DEAF CHILDREN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 July 1921, Page 6

DEAF CHILDREN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

The Education Department asks us to publish the. following:— Section 129.—“ 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, feebleminded, or epileptic child, and the householder in whose house any r 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 one pound, or in the case of a second or subsequent offence, whether relative to the same or another child, not exceeding five pounds.” 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 it is stated that the child speaks in a whispering undertone, there is strong evidence that she has been deaf for a considerable time. Not withstanding this no notification of the elflid’s condition reached the Department, until recently.

In referring to the above case the Director of the School for Deaf, Sumner, says:—“l have repeatedly pointed out 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 lip-reading 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-read-ing to social intercourse. Educationally this child lias 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 his reason alone the case should have been reported earlier, when she would have been better fitted to profit by the instruction given here, a half-deaf person learning lip-reading rnjirh 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 in a year or less, and 'that in cases where children become completely deaf later than this the spech rapidly deteriorates even if not completely lost.”

“We have had so many eases of a similar character that I think it time some special action or effort were taken to prevent their recurrence.”