What the Mother of a Deaf Child Ought to Know by John Dutton Wright
page 51 of 69 (73%)
page 51 of 69 (73%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
The second alternative is to seek some person who will teach the child
in his own home. This, too, is very unsatisfactory, and involves loss of time and opportunity that can never be recovered. In the first place, the beginning years of a deaf child's educational life are the most important of all. They are crucial. It is then he requires the highest skill, the greatest experience, and the most perfect conditions. The best teachers can seldom, if ever, be induced to teach a single child in its home. Usually these teachers are more or less inferior. But even the best teacher in the world cannot do for a little deaf child in his home what she could accomplish for him in a well-organized and properly conducted school. Neither the intellect nor the character of the deaf child can be as successfully developed, after five years of age, by a private teacher in his home as in a good school. The following elements are essential for the highest educational welfare of a deaf child: _First._ The stimulus and incentive of association and competitive companionship. _Second._ The contact with more than one mind and more than one speaker. _Third._ The avoidance of becoming dependent upon some one as an interpreter, and the cultivation of independence and self-reliance through constant practice with various teachers. _Fourth._ A fully equipped and trained organization, providing a |
|