XIV

THE PRESERVATION OF SPEECH

WHEN DEAFNESS RESULTS FROM ACCIDENT OR ILLNESS AFTER INFANCY


Up to this point it has been assumed that deafness occurred before the
age of two years, and before the child had begun to speak. In cases
where, through accident or illness, impairment of hearing has come after
the child has begun to talk, the mother should bend all her efforts upon
keeping the speech of her child. The younger the child, the more
difficult is the task. Without the greatest vigilance and increasing
attention, the speech of a little child who has become deaf will fade
rapidly away, until it is lost entirely, and must be artificially
recreated when he is old enough to grasp the complicated ideas involved
in speech teaching to the deaf. But by persistently encouraging him to
talk, and never, even for a day, allowing him to lapse into silence, and
_by not accepting careless and faulty utterance, but pretending not to
understand till the child speaks distinctly and correctly_, the natural
speech, which was his before deafness occurred, can be preserved, and
the speech habit thoroughly fixed. If, by good luck, the little one has
learned to read even a simple primer before becoming deaf, it will be
much easier to prevent a loss of speech. For this reading can be made an
excuse for frequently using his speech. But when the child cannot read,
the mother must depend entirely upon inducing him to talk to her,
refusing to give him anything, or grant his request, till he asks for it
in good spoken form; showing him pictures, playing games, frolicking
with him; doing everything that a mother's love and ingenuity can
suggest, to keep him talking all day long.