FEEBLE-MINDED CHILDREN

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2893, 4 October 1916, Page 3

FEEBLE-MINDED CHILDREN

THE SPECIAL SCHOOL AT

RICHMOND '

ABOUT' TO BE OPENED

The new school for feeble-minded girls, situated at. Richmond,'near Nelson, is j:ow approaching completion. The parents of girls who aro to bo admitted to the institution, havo been instructed to prepare -the' children for transfer to the control of the Education Department, and probably the first batch of thirty girls will be admitted within the next fortnight. Tho school provides accommodation for about 65 girls ill all, and air tho inmates liavo already been selected from among the children s whose names havo been recorded on the books of tho Department. A saleotion has had to be made, and tho offioers of tho Department havo been guided as far as possible by the-possibilities of improvement iu individual cases. It is important that the institution should receive the children who , havo tho best cliance of profiting by the special instruction that will bo given. The provision made for feoblo-mindcd children by the State has been recognised for many years to' be inadequate. 11l .fact, many of tho children, havo received; no expert treatment at all. They "have been incapablo of benefiting by the instruction given in the ordinary schools, and they have advanced in years without receiving any special "attention, until they havo passed the period when assistance could bo given them with any certainty of benefit. The' school for feeble-minded boys at Oteka-ike, in North Otago, represented the first attempt of the Jseiv Zealand Government to deal with a problem that has received a great deal of attention in some other countries. That school now contains nioro than sixty boys, but it has not yet been fully organised, and the construction of the additional buildings required tp provide for an increased number of pupils and to permit' of proper classification, has proceeded very slowly.

The Richmond School, like the Otekaike School, is intended to deal~only with children who are capable of bbing trained and educated in some degree,. Young people who are more severely afflicted are handled Jjy the Mental Hospitals Department. The institution is modern in design and pleasantly situated in _a block , of land that',niay be..usedlin-rconnectaon--with the education of,"the girlsr'who.aro to -be' received there. But the Education-De-partment has encountered difficulties in the provision of an expert staff. Men and women competent to undertake work of the kind., required are few in number, and the demand for them is great in the older countries. This matter has received the attention of the'-Minister of Education (the Hon. J. A. Han ail) during the, last year, and there ( is no intention that either Richmond or Otekaike shall become a more place of detention. .The. work of the Otekaike school has already proved its; value, in spite of adverse conditions. The boys are taught handwork of, various kinds, the Kuidinf; idea being the development of habits of . useful ihdustry and.' thus, 'the "gradualstrengthening .• of dull minds.., _The' inmates 'are- taught bas-ket-making; swo'od-cnrvirig, 1 -mat-making, etc., and • ihe.v do- a considerable amount of gardening and farm work. Tho course of instruction at Richmond will bo varied to suit, the lieeds of the teirls, who will be of various.ages. The Department .lias been compiling'a list of feeble-minded girls for 'sdnia.''.tirrip past, and "the -number of" these "young people is larger ,than is-generally imagined. ;