EDUCATION OF THE DEAF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20465, 17 January 1930, Page 14

EDUCATION OF THE DEAF.

Sir, —In connection with the education of the deaf -in Auckland, discussed in "Parent's" letter, published in the Hebald of January 15, there seems to be already a proposal to start a school for the deaf in this city. Perhaps the vital importance of environment and external conditions in the teaching of the deaf is hardly realised. For the sake of the ' future of the children concerned it is de* sirable that the school should be well and suitably, equipped for the purpose. Of all physical disabilities deafness is the most serious from the educational point of view. At the same time a sound education can revolutionise the outlook and N

possibilities of the deaf. It opens up to him the possibility of becoming an intelligent citizen, instead of growing up to be a "deaf and dumb" burden on the State. For dumbness is only the result of deafness. A normal hearing child achieves the biggest educational advance in .its life by the time it reaches five years of age—it acquires understanding and use of its mother tongue. It acquires it in a natural way by observation, attention, imitation and constant encouragement from its mother arid family. A deaf child has the same mental equipment, the same faculties for observation and imitation, but what it cannot hear it cannot imitate. It can never learn to distinguish people and things by name, simply because it cannot hear those names spoken. So the deaf child cannot pick up its own language. Uneducated h° is left isolated in a world of his own. His intellectual development is restricted practically to that of an 18-months-old baby. -He has no means of communication with, hi? own family, even apart from mere communication of his physical needs by gestures. While deaf"ness cannot be cured, education can step in to remedy the results. An extra sense cannot be pi-ovided, but the existing senses of touch and sight can be trained to do the work of the missing sense of hearing. The child's natural powers of observation can be concentrated on speech as it is seen on the lips, since he is deprived of speech sound, and thus a means of communication can be opened up. From this realisation of language, the child's faculty of imitation can be used and he cqn be trained to imitate the sounds as seen by -movements of lips and tongue; and to feel and realise sound and voice as vibration felt instead of as noise heard. Education rescues the deaf child from the isolation to which he was condemned in the days when a born deaf child grew up a "deaf mute." Provided he is normally intelligent there is no reason why he should not grow up to be a self-sup-capable citizen. E.M.A.