Mentally defective children / by Alfred Binet and TH. Simon ; authorized translation by W. B. Drummond ; with an appendix containing the Binet-Simon tests of intelligence by Margaret Drummond and an introduction by Alexander Darroch.

  • Binet, Alfred, 1857-1911.
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Mentally defective children / by Alfred Binet and TH. Simon ; authorized translation by W. B. Drummond ; with an appendix containing the Binet-Simon tests of intelligence by Margaret Drummond and an introduction by Alexander Darroch. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    rebellions to all discipline in the opinion of several teachers who have had them in their classes. We have already received replies which seem to us in- structive, and even carry us beyond the study of the abnormal, as they may throw some light on the psychology of those who are commonly called dunces/' As a general rule, the children classed as retarded are the victims of disease, constitutional debility, or malnutrition. We find included in our lists some who are the children of nomadic parents; some who have been kept from school; some who have attended a religious school, where they learned little but sewing and writing; some who have changed their school too often: some also who are foreigners, and under- stand little French; and, lastly, some who have been kept back in their studies by unrecognised myopia. Such causes are extrinsic to the child. The personal causes of retarda- tion are defective intelligence, sluggishness of mind, in- subordination, an eccentric and excitable nature, a con- stant want of attention, and, lastly, laziness. The complete and methodical study of the documents relating to 223 children with a retardation of three years has taught us a number of interesting facts. It is very rare for the cause of the retardation to be single. Usually, several causes were at work simultaneously. Feebleness of mind complicated by illness is noted in 20 per cent, of the cases. Insufficient school attendance (due to other, causes than illness), in conjunction with feebleness of mind, is met with in 25 per cent, of cases. If, without taking account of those associations of causes, one enumerates simply the frequency with which each single cause of retardation is mentioned, one obtains the following per- centages : Feebleness of mind .. .. .. .. 50 per cent. Insufficient attendance (without illness).. ..33 Illness .. .. .. .. .. 25 Lack of application, laziness .. .. .. 7 „