 on these few superior minds the progress of civilization depends. 
 
10 UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI BULLETIN 
 
 Some children are "all around superior," while others are gifted 
 in some special field, as music, painting, invention, etc. When the 
 latter is clearly the case, the child should be given the ordinary 
 instruction of the public schools and also allowed to have outside of 
 school, the special training that his talent demands. Briefly, we plead 
 for the conservation of human energy, doing for every child that which 
 is best for it and doing it at the proper time. 
 
 LIST OF BOOKS 
 
 In dealing with the abnormal child, much help can be had from 
 books. The following should be available to those who undertake to 
 make special provision for abnormal children. They may be obtained 
 from the publishers or from the University Co-operative Store, 
 Columbia. 
 
 W, S. CORNELL — Health and Medical Inspection of School Children, F. A. Davis Com- 
 pany, Philadelphia, $3.00. 
 
 H. H. GODDAKD — The Binet-Simon Tests, published by the Training School, Vineland, 
 N. J., fifteen cents. This pamphlet gives the tests as used by Goddard. 
 
 A. HOLMES — The Conservation of the Child, J. E. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 
 $1.25. 
 
 E. B, HUEY — Backward and Feeble-minded Children, Warvv'ick and Yorls, Inc., Balti- 
 more, $1.40. 
 
 G. L, NOYES — Relation of Sight and Hearing to Early School Life, University of 
 Missouri Bulletin, Medical Series, No. 5. This pamphlet is free and should 
 be in the hands of every teacher in the state. 
 
 W. H, PYLE — The Examination of School Children, The Macmillau Co., Nevy York and 
 Chicago, fifty cents. This manual gives directions for mental and physical 
 tests, with norms for the various school ages and both sexes. 
 
 C. H. TOWN — ^Binet's Method of Measuring the Development of the Intelligence of 
 Young Children, The Courier Co., Lincoln, Illinois, $1.00. 
 
 J. H. VAN SICKLE — Provision for Exceptional Children in Public Schools, Bulletin, 
 1911, No. 14, United States Bureau of Education, free. 
 
 J. E. "W. WALLIN — The Mental Health of the School Child, Yale University Press, 
 New Haven, $2.00. 
 
 G. M. "WHIPPLE — Manual of Mental and Physical Tests, Warwick and York, Inc., 
 two volumes, $3.75. This large work is a comprehensive treatment of the 
 subject of tests. 
 
 L. WITHER — The Special Class for Backward Children, The Psychological Clinic Press, 
 Philadelphia, $1.50. 
 Two magazines, devoted to the interests of the abnormal child, will be helpful: 
 
 The Psychological Clinic, published by the Psychological Clinic Press, Philadelphia, 
 
 $1.50; and the Training School, published at Vineland, N. J., $1.00. 
 
LIBRARY OF, CONGRESS, 
 
 019 638 047 4