Library Collections: Document: Full Text

-1- E. R. Solenberger, Public School Classes for Crippled Children, p. 32.

-2- See part V. p. 154.

-3- New Opportunities for Physically Handicapped Persons in Ohio, issued by The Civilian Rehabilitation Service, 1924.

-1- Education of Crippled Children, Elyria, Ohio, 1924.

In every phase of the work, the absence of education has retarded the cripple from assuming his normal place in society. Until less than twenty years ago the public was not educated to his needs. Less than fifty years ago ignorance resulted in superstition concerning the actual nature of the physically imperfect human being. In brief, the problem of the crippled child has been solved in the degree to which education, everywhere, has supplanted ignorance. Education is both a medium and a goal, and its importance in this movement cannot be over-emphasized.

It has been suggested frequently that special educational facilities for the crippled child are unnecessary. Crippled children are somehow educated in public schools when there are no special classes. Why provide extra funds for this purpose? Educators are faced with two distinct problems, the first being the education of children who are temporarily crippled, or "who differ only to a slight extent from the normal, sound child,"-2- and the second is the problem of educating those children, incurable or severely handicapped by permanent deformities. Special facilities are necessary for both types.

-2- Reeves, Care and Education of Crippled Children, p. 49.

Almost all crippled children are frequently deterred from regular school attendance, especially in bad weather. This is so because of frequent interruptions caused by correlated physical weaknesses and necessary operations. Crippled children of both types referred to above have difficulty in reaching school buildings under any circumstances, and once arriving at the school they cannot return to their homes and back to the school in a normal luncheon recess period. This class of pupils should have one or two rest periods daily, as prescribed by physicians. They further should have opportunities for physiotherapy training and treatment. The seats provided for normal children will not fit the needs of a crippled child with one or several deformed limbs. Crippled children generally have difficulty in mounting stairways which have been erected for the use of normal children. Public school teachers, accustomed to the instruction of normal children, unwittingly make demands upon their handicapped pupils which constitute a severe physical strain. Each child of the second of the two types described above must have special pre-vocational and vocational training which will train him to the most expedient use of his deformed body in earning a livelihood.

For centuries these problems prevented maimed or deformed little ones from receiving educational advantages. During the past twenty years the public has at last begun to realize the injustice of this condition, and special classes, special schools, or home instruction are rapidly developing. These special facilities meet the difficulty of interrupted attendance by elastic curriculums, small classes, and attention to the needs of each pupil. Modern educational systems furnish taxis or busses to transport crippled children to the school buildings and hot lunches are provided to avoid the necessity of difficult homeward journeys during the noon recess. Morning and afternoon rest periods are a part of the schedule, and in some institutions open air rest pavilions are available for the tuberculous pupils. Open air school rooms have become increasingly common. Trained masseurs and physical instructors co-operate with school orthopedists in administering the various therapeutic treatments.

School-room seats and desks are specially designed adjustable to the needs of each deformed body. Elevators and inclining pathways have supplanted the difficult stairways. Railings are located conveniently to assist the little cripples in passage through the buildings, and floors are specially carpetted to prevent crutches from slipping. Several Boards of Education, providing special schools, require teachers who are to instruct these classes to spend a special eight-week period in preparation for these duties. Finally, to supply the needs of each pupil, manual training, domestic science, and pre-vocational preparation are emphasized in these schools.

Education for crippled children is provided in hospitals, in convalescent institutions, in special school buildings, in special classes, in state schools, and at home. In hospitals and convalescent institutions, bedside instruction is supplemented frequently by special school rooms or buildings for ambulatory patients.