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STATE OF NEW YORK

SYRACUSE STATE SCHOOL FOR MENTAL DEFECTIVES

To the Legislature:

I transmit herewith the Seventy-first Annual Report of the Syracuse State School for Mental Defectives.

JOHN GRIMES,
President Board of Managers.

BOARD OF MANAGERS

RT. REV. JOHN GRIMES,
DR. WILLIAM A. KELLY,
ALAN R. MCFARLAND,
MRS. CHARLES E. CROUSE,
MRS. J. HENRY WALTERS,
MRS. A. H. DURSTON,
CLIFFORD H. SEARL.

Officers RT. REV. JOHN GRIMES President
MRS. CHARLES E. CROUSE Secretary

Executive Committee
RT. REV. JOHN GRIMES,
MRS. A. H. DURSTON,
ALAN R. McFARLAND.

OFFICERS
O. H. COBB, M.D. Superintendent and Treasurer
L. J. HUTCHINSON Steward
MISS MAGDALEN REINEHR General Supervising Matron

Medical Staff
GERTRUDE R. DAVIES, M.D. RESIDENT PHYSICIAN
WILLIAM J. KEEFE, D.D.S Dentist
J. H. KEVAND, M.D. Attending Ophthalmologist
M. G. BROWN, M.D. Attending Laryngologist
S. P. RICHMOND, M.D. Attending Dermatologist

Teachers Miss ELMA BROAD, Head Teacher,
MISS JULIA R. KENNEDY,
MRS. FLORA B. WILLSON,
MISS LUELLA A OAGLEY,
MISS BELLE D VAN ORNUM,
MISS N. ETHEL HALLETT,
MISS HAXEL G. BROOKS,
HIRAM E. FREDENBURGH,
MISS CATHERINE MOLIGNONI,
MISS ANNA MORROW,
MISS CLARA A. PIERCE,
MISS W. HELEN CASHORE,
MRS. LILIAN A. MONTAGUE,
MISS MARIAN G. CLARK,
MISS HAZEL A. TALLCOTT.

Administrative Assistants
MISS JULIA E. CHURCH Chief Clerk
MISS CICELEE M. HANNON Social Investigator
MISS HAZEL A. DERX Bookkeeper
MISS EDITH A. TAYLOR Stenographer
MISS MAUDE R. CASEY Junior Clerk
MISS MYRTLE M. LANDENBERGER Housekeeper-Dietitian
MRS. LETTIE J. BAHN Matron
MISS FLORA E. MARTIN Matron
MISS JESSIE F. MACANDIE Matron
MISS MARY McKINLEY Matron
MISS SARAH RYAN Head Attendant
MISS HARRIET H. RUMSEY Head Nurse
WILLIAM L. VIBBERT Supervisor
JOHN W. RUSSELL Head Attendant
C. W. BLANCHARD Storekeeper
WILSON J. RACE Engineer and Electrician
MR. AND MRS. JAMES MURPHY Fairmount

REPORT OF THE BOARD OF MANAGERS

To the Legislature of the State of New York:

As required by the organic law of this school the managers submit the seventy-first annual report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1921.

Circumstances over which the board had no control delayed until late fall the opening of the Teachers' Training Department, making it impossible to begin the regular year's course for teachers of special classes. However, evening classes covering the field of mental deficiency and instruction in the crafts were conducted by Misses Otis, Stratton and Ward, assisted by Professor Piez of the Oswego Normal School. These classes had an average attendance of twenty-five, including teachers and social workers of Syracuse and neighboring towns. In this department also girls received training preparatory to parole.

The property on Roberts avenue was leased primarily to meet the demand for increased accommodation for the feeble-minded and upon the recommendation of the State Commission for Mental Defectives. The Teachers' Training Department was the joint contribution of the Oswego Normal School and this institution to the enlightened program of the State Commission for Mental Defectives for adequate and economical provision for the 40,000 feeble-minded of the State. The capacity of the school was increased by seventy-five beds; the rental was less than the interest on the cost of new construction, and the per capita cost of maintenance, after providing equipment, practically the same as for the institution proper. This department was discontinued at the end of the fiscal year through lack of appropriation.

The addition of a social investigator to the staff made possible improvement and extension of parole work. The school was fortunate in securing the services of a competent and experienced woman so that the experiment thus far has proved a successful and at the end of the year ninety-two children are reporting regularly. The board recommends that a stenographer be provided to care for correspondence, to allow parole of more children.

For that class of inmates impossible to parole the board recommends changes in the Mental Deficiency Law to facilitate transfer to the custodial institutions at Bedford and Napanoch, and for those capable only of limited parole $5,000 for the establishment of farm and industrial colonies.

JOHN GRIMES,
ALTA PEASE-CROUSE,
JESSIE B. DURSTON,
A. R. McFARLAND,
CLIFFORD H. SEARL,
WILLIAM A. KELLY,
CLARA A. WALTERS.

REPORT OF THE TREASURER

To the Board of Managers:

I hereby submit a complete statement of the financial condition of the Syracuse State School for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1921:

Resources

Disbursements

Assets

SCHEDULE OF SPECIAL APPROPRIATIONS

O. H. COBB, Treasurer.

REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT

To the Board of Managers:

I submit herewith my report on the condition of the Syracuse State School for the year ending June 30, 1921:

ADMISSIONS AND DISCHARGES

ENROLLMENT

Per capita cost of maintenance, $385.08.

ADMINISTRATIVE

Conditions regarding employment and deliveries and prices of supplies improved toward the end of the year. The grade of new employees, particularly men, was noticeably higher. Abundant crops, milk supply and canned fruits and vegetables produced by the institution afforded a plentiful and varied diet throughout the year.

The health of the school has been excellent. Influenza appeared in a few mild and scattered cases. Two children and three uninoculated employees contracted typhoid. There were no epidemics. Children requiring endocrine treatment received special attention.

Improvements included an electric dough mixer, milk pasteurizer and electric lighting at Fairmount.

School

The large number of new children, nearly all of moron grade, made a busy year in the school. Most of these children are good material for later parole. The boys manual classes made 944 mattresses for the school and teachers training department and attractive flower boxes for all dining rooms. Three new teachers replaced those who had resigned, and Misses Hallett and Morrow visited the schools at Waverly and Wrentham to study methods. Dr. Davies conducted a six months' course in psychometric testing, attended by the teachers who also completed the course in the teachers' training department.

For entertainment, in addition to weekly movies and dances, the children attended the circus and State Fair, where the orchestra gave several concerts. All were entertained by Mrs. Cobb in group parties at the Superintendent's house or on picnics. For those with good work and behavior records frequent entertainments were given in Music Hall.

PAROLE

The purpose of parole is to place out every child capable of self-support and not liable to become a social menace, and to relieve the institution of the maintenance of all but those of school age or who because of limited mental capacity, poor health or personality defect require custodial care. As the mental defective is peculiarly susceptible to surrounding conditions it is essential that the best possible environment be provided and that by frequent visits and reports the parole officer know all that is well, or learn of developments in time to avert trouble.

Although the wishes of parents always receive due consideration it is in many cases advisable that the child be placed elsewhere. The average boy is better stabilized and more contented on a farm than in the city, and the best place for a girl is as assistant in a middle class home. The employers take a conscientious interest in their charges and amply provide for their welfare and happiness. In return the boy or girl does good work and more than makes up any deficiencies by loyalty and affection for his employer. The girls make tireless and devoted caretakers of children, as they are affectionate and endowed with the instinct of motherhood.

When a child is ready for parole the family is visited or a good home provided. The parent or employer signs a paper agreeing to report each month on conduct, progress and finances, including money received, spent and banked. Usually if paroled home a disinterested voucher also reports. Close and cordial relations are maintained by frequent visits by the social worker to the child in the home, a monthly circular letter giving full school and parole news and encouraging the graduates to visit and spend vacations at the school.

A social investigator was provided July 1, 1920. The first months were spent in establishing communication with the fifty-two children who had left the school and not been discharged and in getting them to report regularly. The present officer began service October 1st and paroled girls as fast as they could be given the necessary training and places found for them. In the last nine months 22 girls were placed in domestic service and earned over $3,000. Although as a rule it seems useless to attempt to establish as self-supporting a child of less than moron grade, two girls and two boys of imbecile type have succeeded. One promising young girl was placed in a family where she could attend school and three others were given the same opportunity in a fine old religious community. Two of the best girls placed in an infants' hospital are taking the regular nurses' training course. On account of the industrial depression there has been little opportunity to place boys during the year. On the farms most of the boys have succeeded and in the factory they have held their own.

For various reasons seven boys and two girls were returned to the school, five of whom were again paroled before the end of the year and three transferred to another institution.

Besides cases suitable for parole there is a group capable of self-support but whom it would be unwise to liberate in the community. These boys will be established in farm colonies and the girls in industrial colonies when funds are available.

O. H. COBB.
Superintendent.

APPENDIX

OUTLINE OF TRAINING

Of State institutions for the feeble-minded in America this alone is a school exclusively for boys and girls of the higher grades of intelligence. Custodial care for the less hopeful cases is not a part of the work.

The staff consists of twenty-four teachers and attendant teachers. The chronological age of the children is seven to sixteen, average thirteen; the mental age is about eight. Advancement in the moron group averages one grade in two years; in the imbecile group one grade in three or four years, few passing beyond the second grade. Mental inertia in some cases is responsible for failure to reach the grade indicated by the tests for mental capacity. Most of the children are in the kindergarten, first and second grades; a few reach the fifth grade.

The course of study follows the New York State syllabus in reading, writing, spelling and numbers. Language work is elementary; simple rules of punctuation, capitalization, correction of errors in speech, and special training in articulation. Primary United States history and geography are taught in the fourth and fifth grades. Manual training occupies at least half the day of each child in school. Boys are instructed in wood-working, loom weaving, chair caning, mattress making, bag netting, shoe repairing. sewing, baking, gardening or farming. Girls are taught hand and machine sewing, knitting, crocheting, embroidery, carpet weaving, basketry, hand machine knitting, ironing, cooking and serving. The younger children are given special sense and muscle training. These classes afford opportunity for individual instruction and development. The school maintains a band of thirty-eight boys and an orchestra of thirty girls. Defects in posture, gait and physical development are remedied by daily work in the gymnasium, supplemented by basket ball, indoor baseball, folk and social dancing.

The class period is forty-five minutes; some of the manual training groups extend two periods. Classes in manual, mental and physical work are taken up in rotation to avoid the monotony deadly to progress.

In addition to the work of the school, to promote the happiness of the children and stimulate their mental processes, several evenings each week are devoted to basket ball games with outside teams, moving pictures and social dances, the band or orchestra furnishing the music. The various holidays are appropriately celebrated and victrolas or pianos are located in each building. A record of each child's religion is obtained on admission and regular religious instruction is given.

About sixteen years of age the children exhibit a restlessness that makes desirable employment outside of school. The girls pass into the industrial department, the sewing and knitting rooms, the kitchen and laundry, working at two or more kinds of occupation. The boys become assistants to the carpenter, baker, meat cutter, painter, steam fitter, shoemaker or gardener. The more trustworthy, who live in the Garden Cottage with less supervision, have opportunities after working hours to earn a little money at odd jobs in the neighborhood of the institution and acquire some knowledge of the outside world. At the Fairmount Colony forty of the older boys learn farming and in the winter make brushes.

From the Garden Cottage and Fairmount many boys go out on parole to take up farm or industrial work. Girls also considered capable of self support and of suitable personality are placed on indefinite parole in carefully selected homes under the supervision of the social investigator. A few, upon the written approval of the committing authority, are discharged to their own families. Transfers of custodial cases are made to other institutions or, when this is not possible, to county homes.

NOTICE

The Syracuse State School is located in the City of Syracuse, five minutes from the center of the town on the Solvay electric car line. The postoffice, express and freight address is Syracuse, N. Y. Each package should contain the child's name and address of sender. All communications regarding children should be addressed to the Superintendent.

The school is open to the friends of the children every day of the week and to the public every day except Saturday, Sunday and holidays.

HOSPITAL RECORD OF DISEASES TREATED

Appendicitis, 1; Chorea, 3; Concussion, 2; Dementia praecox, 5; Epilepsy, 11; Fractures, 2; Mitral regurgitation, 19; Pneumonia, 7; Tuberculosis, pulmonary, 4; Typhoid fever, 5; Miscellaneous, 869.

DEATHS

Broncho pneumonia, 1; Tuberculosis, pulmonary, 4.

REPORT OF HEAD TEACHER

Showing Attendance in Different Grades

Fourth, 26; third. 25; second, 83; first, 138; kindergarten, 39; kindergarten, south wing, 46. Total 357.

Physical training, 311; dancing, 205; band, 30; orchestra, 40; singing classes, 86.

INDUSTRIAL CLASSES

Chair caning, 14; cooking, 50; dressmaking, 18; ironing, 64: knitting room, 18; knitting, hand, 88; mattress making, 7; mending classes. 15; sewing, 148; tailor shop, 9; weaving rugs 8; weaving toweling, 12; wood working, 47.

CANNING SEASON OF 1921

REPORT OF STEWARD
Calendar Year 1920

SUMMARY