THE DEAF CHILD AT FIVE YEARS OF AGE


When the little child that has been deaf from infancy is five years of
age, he should be placed in a _purely oral school_ for the deaf, if such
a thing is possible.

The child who has become deaf by illness or accident after speech has
been acquired, should be placed under experienced instruction by the
speech method _at once_.

To quote once more from my little book of suggestions to physicians:

"If the proper school for the little hearing child of five did not
happen to exist in his immediate neighborhood, no one would think of
insisting upon the necessity of sending the little one away to a distant
boarding school. But that is what must be done in the case of the little
deaf child, if precious and irrecoverable years are not to be lost. It
is often a difficult matter to persuade a mother to sacrifice her own
personal happiness and comfort in having the little child with her, and
to look far enough into the future to see that a true and unselfish love
for the child requires her to entrust him to the care of others during
those early and crucial years."




XXI

SCHOOLS FOR THE HEARING AND PRIVATE GOVERNESSES