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Idiots And Institutions For Their Training

Creator: Linus P. Brockett (author)
Date: 1855
Publication: American Journal of Education
Source: Available at selected libraries

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The mode of treatment adopted was this: he was bathed daily in cold water; his limbs were rubbed; he was dragged about in the open air, in a little wagon, by the other boys; his muscles were exercised; he was made to grasp with his hands, and gradually to raise himself up by them; he was held up and made to bear a little weight on his lower limbs; then a little more, until, at last, to his great de-light, he was able to go about alone, by holding on the wall, or to one's finger; even to go up stairs, by clinging to the balusters. Du-ring the second year he has continued to improve, He is now decent in all his habits, and tidy in his appearance; his countenance is bright and pleasing; he can sit at the table and feed himself with knife and fork; and though he does not venture to go alone, his limbs not being quite strong enough, he can almost do it, and he walks about by hold-ing on to one's finger; all his senses have improved greatly, and he is so changed, generally, that he could hardly be recognized as the same being who, two years ago, incapable of sitting at a desk, used to lie upon a mattress in the school-room."

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Mr. James B. Richards, of Germantown, gives the following account of the remarkable improvement of a boy under his training.

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"A case of congenital idiocy -- one of the most hopeless and degraded creatures that could be found; presenting to the bodily eye extremely feeble claims to being called a human being. He had not learned to creep, nor had he even strength sufficient to roll himself upon the floor when laid upon it. Owing to a paralysis of the lower limbs, they were insensible to pain. Mastication was, with him en-tirely out of the question. His mother told me that she used to feed him almost exclusively on milk, purchasing for him, as she said, a gal-lon per day. Although five and a half years of age, he had not appar-ently any more knowledge of things, their names and uses, than a new born infant.

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This being the lowest case that could be found, to test the feasibility of the plan to develop and educate idiotic and imbecile children, it was thought best to undertake his training, although it seemed more like a work of creation than of education. The most sanguine friends of the cause threw discouragements in the way. Yet by a patient and persevering system of well directed effort, he has been so far developed that, at the present time, he walks about the house or yard without any assistance; takes care of himself; attends to his own immediate wants; sits at the table with the family, and feeds himself as well as children ordinarily do; talks perfectly well, and is acquainted with the things around him. In short, he has learned to read, and does not differ in his habits from a boy four years of age, unless it be that he is more sluggish in his movements."

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A recent visitor at the New York Asylum for Idiots, narrates the following cases:

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'Nattie and Willie, now 11 and 12 years of age, were taken from the Idiot house on Randall's Island, by Dr. Wilbur, in Dec., 1851. Their appearance, as described by persons who saw them at that time, must have been painful and disgusting in the extreme. Both had been idiots from birth, both were partially paralyzed, and both entirely dumb, and not capable of understanding more than a dozen words. So hopeless was their condition that the physician at Ran-dall's Island, who was absent when Dr. Wilbur selected them, on his return, wrote to Dr. W., expressing his regret at his selection, as he feared that it would only bring disgrace upon the effort to instruct idiots, to attempt the instruction of those who were so evidently be-yond the reach of improvement..

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Both now exhibit as much intelligence as ordinary children of their age. Neither speaks very fluently, in consequence of some paralysis still existing, but both are improving rapidly in this respect. Both write well on the blackboard. In thorough knowledge of Grammar and Geography, very few children, of their age, are their equals. In a very severe and protracted examination in Geography, embracing minute details in regard to the topography of most of the countries on the globe, and many particulars in regard to physical Geography, and drawing maps upon the blackboard, neither they nor the other mem-bers of a class of six or seven missed a single question. In Gram-mar, both supplied adjectives, nouns, verbs, or adverbs, to given verbs and nouns, with remarkable promptness and to an extent which would have severely tasked my vocabulary. In Arithmetic, both exhibited perfect familiarity with the ground rules, and Nattie gave at once, any and all multiples of numbers as high as 132, and added, multi-plied, and divided fractions with great readiness.

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In Bible History, they related, partly in pantomime, but in a most graphic way, any required Bible incident. The extremely amiable and affectionate manners of these two interesting children, and the intense activity of their newly developed intellects, render them par-ticularly attractive to the visitor.

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