DEAF CHILDREN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17828, 8 July 1921, Page 8

DEAF CHILDREN.

DANGERS OF NEGLECT. CASES MUST BE REPORTED. iBT TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] WELLTNG-TON, Thursday. The Education Department has had its attention drawn to the fact that there are in New Zealand children who have had the misfortune to become deai at an early ago and who, in consequence of lack of special teaching and training, have been greatly hindered in mental development. A circular has now been sent to all education boards drawing their attention section 129 of the Act, which requires cases of the kind to be reported to the Education Department. The circular points out that section 129 provides:—"Every parent, teacher of a school (either public or private), constable, or officer of a charitable or kindred institution who is aware of the 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 child; and if any such person neglects or fails to comply with this provision, such person shall on conviction thereof be liable to a fine not exceeding £1, or in the case of a second or subsequent offence, whether relating to the same or another child, not exceeding £5." The Education Department has been informed that a girl of the age of 12£ years, who is described as being totally" deaf, has been attending a public school for the past seven years. The deafness is evidently acquired, as the child is able to speak. There is no record of the date on which the deafness commenced, but as it is stated that the child speaks in a whispering undertone, there is strong evidence that she has been deaf for a considerable time. Notwithstanding this no notification of the child's condition reached the department until recently. In referring to the above case, the director of the School for the Deaf, Sumner, says:—"l have repeatedly pointed out that in cases of acquired deafness no time should be lost. Before 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 would have been infinitely more likely that she would become proficient in the art than is now the case. In almost all cases of acquired deafness, unless lipreading is speedily resorted to, a highly morbid and gloomy condition of mind is set up, which has a most detrimental effect 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 retrograding, during all the time that she has been too deaf to benefit by the instruction at the public school. For this reason alone the case should have been reported earlier, when she would have been better fitted tc profit by the instruction given here, a half-deaf person learning lip-read-ing much more easily than a stone-deaf one. It is well known that children becoming deaf before the age of nine years usually become quite dumb m 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 so manycases of a similar character that I think it time some special action or effort were taken to prevent their recurrence."