Diseases and injuries of the ear / by Wm. B. Dalby.

  • William Bartlett Dalby
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diseases and injuries of the ear / by Wm. B. Dalby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    307/352 (page 271)
    the ordinary way, the more quickly and better will language be acquired. Thirdly, in case of a child who has learned how to speak, and at an early age, say seven, has lost its hearing completely by scarlet fever or the like, it is well known that from the fact of its not hearing others speak it will not be tempted to make use of speech itself, will gradually depend more and more on signs, and in a short time will have lost all power of speaking. For such patients this system is invaluable, for if they are taken in hand as soon as they become deaf, they can with very little difficulty be made to learn lip-reading, and will thus retain their speech, or where it is beginning to be forgotten will rapidly re-learn. The early part of the education is in the highest degree laborious to the teacher, and besides the per- severance required, it is actually physically hard work. To perfect the sounds made by even quite the begin- ners, it is important as soon as possible to teach them such sounds as represent words corresponding to some visible object or constantly recurring sensation. The idea of the object or sensation having once become connected in the mind of the child with the motion of the lips by which he has learned to indicate it, he repeats it with great frequency and pleasure, thus giving opportunities to the teacher to correct any faults he may possess in pronunciation. Moreover it constantly happens, and I have myself observed it when paying visits to the children undergoing this course of instruction under Mr Van Praagh, that one child who is more advanced will correct one less so