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Concerning the special methods of education required, Dr. Barr says that as many of the lower grades are incapable of observation, they must be persistently taught what normal children acquire intuitively, -- the proper mastication of food, the use of spoon, fork, and knife, the dressing and care of the body, the standing and walking unsupported, the very simplest matters of self-help; the sense organs must be tested in order that defects may be remedied by medical treatment; their senses must be awakened and stimulated, attention attracted, imitation encouraged by simple occupations. For the higher grades there must be development of the emotions, through exercise in ethical acts, achieving habits; of the body by physical exercises and manual training to promote mental activity; of the mind, achieving self-hood. And all these methods should be assisted by environment, association, amusement, and discipline. (161)

As has been already noted, the most hopeful aspect of work for the feeble-minded was that first undertaken in the United States, in institutions for the education of feeble-minded children. It was inevitable, since many of them could not be safely returned to the world, and as the institutions grew older, that numbers of adults should accumulate in the training schools. In recent years, the segregation and custodial care of adults -- especially of feeble-minded women -- has assumed a social importance even greater than the education of children. Many illustrations -- such as that given by Mr. Amos W. Butler of Indiana, of 5 feeble-minded mothers of 19 children, 15 of whom had spent a total of 136 years in institutions, at an average expense of $100 per year -- have drawn, attention to the necessity for preventing the reproduction of this class. (162)

The custodial care of the feeble-minded having been assumed by the managers of the schools for children, it was found that, under wise administration, the adult imbeciles could be useful in the "work of the institution; and that it was better, therefore, to introduce the colony plan with appropriate segregation of classes, than to establish other new institutions for the custodial care of adults. For instance, at Elwyn, it was found that many feeble-minded women had a liking for children, and that they could be distinctly serviceable in taking care of the young children in the school department, a work which made them happier, and benefited their own malady as far as anything could. "It is not," as Dr. Knight said, "because the managers of these institutions wish to build up a great institution, but because by the colony plan a larger share of service can be rendered than by splitting one institution into several new ones." New York, however, established special custodial homes for adult idiots and a home for feeble-minded women, and New Jersey has followed the example. It remains to be seen whether specialists will conclude that classification should be maintained as between institutions, or whether it should be carried on in large institutions on the colony plan. With the plan of detached buildings for different classes, the dependents can be provided for at an expense of about $400 per patient for construction, which is much less than the construction cost heretofore thought necessary for the insane.

That custodial care for most grades of the feeble-minded is increasingly demanded cannot be doubted. It has been later in coming than the custodial care of the chronic insane, because the latter are more actively and obviously mischievous to society; but in proportion as the importance of human selection becomes better understood, the custodial care throughout life of the feeble-minded of both sexes will be demanded.

At the present time the tendency seems to be strongly toward a modified colony plan, partly from motives of economy and partly because of the accumulation of the trained feeble-minded in the schools who should still be under protection. Massachusetts has solved the difficulty by establishing a farm colony for a selected class of the trained feeble-minded. The seven farms comprising 2000 acres of cheap lands with their buildings are 60 miles from the training school. Groups of older boys are transferred from the school to the farmhouses and cottages and lead there a normal country life, earning a part of their livelihood and shielded from temptation and competition. (163)