A CHILD-AGED 25.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 139, 14 June 1935, Page 8

A CHILD-AGED 25.

DEAF, BLIND, DUMB.

BLIND INSTITUTE CASE.

"WE CAN HELP HIM."

The young man is 2.T years old. He has the brain of a child because since lie was eight years old he has been deaf, dumb and blind. He knows nothing beyond what a child of that age might be expected to know. He cannot write: He cannot spell. All the developments in the common everyday amenities of life which have taken place since he was eight are foreign to him. He has lived apart in an existence that has been incredibly, pitifully confined. To restore him , to contact with the outer world of human beings, t almost, in fact, to make him realise he is a human being is the task of the New Zealand Institute tor the Blind to whose care he has been committed. To the ordinary teacher the task would be hopeless; but he has become the especial care of one who himself has been blind for many years, Mr. J. D. McGuire, a graduate of the Auckland University College.

The child, Jioy, young man—one; scarcely knows what to call him — is | Erie Smith, and he came to Auckland two weeks ago from his home In Christchurch. Since he met with an accident many years ago, life has practically slopped for him. He was able to do small, simple jobs at home, drying dishes, cutting firewood, even ' driving nails, but nothing more. How to Begin. This morning he was sitting at a table utterly absorbed in thu task of threading beads on a piece of wire. Seeing him there, one wondered how possibly ii message could be made to pieuce the terrible mask which covered him. Mr. McGuiie has had to start at beginnings. His first task is to try and ( revive what small lirigeringe of memories remain from his pupil's school years, i Remember, he lost everything when only I eight years old. Mr. McGuire will try j to use the association of ideas; he will develop the lad's sense of smell and touch. At present he is teaching him the alphabet, uaing an appliance intended normally for the teaching of arithmetic. It is a Sheet of metal with holes perI forated. Small lengths of metal are thrust through the holes, so that different diagrams may be built on the form. On the form Mr. McGuire makes letters. The pupil feels them, and then does his best to make them for himself. Already lie can make six letters, E, F, I, L, N, T. And when he has made them, he feels for Mr. McGwire's hand, and "asks" his teacher to correct them. His teacher's first task is to complete the alphabet. After that he will spell out small words, like "cat" or "box" or "mat"—the sort of worebs that five-year-olds learn —and then, by having an example of each near for the pupil to feel, he will thus be taught what they are. One can easily see how long and laborious is- the task ahead for both teacher and taught. Lad Quick in Some Ways. > As far an the lad's experience goes, however, he is quick. Already he can i find his way about that part of the i institute where he lives. He needed i only to be "told" once to go and get his towel from his bed upstairs and ( to go to the bathroom and wash. To , begin with he did not remove his coat. Mr. McGuire thereupon unbuttoned his coat and took it half off. and Eric always does that now. He has come quickly to trust Mr. McGuire. Mr. , McGuire always wears the University ', College badge in his coat lapel. When < anyone makes his presence known to i the lad, quick though clumsy fingeit- < fumble a way up to where that badge ( . .should be. If it is there, all it well. i

"I am quite hopeful," Mr. McGuire said. "We will be able to help him, though we will not be able to teach him a great deal. He gets tired after about an hour's teaching. Still, after the lad has mastered the alphabet he may be able to begin on Braille, and then progress should begin." Mr. McGuire thinks the best place for his charge will be in the strawberry chip-making factory. The work there is not difficult, and the main thing is to keep the lad's mind occupied. That, however, is for the future. For the present he is assured of the sympathy, the help, and the co-operation of everyone at the institute. " Should Be a Lesson." Everybody there is interested in thn lad. A man who was only blind said, as the lad felt a slow way from a room, "That should be a lesson. As soon as anyone begiiiß to lose his sight or any other eense the appropriate authority should be communicated with. If the 'institute had heard of that .young man sooner he would not have been like that. Far, far more could have been done for him." Some years ago the institute got in touch with him, but lost contact again because his people moved and the change in address was not notified.