Library Collections: Document: Full Text

At Bordeaux the teaching of the deaf takes place at a convalescent hospital on the outskirts of the town. In some classes there were six to eight deafened pupils, in others about double that number. The former sized class has seemed best for beginners, but with more advanced pupils, it was desirable to have a larger number so that those sitting on the sides could read lips viewed more or less in profile. Classes could, however, be held simultaneously in the same room, as the deaf pupils were not disturbed by each other's noises.

It appears that the German War Office established first a center of instruction to which were sent for training all deafened soldiers, but this system was criticized on the ground that it is not advisable for all the deaf to be collected at one place. By reason of the differences in dialect, it has been found better to send the deaf to a near-by university town, where there are experienced teachers of the deaf. The Germans believe that instruction should begin as soon as the patient is out of the doctor's care, and that only six or at the most eight pupils should be instructed at the same time.

The English regard three months as sufficient time in which to teach lip-reading. The French do not require that much time under their system, while the Germans ask for at least five or six months for a full course of instruction.

With lip-reading thoroughly mastered, and the deafened soldier being reaccustomed to social and business relations under his new handicap, almost all vocations are open. Men with a skilled occupation can almost universally return to their former job. A few employments noted as unfavorable for the deafened are those of chauffeur, motorman, conductor, salesman, telephone operator, work where overhead cranes and other shifting machinery is used, or about railroad tracks where hearing is essential to safety. Regarded as good trades are motion picture operating, photography, typewriting, filing, clerical work without dictation, farm work, stock room or shipping clerk, plumbing, tailoring, bookkeeping, printing, baking, and civil service positions.

Among sixty-nine deafened soldiers trained at Lyons, France, thirty-nine were prepared for agriculture, eleven for manufacturing, nine for commerce, and ten for miscellaneous jobs.

The Division of Physical Reconstruction of the United States Army, under the Surgeon General, has established through its Section of Defects of Hearing and Speech a center for treatment in connection with United States Army General Hospital No. 11, at Cape May, N. J.

After a thorough consideration of all the methods employed by the other countries, both allied and enemy, it was considered that the best manner in which to handle reconstruction patients along this line, was to establish a central point at which they could be under full military discipline. It was decided that it was impossible to define, when a patient was first admitted into the hospital, whether he was a patient appropriate for discharge along one of the three lines into which reconstruction patients are to be classified, until he was thoroughly subjected to the line of treatment that was thought adequate for his condition. Not only this, but it would seem from the work in connection with the British and other allied nations' reconstruction endeavors, that the most advantageous course to be pursued in connection with these men was to hold them in the army until physically qualified thoroughly to take care of themselves in their contact with the outside world.

Actuated by these two motives, the chief of the section decided to concentrate all ambulatory cases at United States Army General Hospital No. 11. Cases with multiple injuries and other diseases which necessitate their being retained in other United States Army general hospitals will receive their treatment in these hospitals, from reconstruction aides who will be transferred, during such course of treatment to the hospital at which the patient is confined. By this means the patients receive both their general medical and surgical treatment as well as their aural treatment. This at the same time minimizes the period of time which the patients will have to spend in the hospital.

The wisdom of this procedure has already been demonstrated during the three months in which the activities of the section have been progressing in connection with this work.

It must be understood that patients are receiving treatment along all lines which aid in their restoration. These men are thoroughly and carefully classified. Many of them require thorough surgical and medical treatment besides those measures which are essential to their auditory re-education. The auditory re-education is not entirely along one line of treatment. Besides the various types of medical attention given these individuals, auricular and speech reading methods are also employed. One of the first men to be deafened in France was illiterate and so must needs be trained to read and write as well as to interpret the movement of the lips in terms of sound. The patients at United States Army General Hospital No. 11 have shown that true American spirit of enthusiasm and effort. Results indicate that the average period of treatment and training equals the French, and probably exceeds it.