Symbols: The diffictdty of many children



2o8 The BacK^ward

in connecting the sound and look and mean-
ing of a symbol will be discussed and the
training described.
The following, therefore, is only a summary
of some of the successful devices:

Cutting out letters — to impress their shape
by bringing in the associations of the large
muscular movements used in cutting.
Lotto — to connect the look and sound of
numbers by having to search for them.
Writing letters and saying them at the
same time.
Doing steps to the alphabet.
Learning tunes with the alphabet printed
on the piano keys.
CHAPTER XV

TYPICAL BACKWARD CHILDREN

WHEN children are on the border-line of
mental defect without actually over-
stepping it, the teacher usually describes
them as backward because they are dull
and inert, or backward because they are
hard to discipline, or backward because they
have some physical ailment.
To make a more detailed classification,
children who give trouble in the schoolroom
show one or more of the following character-
istics :

I. Inherent functional brain

disturbance.
I < 2. Sense defect.
3. Under-nourishment, anaemia,

adenoids, etc.
X4 209



2IO



The BacK^ward CKild



1. Slow rate of development,
i. «., retardation, shown in
general sluggishness.
2. Intractability, either (a) nerv-
II < Otis and fitful, or (6) sullen

and obstinate.
3. Listlessness, . lack of applica-
tion, irregularity in lessons.
4. Hysteria.
The first group is outside the scope of
this book; the second, however, permits of
psychological analysis and training. And
in this chapter it is proposed to describe
children of these frequent types, to show how
their failings were diagnosed, and what
methods were used in training them.
