Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 83.djvu/513

Rh a child's mental age within a year, and thus provide an important check upon the opinion of his school teacher.

Perhaps I can illustrate the reliability and value of these mental examinations of children by telling a joke on myself. In a paper read at the State Conference of Charities and Correction, I cited an example of the examination by a student of mine of twenty boys at the Minneapolis Juvenile Detention Home. I stated that among these twenty there was only one boy who was normal mentally and in the proper grade at school for his mental development. Later, in going over these examinations again, I noted a fact, which had escaped me before, that among these twenty boys reported was the son of the superintendent of the home. "What was my surprise to find that it was he who was normal and in his proper school grade. The examinations had indirectly singled out the only boy on the farm who was not a juvenile delinquent, as well as brought out the irregular mental and scholastic development of delinquents.

The most important part of a diagnosis of development is, of course, not the question what stage has this child reached now; but what accounts for his retardation, if he is retarded, and what improvement may we expect in the future if his physical or environmental handicaps are corrected and he is given proper training from this time forth. So far as this prognosis is concerned its value to-day depends largely upon the experience and judgment of the person making the prediction. We are only beginning to gather and record these data for prognosis and it will be years before we can make predictions with the scientific precision that is to be desired. A beginning, however, has been made. We know that if a child stands still in his mental development for a year after receiving the best medical treatment and under expert training then we may be reasonably sure that all except the simplest school training is virtually wasted. We should have a case of arrested development resembling the case of Abbie described by Dr. Goddard. Abbie came to the N'ew Jersey Training School when she was eleven years old with a mental development that was about that of a seven-year-old child, as nearly as can now be judged. After receiving expert training and treatment for ten years she was examined and found still to have a seven-year-old mind. The ten years thrown away in trying to teach Abbie to read and cipher might have been much better spent in improving her work in those employments suitable for a seven-year-old child, and then allowing her to occupy herself with them under proper guidance. If the seriously deficient child is to be permanently isolated from society, as has been suggested by experts in eugenics, the public would undoubtedly be better satisfied to have the final disposition of these cases postponed until after a year or more of special training following the diagnosis. This suggestion has been made by Dr. H. D.