EDUCATING THE DEAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17844, 27 July 1921, Page 8

EDUCATING THE DEAL.

SPECIAL AUCKLAND SCHOOL. CHILDREN AND ADULTS. CURING DEFECTIVE SPEECH. The establishment in Auckland of special classes for the education of tho deaf, and for the correction of defective speech and stammering, is designed to meet a problem which has long been a sourco of difficulty to school teachers and to tho Education Department, It provides for the education of children who through partial deafness are. unuble to keep up with other children of their own ago, and who require special 'attention which tho teachers in overcrowded, busy schools, are unablo to Civo them. It fills another sad need, that of adults, already victims to deaf-ness-or whose hearing is failing them, who by reason of their infirmity are cut off from the pleasuros of conversation with their fellow men and women, It also meets the need of little children who havo never learned to talk properly and who at the ago of oven 12 or 13, are unable to make themselves intelligible, or who have contracted the habit of stammering and are unable to overcomo it. _ The school is working on the uaine lines as the Sumner School for tho Deaf, and was opened in tho Myers Kindergarten building in February. Classes were started by Mies McEwen, of Sumner, who has since returned to the South, and Miss M. Clare, who also taught at Sumner, is now in charge. Pupils Under Instruction. Although many parents are possibly unaware of the fact, it is compulsory that all deaf children shall be sent to tho School for the Deaf at Sumner, where about 100 children are being educated. Their ages are from five to 18 years, and they remain at the jchool for the ordinary period of school life, learning to speak, to read and to write. Tho opening of a special class in Auckland has enabled a number of chil dren to receive their education while living at home' instead of having to leave their parents. There are four semi-deaf children on the roll, from 12 to 15 years old, who are now receiving the care and attention that can only be bestowed by tK 0 direct personal interest of the teacher. They attend each day from 9 until 3 o'clock, and are helped and encouraged by ono who understands thoir needs in a way none but a special instructor could do. All these children formerly attended the public schools ; it was impossible for them to progress at the same pace as their more fortunate companions, aud they came to be considered mentally backward, whereas their progress at tho special school Ims proved them to bo quite normal save for the drawback of deficient hearing, A Cure lor Stammering. The number of children who are being cured_ of_ the habit of stammering is 13; it is not always an easy matter to correct this defect, some cases taking much longer than others. Defective speaking was stated by Miss Clare to bo a much easier matter to remedy. "The trouble with some of tho children is simply that their parents have let them talk: " baby talk " too long, and have eneouraged them in it, in some instances, until the littlo ones cannot express themselves in ordinary speech. When they come to be eight or ten years of age, " baby talk" becomes ridiculous, and %n the parents do not know what to do to cure it. Wo train the children to talk very slowly and carefully, and to think of each -word before they 6ay it aloud, and, by degrees, establish a new. form of correct speech that in time comes to be a habit. Some cases of defective speaking are much harder to euro than others, but parents can jrelp a great deal if they wish by carrying on the work in the same way _ when the children return home. Nothing but constant practice can cure them." Even while Miss Clare was speaking, a littlo boy, _ six years of age, ran into the roOm crying, bitterly, and holding out a bleeding finger. The" teacher took him in her arms, wrapped up the finger, and dried his tears, and then asked him what had happened. But the roplv was only a strange, unintelligible babble, of which the teacher herself could make nothing, and it was not until a little deaf boy entered the room'that it was discovered the small sufferer had rashly placed his hand into tho inner workings of tho deaf boy's trolley while it was in motion. The little incident made it very evident that only by unlimited sympathy and' patience could the 'needs of the children be met, and the small pupils encmrraped to overcomo their disabilities. The children who aro being cured of defective speech attend classes every day, spending the time in lip practice; stammering children attend for one hour every second afternoon, their school education being carried on in the usual way. Lip Heading for Adults. Lip reading classes for adults are held in the evenings, and are attended/ by 12 men and women, one or two of whom aro stone deaf, and the others gradually going deaf. They arei making excellent progress, however, and the classes have undoubtedly opened up a new and much happier prospect for them, Lip reading is naturally much easier to learn bofore hearing is entirely gone, and once the positions are thoroughly understood it is merely a question of patience and practice before it is possible for deaf people to join in ordinary conversation in a way which would otherwise be a hopeless impossibility. The examination of school children by the Education Board's medical officers revealed some time ago the great need which existed for a special school for sub-normal children, and although the work so far has been confined to the Auckland schools, there is doubtless room for considerable extension of the good work now being dono. Similar schools have also been successfully established at Wellington and Dunedin. ' Tho accommodation at the Auckland special classes is already fully taken up, and no more semi-deaf children can be admitted unless some already attending come less often. The cases are reported to Miss Clare by tho medical officers, and she then notifies the parents, and requests them to attend the -school with the children. In the great majority of cases, tho request is most eagerly complied with, and very few parents have failed to avail themselves of the opportunity of so greatly benefiting their little ones.