DEAF CHILDREN

CASES MUST BE REPORTED

Attention is drawn by the Education Department to the fact that some cases of deafness in school children, are not being reported promptly as required by the Act. The following circular has been sent to all Education Boards in regard to the matter: —

■ " The Education Department will ba glad if you will make the following as widely known as possible:—Section 129: Every parent, teacher S(f a Bchool (either public or private), constable, or officer of a charitable kindred institution who is aware of tho place of residence (either temporary or permanent) of a blind, deaf, feeble-minded, or epileptic child, and the householder in whose house any such child resides, shall send notification of the fact to the Minister, giving the name, 'age, and address of the cliild; and if any such'(person neglects or fails to comply with this TirovisioD, such person shalj on conviction thereof be liable to a fin©'not exceeding "one poond, or in the case of a. second or subsequent offence, whether relating to the same or another child, not exceeding five pounds.

" The Education Department has been informed that a girl of the age of twelve and a-half years, who is described as being totally deaf, has basn attending a public school for the past sevan yeans. The deafness is evidently acquired, as the cliild is able to speak. There is no record of the date on which tho deafness commenced, but, as it is stated that th.a child speaks in a. whispering undertone, there ia strong evidence that she lias been deaf for a cou'sideroble time. Notwithstanding this, no notification of the child's condition reached the Department until recently.

"In rsfen-mg to the above case, the Director of the School for the Deaf, Stunner,, says: ' I have repeatedly pointed out that in cases of acquired deafness no time should ( be lost. Bofore this girl's hearing had entirely disappeared it would have been much easier for her to learn lip-reading than will now be the case, more especially as she has defective sight, and it wouid have been infinitely wore likely that she would become proficient in the art than is now the case. In almost all' cases bf acquired deafness, unless? lipreading is speedily resorted to, a highly morbid and gloomy condition of mind is set. up, which has a most detrimental ef-. feet on future progress, and this can only be prevented by restoring the deaf person by means of lip-reading to social intercourse. Educationally, this child has been at a standstill, if not actually retrogradingl, during all, the time that she has been too denf to benefit by tbe instruction at the pvrblio school. Fox this refton alone the case should have been reported earlier, when she would have been better fitted to profit by the, instruction given here, a half-deaf person learning lip-reading much more easily than a stone-deaf one. It is well linown that children becoming- deaf before the age of nine years naually become qnite dumb in a year or less, and that in cases where children become completely . deaf later than this the speech rapidly deteriorates even if not completely lost. We have had «o many cases of a similar character that; I think it time some ape-, cial action or effort were taken to pre^ vent their recurrence.' "