THE PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED CHILD

Chapter 21

THE PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED CHILD

The Chapter at a Glance

Adverse effect of disability.

The crippled child.

The visually handicapped child.

The auditory defective child.

The speech defective child.

Need for adequate educational facilities.

The physically handicapped children may manifest the symptoms of withdrawal from the realities of life and the neurotic manifest­ations ....... the personality may be modified along definitely anti-social lines. Incorrigibility, delinquency, and even crimi­nality may be the end-results of interference with the normal development of the ego instinct of the personality."

            A successful handling of the physically handicapped child necessitates knowledge of the defect, the dynamics of its effect on the child, the consequent maladjustment, if any, and the child's reaction to it.

            Scientific interest in the physically handicapped child is of very recent origin. It is only a few years back that the psycho­logists and educationists embarked upon the task of a systematic understanding and regular treatment of physically handicapped children.

Scheme of the Chapter

            The present chapter has been devoted to a discussion of the various categories of physically handicapped children. It has been divided into the following four sections, each dealing with one type of physically handicapped child:--

            Section One   : deals with the crippled child.

            Section Two   : discusses the visually handicapped child.

            Section Three: studies the auditory handicapped child.

             Section Four: focuses on the speech defective child.

Section One: The Crippled Child

            A crippled child is one who suffers from a physical defect or deformity. This may be congenital or acquired. The defect involves a condition in the muscles, bones or joints which seriously impairs their normal functioning.

Causes and Prevention

            A child may be crippled by birth injuries and accidents. Diseases like infantile paralysis, osteomylitis, cerebral palsy or rickets are also responsible for this defect.

            The prevention and treatment of this defect is rather a difficult and complicated affair. It involves co-operation between many persons. General preventive measures are: the propaga­tion amongst the affected families and the general public of the principles of hygienic living, a campaign for better, clearer and purer food and a drive against dirt and filth. Greater care of maternity cases is another important preventive measure. When the defect is discovered, adequate medical and surgical treatment should never be delayed.

            Orthopedic surgery and physiotherapy have contributed immensely towards the prevention and treatment of crippled conditions.

Education of the Crippled Child

            It is needless to point out that a crippled child needs to be placed in a special institution exclusively meant for the education and welfare of such children.

Aim of Education

            It must be remembered that a crippled child usually differs from others in one respect only, i.e. the physical. He is otherwise normal.  It is impossible for him to be as active physically as normally healthy children. But we must understand that he, too, has the same desires and ambitions as those of the normal child. He must, therefore, be provided with all the necessary educational opportunities which are suited to his capacity.

            An educational program for crippled children must recognize their exceptional physical condition. It must realize that they need special attention, care and guidance. A crippled child is usually retarded educationally mainly because of his physical handicap. It is, therefore, highly desirable that such curriculum is chalked out for him as does not cause any strain on his limited physical capacity.

A Comprehensive Program

            An ideal program for the education of crippled children should be comprehensive and all-inclusive. Such an educational program should emphasize the following aspects:—

 (1)   The usual academic work appropriate for and adapted to their handicapped physical condition.

(2)       Emotional adjustment concentrating on development of initiative        and self-reliance, and the removal of feelings of inferiority.

(3)       Physical reconstruction aiming at the development of an attitude         of determination to overcome the defect and increase physical efficiency.

(4)       Medical and surgical care either at the school or at a specialized wing of the hospital.

Some Educational Problems

            The problems encountered in the education of the crippled child are mostly the same as those met within any other field of special education; that is, the need for better accommodation for the school, adequate educational apparatus, specially trained staff, etc.

            An institution for crippled children must also arrange for expert medical and physical treatment of the children.

Not to be Abandoned

            A crippled child is not to be abandoned nor cast aside in indifference, careless or negligence. If suitably educated and properly looked after he becomes a self-sufficient adult and hence no more burden on his family or the state.

Section Two:   The Visually Handicapped Child

            Another type of exceptionally handicapped individual need­ing special care and guidance is the visually defective child.

            Broadly speaking such children could be divided into the following two groups:—

            (1)   Totally blind children, and

            (2)   Partially blind or partially seeing children.

            The names of these two groups are quite self-explanatory. The technical definition of a blind person according to Snellen chart is: “one who is with vision of less than 20/200 in better eye after correction.” In ordinary language this means total inability to see. Partial blindness is half way between blindness and normal vision.

Causes and Prevention of Visual Defects

             An adequate knowledge of the causes of visual defects, and the main preventive measures against them, can be extremely helpful for a teacher of the visually handicapped children.

            Some of the main causes and prominent preventive measures are as follow.

Main Causative Factor

            The chief cause of blindness is disease. Common diseases causing defective vision are small- pox, tumors, measles, meningitis, trachoma, scarlet fever, typhoid, etc.

            Hereditary conditions and accidents are also significant causative factors of blindness and defective vision. Some of the accidental causes of blindness among children are as follows:-

            (1)       Automobile and traffic accidents.

            (2)       Explosion.

            (3)       Burns.

            (4)       Eye injuries received from pointed toys, sharp stick,       barbed wires, pencils, etc   

            (5)       Toxic matters, lye solution and other irritants and injurious chemicals.

Some Preventive Measures

            Some effective measures to be adopted for the prevention of partial or total blindness amongst children are:--

 (1)      Widespread publicity especially among the parents and teachers regarding the health of the eye. 

 (2)   Better care of infants in general and in particular withholding them from situations causing damage to the vision.

(3)       Provision of improved lighting conditions at home and especially        in school.

(4)       Regular physical examination at school with special emphasis on         a thorough exami- nation of the vision.

Psychology of the Visually Defective Child

            A blind child lives in perpetual darkness. Such a mode of living must be highly unpleasant, taxing, irritating and frus­trating for him. It is liable to drive the blind child into a world of unreality and phantasm. In retreating into a make-believe world of his own, the blind child might find some compensation for his real or imaginary failures.

Mental Structure of the Blind Child

            The main characteristics of a blind child are as follows:—

(1)       Diminished Vigor: Lack of proper vision tends to make him    less mobile and less vigorous than the see­ing child.

(2)       Lack of Initiative: It is commonly due to emotional blocking and inferiority feelings usually associated with his defective vision than directly to his physical disability.

(3)       Feeling of Inferiority: This results in compensatory behavior,            introversion, etc.

(4)       Excessive Worry: A blind child worries a lot about his present and future.

(5)       Retreat into Phantasm: He is more prone to seek in phantasm what he finds difficult to achieve in reality.

Effect of Blindness on Personality

            Blindness affects the personality of the child in the following specific ways:—

(1)   Inhibition of Motor Activity: It inhibits his normal physical activities. His motor behavior is restricted very considerably.

(2)   Thwarting of Desires: It thwarts the fulfillment of most of his natural urges, wishes and desires.

(3)   Increased Nervous and Physical Strain: Restricted movement, greater exertion and diminished results, thwarting of desires, etc. may cause increased nervous and physical strain.

(4)       Social Inadequacy: The blind child feels that he is a different and an exceptional member of the group. This causes an acute sense of social inadequacy.

            Such adverse factors lead to the origination of serious maladjustments in the personality of the blind child. Con­sequently, he needs to be trained to accept his disability. He requires such specialized training and education as is appropriate to his physical capacity. Such an education is bound to decrease his frustration and add to his happiness. It is, thus, most likely to turn him into a cheerful and adjusted member of society.

Pre-School Care of Blind Children

            Most of the personality maladjustments of the blind child are due to defective training at home. Some of the defective parental attitudes are: ignorance, indifference, rejection, etc. on one extreme and pampering, over-solicitude, etc. on the other. Brock*, for instance, found that, most of the personality malad­justments in blind children could be avoided if the parents used more insight into the problems of rearing them.

Education of the Blind Child

            The only difference between the blind child and the seeing child is that the former is deprived of visual ability which results in considerable educational retardation for him. Owing to their visual handicap and educational backwardness, blind children should be sent to special institutions exclusively meant for their training, education and guidance.

            At such institutions they should be helped to build up a con­ception of the world, by use of the remaining unimpaired senses e.g., touch, hearing, speech, etc. Hayes* found that blind children and adults do surprising things with the help of hearing, smell and touch.

Principles and Methods of Education

            The past emphasis in the education of blind children was exclusively vocational. Undue importance was attached to training them in cabinet-making, rug-weaving, basket-making, etc. The modern age has, however, realized that no discrimina­tion should be maintained between the educational facilities extended to blind and seeing children. Equal educational opportunities, academic as well as vocational, need to be ex­tended to blind children too.

            With the help of special apparatus invented by Louis Braille and known as the Braille Material, blind children can be taught reading and writing, elementary arithmetic, geography and a number of other school subjects. Contemporary research sug­gests that there is a considerable similarity between the psycho­logy of Braille reading and normal reading.

            Type-writing and a number of other special skills can also be taught to the blind through the same method.

The Role of Physical Education

            Physical education should also be properly organized for blind children, in order to counteract the sedentary tendencies which are incidental to blindness. To some extent the seden­tary habits of blind children are due to over solicitous parents who prevent their children from normal physical activities fear­ing lest they should hurt themselves.

            An educational institution for blind children should endeavor to counteract these tendencies by providing regular, ample and properly supervised recreational, sporting and gymnastic activities at the institution.

Education of the Partially Blind Child

            From the educational point of view, partially blind children are those who "after everything possible has been done for them, have too little vision to make use of the ordinary school equip­ment but too much to benefit by the education for blind children."*

            Most of the partially blind children need not be sent to the special institutions for the blind. They can be educated at the schools for the average children. All that a teacher has to do is to keep the following constantly in mind when there are some partially blind children in his class:—

            (1) Recognition of the sightedness.

            (2) Prevention of blindness.

            (3) Avoidance of frustration.

            (4) Return to regular classes.

(1)   Recognition of the Sightedness: The teacher must recognize that the partially seeing child is not blind. Unlike the blind he possesses vision which is only somewhat defective.

(2)   Prevention of Blindness: The child must not be pushed too much to keep pace with the class work, especially the standard of reading. He should rather be treated leniently and helped to overcome his visual handicap, instead of allowing it develop into blindness by care­lessness or visual over work. He should also be trained to develop healthy habits and get the best use of his eyes.

(3)   Avoidance of Frustration: Many a weak-sighted child fails to keep abreast with the class of normal sighted children. Failures might cause embarrassment …………(to be completed)

The Auditory Defective Child

Causes of Auditory Defects

            Deafness is either congenital or acquired. Congenital deaf­ness exists from birth and is more common. A congenitally deaf child never acquires speech and language in the normal manner, i.e., through learning by hearing and imitating the heard speech.

            Acquired deafness is easier to diagnose. Accidents cause it. Diseases like meningitis, measles, scarlet fever, small-pox, influenza, etc., are prominent causes of congenital deafness.

Some Preventive Measures

            Some of the preventive measures that have been commonly suggested are:—

            (1) Parental education.

            (2) Medical examination.

            (3) Early treatment.

            (4) Birth control of the congenitally deaf.

(1) Parental Education: Parents should be equipped with the necessary information regarding the after effects of children's diseases and proper care of their ears especially during early infancy.

(2) Medical Examinations: Frequent medical check-ups should be arranged at the school. Such examinations will spot out children with deafness or semi-deafness.

(3) Early Treatment: It has been found that timely treat­ment of deafness cures the disability considerably. Thus, for instance, Newhart* thinks that 80% of all cases of impaired hearing can be prevented or arrested if medical attention is given early enough.

(4) Birth Control of the Congenital Deaf: About 70% of all deafness is congenital. If a family history abounds in con­genitally deaf persons, adequate measures should be adopted to enforce birth control. Such steps will prevent further propaga­tion of the auditory handicapped.

Psychology of the Auditory Defective Child

            Deaf or hard of hearing children are handicapped in several ways. They are debarred from several pleasures of life for which the normal functioning of the ear is a prerequisite. Thus they are deprived from the full enjoyment of movies, the theatre, music lectures and the pleasures of every-day free vocal interconnection.

Mental Ability

            An auditory defect is liable to cause strain to the handi­capped child. It also causes universal mental and muscular fatigue. The deaf child learns to master language later than the hearing child. Besides, he has to learn it in a very laborious manner. In this and in several other ways an obstacle is put in the way of his intellectual development.

            Several studies have been conducted on the intelligence and the learning ability of deaf and hard of hearing children. Most of the intelligence test results reveal that if the element of language is eliminated, the auditory handicapped child fairs almost as well as the hearing child.

            A clinical study gives the following percentages of hearing and deaf children with various levels of mental development

Mental Development of the Deaf and Hearing Children

	Stage of Mental Development	Percentage of Deaf Children	Percentage of Hearing children
1	Near Genius	2.7	5.4
2	Very Superior	13.0	15.2
3	Superior	11.5	12.4
4	Normal  or Average	32.2	35.8
5	Dull	13.0	13.0
6	Borderline	15.2	11.2
7	Feeble minded	12.4	7.0

           

        It is evident from the foregoing table that the differences between the two groups are not striking.

Social Maladjustment of Auditory Handicapped Children

            The deaf child has to face huge social adjustment problems. His social experiences are less rich than those of the hearing child. He understands others less and is usually less understood. His relations with other people are liable to be affected very adversely on account of this factor. He is, therefore, more liable to social maladjustment than the child with normal hear­ing. Most studies have pictured the deaf as slightly more introvert than the hearing child, less dominant, less self-assertive and less well-adjusted on the whole.

            Corey* discovered a correlation between deafness and juve­nile delinquency. "Defective hearing in children has an important bearing on juvenile delinquency", he tells us.* "This is especially true if the disability has existed from early age and if it is unrecognized by parents and teachers.

The Education of Auditory Defective Children

            The education of deaf children should aim at eliminating or minimizing their defect, besides imparting them practical and academic instruction. This could be done by giving them regular hearing exercises through electric apparatus, keeping them in association with hearing children and encouraging them to understand spoken words.

            Some significant problems and aspects of their education will now be briefly discussed.

(1) Methods of Teaching: The following three principal methods have been employed for the teaching of deaf children:—

           (a) The Manual Method: According to this method symbolic hand gestures and finger

              spelling are used for communication. This method thus utilizes natural signs or gestures

             and gross bodily move­ments to express ideas.

            (b) The Oral Method: It teaches the deaf to speak and read by           means of lip   

             movement. It bases com­munication upon the ability to read speech.

            (c) The Combined Method: Most of the institutions for the education of deaf children use

            this method which combines both the methods, the manual and the oral.

(2) The Specialized Apparatus: Modern educational technology has invented several amplifying instruments for the education of deaf and hard of hearing children. These instruments have    surprisingly facilitated hearing and learning processes of deaf children. It has been found that the speaking vocabularies of deaf children improve considerably   with   the   use   of   amplifiers   and   other electrical hearing aids.

(3) Speech Training: The most difficult task that faces a teacher or an institution for such children is obviously that of teaching speech and speech reading. The progress is usually very slow.    Only teachers with specialized training and experience in this art can accom­plish this difficult task with auditory defective children.

(4) Vocational Training: Besides other formal education, suitable vocational training is also helpful for such children. Groht* believes that auditory handicapped children would prove better and more successful workers in industry if they were given appropriate vocational education coupled with language training at their educational institutions.

(5) Education of the Hard of Hearing Child: The hard of hearing children need not necessarily be sent to special institutions for the deaf children.   Nevertheless, they need specialized training and guidance.

            An educational and remedial program for such children should emphasize the following:—

 (a)      Early detection of the defect.

(b)       Careful medical examination and diagnosis by an expert Otologist and proper treatment of the defect.

(c)       Carefully planned teaching of speech reading and speech education along with other necessary instruction at the school.

            These measures are likely to improve the hearing efficiency of hard of hearing children. Many such children can thus be saved from developing full-fledged deafness.

The Teachers' Training Problems

            Training the teachers for the education of auditory handicapped children is a very laborious affair. Such a program must be comprehensive enough to include various aspects of training which are indispensable for the education of children with hearing disabilities.

The Training Program

           The White House Conference* suggests the inclusion of the following courses in a teachers' training program:—

            (1)       Principles of the formation and development of speech and rhythm for the deaf and training of residual hearing.

            (2)       Observation, participation and practice teaching of deaf children.

            (3)       Methods of teaching language and reading to the deaf.

            (4)       Study of the principles of teaching hard of hearing children, together with study

                         of the anatomy and hygiene of the ear.

            (5)       Industrial arts for handicapped children.

            (6)       Speech improvement and correction.

             (7)      Mental hygiene.

Other Qualities of the Teacher

            Experience of teaching normal children is sufficiently help­ful for this purpose too. The more essential equipment of such a teacher, however, is the specialized training for the teaching of auditory handicapped children.

            Natural aptitude for this type of special education is another very appreciable quality in such a teacher.

Special Education of Auditory Defectives

            Incidence of auditory defects is considerable in our popula­tion. Every school gets a fairly considerable number of children who are either deaf or hard of hearing.

            Ignoring or neglecting such children is replete with danger­ous consequences. The doors to unhappiness, maladjustment, truancy, delinquency and immorality are naturally flung open to a child who feels utterly incapable of making out what is going on around him.

            Proper training and education of such children is obviously needed in the interests of the individual child as well as of the larger interests of the state.

Section Four:   The Speech Defective Child

            Speech ability is one of the prominent social standards of judging a person. Any irregularity or defect in speech is liable to affect the entire life of the individual. A child with speech defects is usually ridiculed by his play-mates. Adults, too, are more often amused rather than sympathetic and understand­ing towards the speech defective. It is needless to emphasize that such undesirable attitudes are extremely embarrassing and frustrating for the handicapped child.

            Speech defectives should be attended to during early infancy. A resolute attempt at treatment should be made as soon as a child shows any symptoms of developing a speech defect.

A Lay Standard of Diagnosis       

Generally speaking a child is said to have normal or good speech when he speaks without drawing ridicule or adverse attention of others. Conversely, a child is defective in speech if he is abnormally conspicuous owing to some wide deviation from the accustomed mode of utterance. Though not a very scientific criterion, such a lay standard is extremely helpful in spotting out a speech defective child.

Types, Causes and Cures

            Some of the common forms of speech defect, their causes and methods of treatment are now briefly examined.

(1) Mutism: This is a very severe speech disorder. One of the common causes of mutism is deafness. A deaf child does not hear speech, therefore he does not speak. Deaf mute children can be cured by teaching them articulated speech through touch and sight.

(2) Hardness of Hearing: Children who are hard of hearing show considerable improvement by acoustic training. Lip reading and hearing aids also help them considerably.

(3) Audimutism: This type of speech defect consists in lack of speech in those children who are normal in hearing. Jellinek*mentions the following causes any one of which might be responsible for audimutism:—

            (a)       Sub-normal intelligence.

            (b)       Malformation of the mouth and of the articulating         organs (palatoschisis, etc.).

            (c)       Extreme motor awkwardness.

            (d)       Extenuating diseases.

            (e)       Retardation in general development.

            (f)        Psychical factors.

            The general treatment of audimutism consists in phonetic instruction with controlled play and educational guidance.

(4) Aphasia: This is loss of speech after injury to the brain. Aphasia is not common among children.

 (5) Retarded or Delayed Speech Development: The same causative factors as are operative in audimutism are more or less responsible for this speech defect.

            Several abnormal phenomena are associated with retarded speech, e.g.: —

(a) Dyslexia, which is defective articulation.

(b) Paragrammatism, which is defective use of grammar and syntax.

            Children suffer from speech guidance. Such troubles need early speech guidance.

(6) Abnormal Nasalization: An excess of nasal color (hyperrhinolalia) or insufficient nasal resonance (hyporhinolalia) causes a disagreeable timbre in the voice. In excessive cases, such a defect might even affect the intelligibility of speech.

            The treatment consists in demonstrating correct sound formation, breathing exercise and in prosthesis (obturator).

(7) Dysarthrias: Often called "spastic speech" is caused by central motor disturbances of the speech muscles. Treatment aims at giving gymnastic exercises to the articulating organs and the respira­tory apparatus.

(8) Vocal Disorders: Hoarseness is the usual form in which vocal disorders frequently appear during childhood. Shouting, screaming and other abusive use of voice may cause hoarseness. Breathing exercises and measures aiming at the relaxation of vocal tension have been found to be useful in restoring normal vocal function­ing.

            Parents and teachers must remember that early detection and treatment of such minor vocal disorder is far better than letting them go unnoticed and develop into serious defects in later years.

(9) Stuttering: Stuttering is one of the most common and serious speech disorders of childhood. It is often more due to psychological than to physiological factors. Stutterers "suffer from a definite and specific emotional difficulty," says Blanton. This difficulty prevents them from making a satisfactory adjustment to play­mates, school work and the world in general. The usual pattern of trouble with a stuttering child is that his thoughts run more quickly than his tongue. The words he needs to express his ideas come too slowly.

            If neglected or adversely criticized or ridiculed the stutterer may become abnormally speech conscious. It may open up doors to serious maladjustment and even neurosis.

Treatment of Stuttering

            Adequate educational and psychological measures are need­ed to treat the stutterer. The proper treatment of the stutterer is the task of a psycho-analyst specializing in speech psycho-pathology. A sympathetic teacher, however, can also do a tremendous lot in this matter by helping the stuttering child to reduce his speech obstacles.

            The following measures have been suggested by English as a help for school teachers in taking appropriate action in this direction:—

            (a) Specialist advice.

            (b) Congenial social atmosphere.

             (c) Removal of emotional strain.

            (d) Training in adjustment.

(a) Specialist Advice: Parents should be persuaded to consult specialists on speech disorders for the treatment of their stuttering children.

(b) Congenial Social Atmosphere: The class-mates of the stutterer are apt to approach him with amazement, disgust, ridicule, etc. The stutterer, therefore, is liable to become more speech conscious and all the more embarrassed. Such a situation aggravates stuttering.

The stuttering child needs a congenial social atmosphere characterized by sympathy and understanding. The teacher must endeavor to create pleasant and healthy social situations in the class-room, using all the persuasive techniques at his disposal.

(c) Removal of Emotional Strain: The stutterer often suffers from emotional strain, stress and tensions. A teacher can lessen and even eliminate this emotional strain and tension by sympathy, understanding, and a pleasant and cheerful attitude towards the child, etc. By the successful removal of emotional strain, stuttering to a great extent can be cured in most of the cases.

(d) Training in Adjustment: Improved social adjustment also decreases the intensity of stuttering. A teacher should give the necessary training to the stutterer with a view to bettering his social adjustments in and out of the class.

Education of the Speech Defectives

            If properly handled the speech defective child can be made to respond to educational and remedial measures. Such a child needs regular attendance at specialized speech correction classes or separate institutions for speech defectives. If need be, he may be referred to an expert psycho-analyst or a speech patholo­gist.

Principles of Education and Guidance

            Some of the helpful principles mentioned by Heck* which may guide the teacher of the speech defective, are as follows:—

(1) Adequate motivation.

(2) Avoidance of over-emphasis on handicap.

(3) Careful diagnosis.

(4) Suitable speech exercises.

(5) Elimination of worry.

(6) Avoidance of embarrassment.

(1) Adequate Motivation: The teacher should provide adequate motivation for improving speech. Motivation is significantly helpful for a speech defective child. The child must be moved to realize the urgency and necessity of correcting his speech. The more he realizes this, the more effort will he put in the instructional exercises prescribed for him. Without adequate motivation, speech exercises are liable to become mere routine drill.

(2) Avoidance of Over-Emphasis on Handicap: The teacher should avoid over-emphasizing the magnitude of the defect. Once the child feels discouraged or loses confidence in his ability to overcome his handicap the task of speech correction becomes doubly difficult, for the teacher as well as the taught.

(3) Careful Diagnosis: Remedial and educational measures based on hasty diagnosis should be avoided. Often the teacher forms a wrong impression of the exact nature and cause of the speech trouble. Consequently, he adopts the correspondingly wrong and inadequate measures. Being inaccurate, such mea­sures are liable to aggravate rather than alleviate the defect of the child.

            Careful diagnosis, therefore, is an indispensable step to­wards adopting a suitable treatment program for the speech defective.

(4) Suitable Speech Exercises: Sufficient speech exercises should be given to the handicapped child. Only such speech exercises should be prescribed for a child as are appropriate for the elimination of the particular type of speech defect he suffers from. The teacher must also demonstrate both right and wrong sounds and point out the difference between them.

(5) Elimination of Worry: Speech defects, especially stuttering and stammering, are mostly caused and aggravated by emotional factors like worry, embarrassment, anxiety, etc. The teacher should, therefore, endeavor to provide such an emotional environment for the child in the class-room as is cheer­ful, congenial and healthy. It should be free from all possible elements causing worry, anxiety, tension, frustration, etc.

(6) Avoidance of Embarrassment: The speech defective child should be kept away from all sorts of situations in the class-room which lead to embarrassment. A class of normal and correctly speaking children is most liable to make a stutter­ing or stammering child a butt of their jokes. Such an embar­rassing situation is liable to intensify his handicap. A teacher should, therefore, persuade the class to be specially humane, understanding and sympathetic towards their speech defective class-mates.

Placement of the Speech Defectives

            Opinions differ as to the suitability of placing speech defec­tives. He can be placed (i) in a class for normal children, (ii) in a special class for speech defectives in a regular school or (iii)

in an entirely separate institution exclusively meant for speech defectives.

            This matter cannot be decided in isolation from a number of other significant factors. The nature of the defect, for example, determines the type of placement required by a speech defective. Children with very mild speech difficulties may be sent to regular schools where occasional special speech correc­tion lessons could be arranged for them while keeping them in the same class along with other children. Should the defects be somewhat serious in nature, regular special classes for speech correction should be organized. More seriously handicapped speech defective children, however, need to be sent to separate institutions exclusively specializing in their treatment and education.

            If specialized institutions for serious speech defectives are not available, arrangements for special classes in regular schools would do. In any case, care should be taken that normal children don't develop a habit of looking at speech defectives as "abnormal," "queer," "funny," "odd men out," etc., type of children.

Qualification and Training of Teachers

            In addition to the normal academic requirements, a teacher of speech defective children must have some additional qualifica­tions. Undergoing specialized practical training for teaching of this type is indispensable.

            Rogers* considers the following as desirable fields of train­ing for a teacher of the speech defectives:—

            (1) Correction of speech disorders.

            (2) Speech pathology.

            (3) Advanced correction of speech disorders.

            (4) Introduction to phonetics.

            (5) Psychology of speech.

            A teacher of speech defectives should obviously have a working knowledge of the mechanism and use of the modern apparatuses employed for the education of such children.

            Some Desirable Traits: Certain desirable traits in the per­sonality of the teacher also prove immensely helpful for the speech defective pupils. Some of the traits are: patience, calm­ness and poise, sense of humor, originality, cheerfulness and emo­tional adjustment.

In order to meet the growing demand of adequately trained personnel, teachers' training institutions, exclusively meant for the training of such teachers, should be opened in important towns.

Need for Adequate Educational Facilities

            Speech defective children need careful and special attention. If ignored or ridiculed they are liable to feel miserable. They might then develop into serious problems.

            As the speech defects are mostly psychogenic (rather emotiogenic) their prevention and treatment should, therefore, be predominantly psychological and educational.

            Adequate attention and suitable education in early years enable many a speech defective child to overcome his handicap and to improve is personal and social efficiency. The development of a methodical, a systematic programmer of speech correction and liberal provision of adequate educational facilities for such an important category of exceptional children should, therefore figure as an integral part of any democratic system of education anywhere.