Chapter XVIII: Appendix: II (1)

SUMMARY OF THE LECTURES ON PEDAGOGY DELIVERED IN HOME
AT THE _SCUOLA MAGISTRALE ORTOFRENICA_ IN 1900

This appendix contains a summary of a few of my lectures delivered in 1900 in the Scuola Magistrate Ortofrenica in Rome and published in pamphlet form for the benefit of the teacher-students who were attending that course. A number of distinguished physicians were at the same time lecturing in the school on various subjects--such as Psychology, Esthesiology, Anatomy of the Nerve Centres, etc. I had reserved for myself the teaching, or rather the development, of a special pedagogy for defective children, along the lines previously laid down by Itard and Séguin.

In the summary of these old lectures of mine are included some of my experiments with certain subjects taught in the elementary grades. They show that the origin of my present work with older children is to be sought in my teaching of defectives.

I still possess, as documentary relics of this course, a hundred copies of a pamphlet entitled: _Riassunte delle lezioni di didattica della Prof^{ssa} Montessori, anno 1900, Stab. Lit. Romano, via Frattina 62, Roma._ More than three hundred teachers followed my course, and are able to bear witness to the work done there.

I republish the following excerpts not because I consider my work so important as to merit the preservation of all the documents touching on its origin, but to prevent the giving of undue prominence to those remnants of my earlier attempts and studies which are still to be found in the Scuola Magistrale Ortofrenica in Rome.

"The child should be led from the education of the
muscular system to that of the nervous end sensory
systems; from the education of the senses to concepts;
from concepts to general ideas; from general ideas to
morality. This is the educational method of Séguin."

However, before we begin education, we must prepare
the child to receive it by another education which is
to-day regarded as of the very first importance. This
preparatory education is the foundation on which all
subsequent education must be based, and the success we
obtain in it will determine the success of our
subsequent efforts. by preparatory education I here
mean _hygienic education_, which in defective children
sometimes includes medical treatment. That is why the
educational method for defectives is sometimes
described as _medico-pedagogical_.

Those who realize that importance of feeling and
internal sensation in education will understand that
the bodily organism must function properly in order to
respond to our educational efforts. We must preserve
good health where good health exists: we must restore
it where it is lacking.

We are therefore under strict obligation to pay close
attention to nutrition and to the condition of the
vital organs. Every one is aware of the close relation
existing between general sensibility and morality.
Criminals and prostitutes show very scant
sensitiveness to pain and to tactile stimuli. The same
situation is frequently apparent in defectives; hence
the necessity of restoring the tactile sense with
adequate attention to hygiene.

We cannot educate the muscles to perform a given
coordinate movement if they have lost their power of
functioning (as in paresis, etc.). Education, properly
so-called, must be preceded by a medical treatment to
restore the muscles, if possible, to good health.

It will be impossible to educate, for example, the sense of hearing, if some pathological situation has produced partial deafness. We cannot educate the sense of smell if the excessive excretion of mucus prevents external stimuli from acting on the ends of the sensory nerves. Obviously, we need a medical treatment to remove these diseased conditions.

MEDICAL EDUCATION

_General baths:_ When not too prolonged they develop
the sensibility of the nervous papillæ. They give tone
to the cellular and muscular tissues, especially to
the skin.

_Hot and cold baths_ given alternately are a powerful
educational instrument in attracting the attention of
a child to his external environment.

_Local hot baths_ may be given to areas deficient in
sensibility. For instance, try bathing the hands if
tactile education proves impossible, or bathe the feet
if the defect in standing upright or in walking comes
from the insensitiveness of the soles.

_Local cold baths:_ Given to the head while the
patient is entirely covered in warm water are a tonic
to the scalp; they facilitate the knitting of the
bones of the skull and the formation of wormian bones,
preventing also cerebral congestion. They stimulate
and regularize the cerebral circulation. Such baths
are particularly useful for hydro-cephalics and
micro-cephalics, but all patients are benefited by
such baths, which are the most generally useful of
all.

_Steam baths_ develop perspiration which at times is
completely absent or partial in defectives, causing
serious physical disturbances. These baths,
furthermore, predispose the nerve ends to the most
intense sensitiveness.

Such baths are, however, not to be used on epileptics
or on children suffering from rickets, weak
circulation or general debility.

In general, _local steam baths_ are used especially
for hands and feet, and also for the tongue.

_General cold baths_ are used in cases of
super-excitation, motor-hyperactivity, excessive
sensitiveness to pain and touch. These baths must be
accompanied by constant cold lotions on the head.

Baths may be accompanied, with good results, by
_massage_ and _rubbing_.

_Rubbings_ may be given dry or with water, alcohol,
aromatic creams or ointments.

Local rubbings may be applied: (a) _To the spine_,
carefully avoiding the lumbar region so as not to
excite the sexual sensibilities. Dry rubbings should
be made with a piece of flannel and continued until
the skin reddens. They are especially useful after hot
baths followed by cold douches. (b) _To the chest_ to
stimulate respiration. (c) _To the abdomen_ to
correct various internal disorders (here, however,
massage is more efficacious). (d) _To the joints_
(rubbings with aromatic creams and with alcohol are
very effective).

A brief rubbing with alcohol or creams can be followed
with good effect by massage in the case of abdomen and
joints. Massage on the abdomen stimulates circulation
in the intestines and intensifies and regularizes the
movements of the muscular walls.

Massage has a surprising effect on the muscles of the
joints; it shocks the muscular fibers in their
innermost parts and sets them in motion; it
regularizes the functioning of the muscles by reducing
excessive contraction and restoring deficient
contractibility. Emaciated muscles are regenerated,
the muscular bulk is vigorously augmented, while the
fat tissues are absorbed.

The repetition several times a day of bathing, rubbing
and massage has produced real miracles of physical
regeneration.

FEEDING

Intestinal disturbances have a direct influence on the
functional power of the central nervous system. They
merit, therefore, special consideration. For in
defectives an intestinal inflammation may produce
symptoms of meningitis, and a disorder in digestion
even unattended by fever may occasionally give rise to
convulsions.

The hygiene of feeding which is almost the same as
that for normal children must therefore be rigorously
observed.

The general rule is list the children should have
regular meals and be allowed nothing whatever to eat
between meals. It is commonly believed that a piece of
candy or a bit of fruit given between meals has no bad
effect. This is a common error of many mothers, who by
allowing such slight irregularities in diet, become
the unwitting cause of serious illnesses in their
children. When we say that children should be fed at
mealtimes, we mean that _nothing_ should be given them
_except_ at meal times; nothing, not even the most
innocent confection; not a crumb of bread, not a drop
of milk. This severity has the quantity and quality of
food allowed in each.

_Number:_ For children between 2 and 7 years: 4 meals
a day; for children between 8 and 14 years: 3 meals a
day. These meals should be at regular hours, and
followed without exception by a period of mental rest,
which must be provided for in making up the daily
program of lessons.

We need special researches as to what type of activity
may be allowed children during digestion and what
organs may be active without damage to the child while
the stomach is taxed with the labor of digestion. A
few things are clear. The children should be sent out
of closed rooms where their play raises more or less
dust, and kept in well-ventilated places, if possible,
in a garden or in a woods well supplied with aromatic
trees. The best thing a child can do immediately after
a meal is to take a short walk in the open air without
much exertion.

_Quantity:_ In the case of children between 2 and 7
years of age, there should be two full meals and two
luncheons. After the age of 7 there should be one
lunch and two full meals. We cannot be more specific.

_Quality:_ In the case of defectives it would be
useful for the doctor to order a diet day by day after
having examined the diaries of the nurses as is done
in hospitals. For it may be possible to introduce into
the food elements which constitute an actual cure for
certain diseased conditions and preventives of certain
kinds of attacks. In food we should realize the
distinctions between the elements which build
tissues--true food substances, and others whose
function is purely stimulatory--alcohol, coffee, tea,
etc., which should be used only occasionally.

Among the food substances properly so-called are the
albuminoids (proteins), fats, and carbo-hydrates
(sugars, starches, wheat and potato flours, etc.). The
fats are the least digestible foods, but they produce
the greatest number of calories.

The proportion of the different elements in the food
should be determined by the amount of albumin, which
constitutes the real food element. Albumin is of both
vegetable and animal origin. Its animal forms are more
nutritious, more easily digestible, and products more
calories than the vegetable forms. The foods which
produce animal-albumin are milk, eggs, and meats.
Vegetables themselves furnish what is known as
vegetable-albumin. Children up to 8 years of age are
supplied usually with the following albuminous foods:
eggs, milk and vegetables. For children between 6 and
8: eggs, milk, fish and vegetables may be provided.
Older children may be given chicken, veal, and finally
beef.

Though for normal children a restricted meat diet is
desirable, in the case of defectives a rich supply of
meat as well as of albuminoids in general is to be
sought. Their treatment resembles that of weak
convalescent patients whose strength is to be
restored. The meats best adapted to such children are
those containing large amounts of mucilaginous
substances and sugar (veal, lamb and young animals in
general). Vegetable _purées_, fat gravies, butter,
etc., are to be recommended in these cases.

For _nervous children_, fats, oils, acids, and flours
should be avoided.

For _apathetic children_, who experience difficulty in
digestion, tonics and rich seasonings should be used,
such as spices, which have come to be almost excluded
from ordinary cooking, especially for children. Spices
may well be restored to the diet of institutions for
defectives, since they have the additional advantage
of permitting mixture with irons, of which they
neutralize the taste.

Questions of food depend largely upon the individual
condition of the children. The important thing is to
avoid "the school ration." This is all the more true
of beverages.

_Beverages:_ While stimulants are usually to be
excluded from the diet of normal children of 7 or
under, it is often desirable to introduce tea, coffee,
etc., into the meals of defectives. This should be
done, however, only in the daily diets ordered by the
physician for individuals.

_Nervous children_ should be restricted to milk and
water for their meals with some moderately sweet drink
(orange juice, weak lemonade, etc.) after eating.

_Apathetics_, showing atonic digestion, may have
coffee either before eating or during their meals.

Special education is necessary to accustom the
children to complete mastication. Such practice in the
use of the organs of mastication assists also in the
later development of speech.

EXCRETION

Among the physiological irregularities that appear
among children special importance attaches to
excretions.

_Defecation:_ Among defectives especially, so-called
"dirty children" are often so numerous that special
sections have to be made for them in institutions.
Such children show involuntary losses of fæces and
urine, as in the case of infants. Most frequently the
defecations are of liquid consistency though sometimes
the reverse is true. Our remedial effort should be in
two directions: we should try to regularize the
operation of the intestines by giving solidity to the
excretions; secondly, we should endeavor to strengthen
the sphincter muscles.

A strict observance of the diet hygiene outlined
above, especially as concerns regularity of meals and
mastication of food, will assist in the attainment of
the first object. We should try in addition to
regularize defecation by stimulating it at regular
intervals (to be gradually increased in length)
through light massages and hot rubbings on the
abdomen.

To strengthen the sphincters general tonics (iron,
strychnine), and local tonics (such as cold
"sitz-baths," cold showers and electric baths) may be
used. Suppositories may also be used to advantage in
stimulating sphincter contractions and accustoming the
muscles to constrictive action.

_Urine:_ some defectives show involuntary loss of
urine, especially at night, up to very advanced ages.
Epileptics are particularly predisposed to this. The
treatment is analogous to that just described.
Beverages should be carefully supervised. Diuretics
and excessive drinking in general should be avoided.

_General recommendations:_ Local baths, and rigorous
cleanliness to avoid any stimulus to onanism.

Education can do much in the treatment of this
situation. Urination should be regularly suggested to
the child before he goes to bed and when he wakes in
the morning. In special cases it might be well to
waken the child once or twice during the night for the
same purpose. This defect is often associated in a
child with some abnormality in the phenomena of
perspiration.

_Perspiration:_ The sweat has almost the same
composition as urine, and perspiration is a process
supplementary to the action of the kidneys. It has
been observed that often in defective children
perspiration is either entirely lacking or limited to
certain areas (the palms of the hands, the nose,
etc.). It is absolutely necessary to stimulate and
regularize perspiration over the whole surface of the
body. This may be done by hot and steam baths, by dry
rubs with flannels (long sustained if necessary), by
woolen garments constantly worn next to the skin, and
other similar mechanical devices. We must, however,
absolutely avoid the use of special diaphoretic drugs,
which often bring about a fatal weakening of the
organs of perspiration. The treatments we have
suggested above are, first of all, harmless, but
besides they contribute to the general toning and
sensitizing of the skin.

_Nasal mucus and tears:_ Tears are often lacking in
defectives. On the other hand nasal excretion is very
abundant and replaces the tears, which are often so
rare that some children reach a relatively advanced
age without having wept. In such cases there is a
predisposition to certain diseases of the eyes; and
excessive nasal excretion prevents the functioning of
the olfactory organs.

For this we recommend inhaling of hot vapors and of
fragrant irritants, which correct the excessive
excretion of mucus and exercise the olfactory sense.
Usually the regular secretion of tears follows as a
matter of course.

_Saliva:_ One of the most unpleasant abnormalities in
defectives is the continuous loss of saliva from
"hanging lips." But the effects are not only
unesthetic. The continuous over-excretion of saliva
makes the inner organs of the mouth flabby and
swollen. The tongue and the organs of speech in
general gradually lose their contractive power, and
articulation is ultimately rendered impossible. Taste
and tactile ability often disappear altogether.
Mastication becomes difficult and deglutition
irregular. The secondary effects on the digestive
organs are bad. We possess a variety of efficient
curatives and educational treatments for this defect:
_first_, general tonics; _second_, local cold douches
on the lip muscles, electric massage of the lips;
_third_, the use of licorice sticks, large at first
but gradually reducing in diameter, to be introduced
between the lips to stimulate the sucking activity
and the exercise of the contractive muscles. This will
ultimately give the necessary muscular tone. The lips
of the child should be closed mechanically from time
to time to force him to swallow the saliva and to
create the habit of deglutition.

CLOTHING AND ENVIRONMENT

The principles of hygiene must be extended to the
dress of the child and to the environment in which it
lives.

_Clothing:_ The child's clothes should be so made as
to be easily put on and off. They should not hinder
normal functioning of the body (breathing). They
should afford no opportunity for dangerous vices
(onanism). If the child can dress and undress without
difficulty, it will learn the more readily to look
after itself even in those little necessities of daily
life where partial undressing is necessary. Special
attention should be given to stockings, which affect
the development of sensitiveness in the soles of the
feet and also concern the process of learning to walk.

_Environment:_ Just a few reminders: for defectives
perfect ventilation of course; but the walls and
furniture should be upholstered in the case of
impulsive defectives or of defectives who do not know
how to walk. There is danger in furniture with sharp
projections and in toys which may be thrown about. A
"child's room," the luxury of which consists in it
hygienic location, its elastic walls, and its very
emptiness, is the best gift a rich family can make to
the education of a defective child.

MUSCULAR EDUCATION

Muscular education has for its object the bringing of
the individual to some labor useful for society. This
labor must always be executed by means of the muscles,
whether it be manual labor, speaking or writing. In a
word, the intelligence must subject the muscles to its
own purposes and, that the muscles may be equipped for
such obedience, it is necessary to prepare them by
some education which will reduce them to coordination.
Muscular education in defectives accordingly has for
its object the stimulation and coordination of useful
movements.

It prepares: for exercise; for the activities of
domestic service (washing, dressing, preparing food,
setting and clearing the table, etc.); for manual
labor (trades); for language (use of the vocal
organs). The preparation consists in bringing the
child to _tonic quiescence_ in standing posture. The
child must learn first to stand still with head erect
and with his eyes fixed on the eyes of the teacher.
From this position of _tonic quiescence_ we must pass
to exercises in _imitation_. We obtain _tonic
quiescence_ by a variety of procedures, the variation
depending upon individual cases. We must stimulate the
apathetic and the sluggish; we must moderate the
hyperactive; we must correct paresis, tics, etc. In
other words, medical education must precede pedagogy
itself. It may be a question of applying medical
gymnastics both for active and passive movements,
alternating this treatment with massage, electric
baths, etc.

Let us note one or two motor abnormalities which are
easy to detect in defectives. _Atony_: the child does
not move; he cannot stand; he cannot sit upright nor
execute any movement whatever. _Hyperactivity_: this
is characterized by almost constant _incoordinated_ or
disorganized movements which have no useful purpose,
e.g., jumping, beating, tearing up of objects within
reach and so on. Such patients are dangerous to
themselves and to others.

MECHANICAL MOVEMENTS

(A).--_Movements executed upon the person of the
child_: sucking of the fingers; biting of the nails;
constant stroking of some part of the body. These
movements are caused by imperfectly developed
sensibility; the children stroke or caress, for
example, that area of the skin which possesses
greatest tactile sensitiveness, etc.

(B).--_Movements executed upon surrounding objects_:
rapping on tables; constant and careful tearing of
pieces of paper into small bits, etc. This too is
associated with some sensory pleasure on the part of
the patient.

_Rocking_: (a) _with patient reclining_: the head is
nodded from left to right, from right to left; (b)
_with patient sitting_: the trunk is rocked backward
and forward; (c) _with patient standing_: the whole
bod; rocks from left to right, the whole weight
resting now on one foot and now on the other.
Difficulty and hesitation are experienced in walking.
These motory defects proceed from the difficulty
experienced by the child in finding his center of
gravity, his equilibrium.

_Inability to perform local movements:_ (a) Inability
to move certain of the fingers, the tongue, the lips,
etc. From such defects arises the impossibility of
performing certain simple manual exercises (bringing
the finger tips of the two hands together; taking hold
of objects, e.g., inability to button, etc.) and the
inability to pronounce certain words; (b) Inability to
contract the lip and sphincter muscles (loss of
saliva, involuntary defecation).

_Atony_ and _hyperactivity_ may be overcome by
appropriate educational remedies which we will now
discuss. Local agitations disappear with the general
education of the senses; while rocking is cured by
exercises in balancing.

(A).--_Stimulate active movements in the atonic child
until he is able to stand erect in tonic quiescence._

Begin by stimulating the simple movements, gradually
working up to the most complicated. We have a sure
guide for this education in the spontaneous
developments of movements in the normal child: he
begins with the easiest spontaneous movements and
gradually arrives at the harder ones.

The first movement which develops in the child is the
_prehensile_ act (grasping). Next comes the movements
of the lower joints used in creeping and walking; next
the ability to stand; and finally the ability to walk
alone. _Grasping_: if no external stimulation is
capable of interesting the defective of low type,
grasping cannot be stimulated merely by presenting to
the child some object or other which might seem to be
interesting for color taste or some other quality. In
such a case we must have recourse to the instinct of
self-preservation, to that innate fear of void which
defectives almost always have. The child feeling
himself fall will instinctively grasp at some support
within his reach. This is the simplest point of
departure for our possible development of the grasping
faculty in the defective child.

_Method:_ The hands of the child am mechanically fixed
around the rung of a ladder suspended to the ceiling.
Then the child in left to himself. Since his fingers
are already around the support he needs only to clench
his hands to find support. He may not succeed even in
this simple act the first time. The teacher must
patiently repeat the exercise, always being ready, of
course, to catch the child if he should fall. In this
exercise the defective is very much alarmed as a rule
and all his muscles are as a result more or less
stimulated.

Likewise based on the instinct of self-preservation is
the _swing_, where the defective must cling to some
support with his hands to keep from falling.

Finally a _ball_ is hung from the ceiling and swung in
such a way as continually to strike the child in the
face. To protect himself he must keep it away by
seizing it.

In still lower types we must have recourse to the
instinct for nutrition which exists even in such
children.

_Standing:_ Under this heading we include also the
movements which precede the actual attainment of the
standing posture. To overcome the sinking of the
knees, which impedes standing, the _swinging chair_
may be used. The seat must reach nearly to the child's
feet and the knees are tied to the seat. The child's
foot, as he swings, strike against a board. This
exercise prepares the lower joints to hold themselves
in position when resting on a plane surface. Next the
child is placed on _parallel bars_. The bars pass
under the arm-pits and support the child while his
feet rest on the floor. In these exercises we try to
stimulate the movements which appear in walking
(exercises of the lower joints). Next we exercise the
muscles which support the spinal column. The child is
made to sit down: first the spine in upright against
the back of the chair; finally it remains upright when
the support is removed. Little by little walking can
be produced if the child is taken away from the bars
and supported with a simple _gymnastic belt_. The
exercise is continued until he can be left entirely
without support.

When the child has learned to walk we can _command_
him to stop in the position of _tonic quiescence_.

(B).--_Moderation of hyperactivity by forced
quiescence._

In hyperactive children the arms must first be
restrained by holding them tight in our hands. The
movements of the lower limbs may be checked by holding
the child's legs tight between our knees. Finally the
child may be kept entirely quiescent with his legs
held between the teacher's knees, his arms in the
teacher's hands, with the trunk pushed back and held
firmly against the wall. By a similar process he can
be kept quiet while standing; then later in a position
of _tonic quiescence_.

_General Rule:_ Exercises of the limbs beginning with
the arms should precede those specifically directed
toward the spinal column. Séguin says "_tonic
quiescence_ is necessarily the first step from _atonic
quiescence_; or if you wish, from a disordered
activity to an activity which represents harmony
between the muscular system and the mind."

We noted above that the posture of _tonic quiescence_
involves a fixity of gaze on the part of the child.
This is the point of departure for the development of
coordinative movements and _imitation_ of what the
child sees the teacher do.

EDUCATION OF THE FIXED GAZE

If the child is kept in the dark for some time and is
suddenly shown a bright light he will experience the
sensation of _red_.

Keeping the child in a dark room for a shorter time a
sudden light will attract his gaze.

Move the light along the wall until the child's gaze
follows it.

Next, in a light room, the child is shown a red cloth
kept in motion; a red balloon hung from the ceiling
keeps striking him in the face.

After these preparatory exercises the teacher can try
to get the child to fix its eyes on his own and to
maintain the fixed gaze. Here use may be made also of
the sense of hearing (words of command, encouragement,
etc.).

Finally to obtain complete fixity of gaze, one may use
the large mirror, before which lights may be passed.
There the child can gaze at his own face and at the
face of the teacher, which will be kept motionless and
which the child may come to imitate.

_Exercises of imitation:_ (1) The child is taught to
become acquainted with himself. The various parts of
his body are pointed out to him and he is made to
touch them. This continues up to the point of
distinguishing right from left. Begin with the larger
members of the body (arms, legs, trunk, head) to be
named in connection with movements of the whole body.
Then pass to the smaller members (the fingers,
knuckles, the organs of the mouth), to be referred to
respectively in the education of the hand and in the
teaching of speech.

(2) The child is taught coordinative movements
relating to gymnastics (walking, running, jumping,
pushing, etc.).

(3) Movements relating: (a) to the simpler forms of
manual labor (exercises of practical life: washing,
dressing, picking up and laying down various objects,
opening and closing drawers); (b) to more complex
kinds of manual labor (elements of various trades;
weaving, Froebel exercises, etc.).

(4) Movements relating to articulate language. For
this educational process the following general rules
are to be followed: first, movements of the whole body
must precede movements of specific parts; second, only
by analyzing complex movements in their successive
stages and by working out their details point by point
can we arrive at the execution of a perfect complex
movement.

This latter rule applies especially to manual
education and the teaching of language. When movements
of the whole body have been obtained it will often be
necessary, before going on to movements of particular
members, to alternate the educational cure with the
medical: (1) to overcome the weakness of some of the
muscles (perhaps of some finger), use local electric
baths, passive gymnastics, etc.; (2) for retractions,
retarded development of aponeurosis of the palms,
etc., use orthopedic treatment.

Gymnastics, manual labor, trades and speaking are
special branches of teaching, that usually require
specially trained teachers.

EDUCATION OF THE SENSES

Outline for examination.

_Sight:_ Sense of color. It is necessary to call the
attention of the child several times to the same color
by presenting it to him under different aspects and in
different environments. The stimulus should be strong.
Other senses tend to associate themselves with the
chromatic sense, for example, the stereognostic and
gustatory senses. Whenever the teacher gives an
_idea_ she should unite with it the _word_, the only
word which is related to the idea. The words should be
emphatically and distinctly pronounced.

(1) _Pedagogical aprons:_ The colors are presented on
a large moving surface, as for instance, an apron worn
by the teacher; e.g., a red apron. The teacher points
to it, touches it, lifting it with noticeable
movements of the arms, continually calls the attention
of the child to it. "_Look! See here! Attention!_" and
so on; then saying in a low voice and slowly, "_This
is_ (and then in a louder voice), _red, red, red!!!_"
Now take two aprons, one red, the other blue; repeat
the same process for the blue. There are three stages
in the process of distinguishing between colors: (a)
"This is ... _red_!" (b) "Your apron is _red_!" (c)
"What color is this?" Then try three aprons, red,
blue, and yellow, bordered with white and black.

(2) _Insets_--color and form. The red circle, the blue
square. There are three stages: (a) "This is _red,
red, red_! Touch it! Do you feel? Your finger goes
_all the way around, all the way around_. It is
_round_, it is _round, all round_. Put it in its
place!" (b) "Give me the _red_ one!" (c) "What color
is this circle?"

(3) The dark room. A Bengal red color is shown: "It is
_red_!" The color appears behind a circular disc: "It
is _red_!" The blue is shown behind a square window:
"It is _blue, blue, blue_," etc.

(4) The child is given a circular tablet of red sugar
to eat and a square lump of blue sugar. He is made to
smell a red piece of cloth strongly scented with musk;
or a blue piece of cloth scented with asafetida, etc.

(5) The color chart.

(6) The first game of Froebel.

The first pedagogical material given should contain
the color already taught. The notion of color should
be associated with its original environment.

_Shapes: Solids, Insets:_ The procedure is always in
the three stages mentioned. (1) Show the object to the
child. (2) Have him recognize it. (3) Have him give it
its name.

_Dimensions:_ Rods of the same thickness, but of
graduated length. First the longest and the shortest
are shown. The child is made to touch them and
interchange them "Pick up the _longest_!" "Place it on
the table!" etc. Repeat this exercise, adding some
intermediate lengths; again finally, with all the
rods. Next the rods may be disarranged; the child is
to put them back in order of length. Notice whether
the child makes an accurate choice in the confused
pile of the graduated dimensions; or whether it is
only by placing two rods together that he comes to
notice the difference between them. Notice how long it
is before the child makes an accurate choice in the
pile and of what degrees of difference in length he is
accurately aware.

Try the same exercise for _thickness_: prisms of equal
length, but of graduated thickness, using the same
procedure in analogous exercises. Games may be used
for the estimation of distances.

_The tactile sense proper:_ One board with a
corrugated surface (like a grater) and one smooth.
Another board with five adjacent surfaces of graduated
roughness. Similar exercises may be used in the
feeling of cloths (guessing games).

Games: The child is blindfolded and lightly tickled.
He must seize what is tickling him, putting his hand
rapidly to the irritant. ("Fly catching," a game for
the localization of stimulants.)

{ Astringents
Liquids { Glues
{ Oils

_Tactile muscular sense:_

Elastic bodies { { Rubber
{ Balls {
Non-resilient bodies { { Wooden

Use skins, leather gloves, and various kinds of cloths
for feeling.

_The muscular sense:_ Balls of the same appearance,
but of graduated weights. Differentiation of coins by
weight.

_The stereognostic sense:_ Recognition of elementary
forms, of rare objects, of coins.

_Thermal senses:_ Hot liquids, iced liquids; relative
warmth of linen and wool, wood, wax, metal.

_Olfactory sense:_ Asafetida, oil of rose, mint, etc.,

{ Tobacco smoke
{ Burned sugar
Odors of { Incense
{ Burned maple

{ Wood }
Odors of burning { Straw }
substances { Paper } Various applications
{ Wool } to practical life.
Guessing games { Cotton }
{ Edibles }

Odors of foods (practical life): fresh milk, sour
milk, fresh meat, stale meat, rancid butter, fresh
butter, etc.

_Taste:_ The four fundamental tastes (guessing games).
Instructive applications to practise in the kitchen
and at meals.

Tastes of various food substances:

{ milk gruel (milk and flour);
{ diluted wine;
Exercises of practical life { sweet wine;
{ turned wine (vinegar), etc.

The practise of the senses begins in the lower classes
in the form of guessing games; in the higher classes
the education of the senses is applied to exercises of
practical life.

_Hearing:_ Empirical measurement of the acuteness of
the sense of hearing. Specimen game: the teacher about
35 feet away from the blindfolded children and
standing where an object has been hidden, whispers the
words "_Find it!_" Those who have heard her will be
able to find the object. Having removed from the line
the children who have heard, the teacher steps to
another place about a yard nearer and repeats the
experiment to the children who are left over, etc.

_Intensity of sound:_

Throw to the floor metal blocks of various sizes,
coins of graduated weight.

Strike glasses one after the other according to size.

Bells of graduated size.

_Quality of sound:_ Produce different sounds and
noises.

{ of metal
Bells {
{ of terracotta

Open Bells.

Closed Bells.

Strike with a wooden stick on tin plates, glasses,
etc.

Identify various musical instruments.

Identify different human voices (of different people).

Identify the voice of a man, a woman, a child.

Recognize different people by their step, etc., etc.

_Pitch:_ Intervals of an octave, of a major triad, and
so on; major and minor chords. However, musical
education requires a separate chapter.

_Sound projection, localization of sound in space:_
The child is blindfolded. The sound is produced; (1)
in front of him; behind him; to the right; to the
left; above his head; (2) the blindfolded child
recognizes the relative distance at which the sounds
are produced; (3) the child decides from which side of
the room the sounds come; he is made to follow some
one who is speaking.

_The horizontal plane:_ This is the first notion
imparted to the child concerning his relationship to
the objects about him. Almost all the objects the
child may perceive around him with his senses rest on
the horizontal plane: his table, his chair, and so on.
The very objects on which the child sits or puts his
toys are horizontal planes. If the plane were not
horizontal, the objects would fall, but they would
strike on the floor which, again, is a horizontal
plane. Place an object on the child's table and tip
one end of the table to show him that the object
falls.

_Guessing game for the plane surface:_ This game
serves to fix the notion of the plane surface and at
the same time trains the eye and the attention of the
child.

1. Under one of three aluminum cups is placed a small
red ball, a cherry or a piece of candy. The child must
remember under which cup the object is hidden. The
teacher tries herself and fails, always raising the
empty cups and returning them to their places. The
child, however, finds the object immediately.

2. The teacher now begins to move the three cups about
on the plane surface. The child has to keep his eye on
_his_ cup and never loses sight of it.

3. Repeat this exercise with six cups.

_Checkerboard game:_ This serves to teach the child
the limits and the various divisions of a plane. The
squares are large and in black and white. The whole
board should be surrounded by a border in relief.
Various points are indicated on the plane: forward,
backward, right, left, center, by placing a tin
soldier at each point indicated. The soldiers may be
moved about by the child in obedience to directions of
the teacher: "The officer on horseback to _the
center_": "Standard-bearer _to the right_, etc.!"
Finally, make all the soldiers advance toward the
center of the board over the black squares only; then
over the white squares only, etc.

These notions may be applied to exercises of practical
life. The children already know how to set the table
without thinking of what they are doing. From now on,
the teacher may say: "Put the plates on the _plane
surface_ of the tables!" "Put the bottle _to the
left_! _In the center!_" etc. Have a small table set
with little dishes, having the objects arranged in
obedience to commands of the teacher. After this, we
may proceed to the Froebel games on the plane surface
with the cubes, blocks, and so on.

_Inset game as a preparation for reading, drawing, and
writing:_ After the child knows the different colors
and shapes in the inset, the color tablets of the big
inset can be put in place: (1) on a piece of cardboard
where the figures have been drawn in shading in the
respective colors; (2) on a cardboard where the same
figures have been drawn merely in colored outline
(linear abstraction of a regular figure).

_Inset of shapes where the pieces are all of the same
color (blue):_ The child recognizes the shape and puts
the pieces in place: (1) on a cardboard where the
figure is shaded; (2) on a cardboard where the figure
is merely outlined (linear abstraction of regular
geometrical figures). Meanwhile, the child has been
touching the pieces: "The tablet is smooth. It turns
round and round and round. It is a _circle_. Here we
have a _square_. You go this way and there is a
_point_; this way, and there is another point, and
another, and another; there are _four points_! In the
_triangle_ there are _three points_!" Then the child
follows with his finger the figures outlined on the
cardboard. "This one is entirely round: it is a
_circle_! This one has four points: it is a _square_!
This one has three points: it is a _triangle_!" The
child runs over the same figures with a small rod of
wood (skewer), etc.

SIMULTANEOUS READING AND WRITING

At this point, we may bring in the chart with the
vowels, painted red. The child sees "irregular figures
outlined in color." Give the child the vowels made of
red wood. He is to place them on the corresponding
figures of the chart. He is made to touch the wooden
vowels, running his finger around them in the way they
are written. They are called by their names. The
vowels are arranged according to similarity in shape
(reading):

o e a
i u

Then the child is commanded: "Show me the letter _o_!
Put it in its place!" Then he is asked: "What letter
is this?" It will be found at this point that many
children make a mistake, if they merely look at the
letter, but guess rightly when they touch it. It is
possible accordingly to distinguish the various
individual types, visual, motory, etc.

Next the child is made to touch the letter outlined on
the chart, first with his forefinger only, then with
the fore and middle fingers, finally with a little
wooden skewer to be held like a pen. The letter must
always be followed around in the way it is written.

The consonants are drawn in blue and arranged on
various charts, according to similarity in shape
(reading, writing). The movable alphabet in blue wood
is added to this. The letters are to be superimposed
on the chart as was done for the vowels. Along with
the alphabet we have another series of charts, where,
beside the consonant identical with the wooden letter
there are painted one or more figures of objects, the
names of which begin with the letter in question.
Beside the long-hand letter, there is also painted in
the same color a smaller letter in print type. The
teacher, naming the consonants in the phonic method,
points to the letter, then to the chart, pronouncing
the name of the objects which are painted there, and
stressing the first letter: e.g., "m ... man ... m:
Give me _M_!" "Put it where it belongs!" "Follow
around it with your finger!" Here the linguistic
defects of the children may be studied.

The tracing of the letters in the way they are written
begins the muscular education preparatory to writing.
One of our little girls of the motory type when taught
by this method reproduced all the letters in pen and
ink long before she could identify them. Her letters
were about eight millimetres high and were written
with surprising regularity. This same child was
generally successful in her manual work.

The child, in looking at the letters, identifying
them, and tracing them in the way they are written, is
preparing himself both for reading and writing at the
same time. The two processes are exactly
contemporaneous. Touching them and looking at them
brings several senses to bear on the fixing of the
image. Later the two acts are separated: first looking
(reading), then touching (writing). According to their
respective type, some children learn to read first,
others to write first.

_Reading:_ As soon as the child has learned to
identify the letters and also to write them, he is
made to pronounce them. Then the alphabet is arranged
in phonetic order. This order is to be varied
according to individual defects made apparent while
the child is pronouncing spontaneously the sounds of
the consonants or vowels, or the words illustrating
the consonants on the charts. We begin by showing the
child and having him pronounce, first, syllables and,
then, words which contain the letters he is able to
pronounce well. Then we go on to the sounds he has
trouble with, finally to those he cannot pronounce at
all (linguistic correction). The phonomimic correction
of speech requires special discussion. In primary
schools speech correction should be in the hands of a
specially trained teacher, like gymnastics, manual
training and singing. Should no defects in speech
appear in the child, the letters of the alphabet
should be taught in the order of physiological
phonetics.

Beside the big long-hand letters should be placed the
small letters in print type. The letter is taught;
then recognition is prompted by asking as each large
letter is reached: "I want the little one like it."
The two types of letter appear also on the illustrated
charts. Next the printed letter is shown, with the
request: "Give me the big letter that goes with it."
Finally: "What letter is it?" The little letters are
not "touched," because they are never to be written.

DRAWING AND WRITING

The child is given a sheet on which appear a circle
and a square in outline. The circle is filled in with
a red pencil, the square with blue (insets). Smaller
and smaller circles are next given, also circles and
triangles. They are variously disposed on the page.
They are to be filled in with colored pencils. Then
comes the tracing. The black lines are followed around
with colored pencils: the circle, the triangle, the
square. This comes easily to the child who has been
taught to trace with the wooden skewer the figures
outlined on the inset-charts. Writing follows
immediately on the exercises in tracing with the
skewer on the charts of the written alphabet. Some
help can be given the child by having him darken with
a black pencil the letter written on the copy book by
the teacher. As the child writes, his attention should
be directed to the fact that he is writing on a
_limited plane surface_; that he begins at the top,
moving from left to right and little by little coming
down the page.

Séguin's method began with shafts and curves. His
copybooks for the shafts were prepared as follows: the
shaft to be executed by the child was delimited by two
points, connected by a very light line. In the margin
of the pages appear two shafts to be executed by the
teacher. Similarly for the curves: ( ( ( (. He has the
printed capitals drawn as combinations of shafts and
curves: B, D, etc.

SIMULTANEOUS READING AND WRITING OF WORDS

The child, through sensory education, has acquired
some notions of color, shape, surface (smooth and
rough), smell, taste, etc. At the same time, he has
learned to count (one, two, three, four points).
Uniting all possible notions concerning a single
object, we arrive at his first concrete idea of the
object itself: the object lesson. To the idea thus
acquired, we give the word which represents the
object. Just as the concrete idea results from the
assembling of acquired notions, so the word results
from the union of known sounds, and perceived symbols.

_Reading lesson:_ On the teacher's table is the large
stand for the movable alphabet in black printed
letters. The teacher arranges on it the vowels and a
few consonants. Each child, in his own place, has the
small movable alphabet in the pasteboard boxes. The
children take from the box the same letters they see
on the large stand, and arrange them in the same
order. The teacher takes up some object which has a
simple word for a name, e.g., _pane_ ("bread"). She
calls the attention of the child to the object,
reviewing an objective lesson already learned, thus
arousing the child's interest in the object. "Shall we
write the word _pane_?" "_Hear_ how I say it!" "_See_
how I say it!" The teacher pronounces separately and
distinctly the sounds of the letters which make up the
word, exaggerating the movements of the vocal organs
so that they are plainly visible to the children. As
the pupils repeat the word they continue their
education in speaking.

A child now comes to the teacher's desk to choose the
letters corresponding to the sounds and tries to
arrange them in the order in which they appear in the
word. The children do the same with the small letters
at their seats. Every mistake gives rise to a
correction useful to the whole class. The teacher
repeats the word in front of each one who has made a
mistake, trying to get the child to correct himself.
When all the children have arranged their letters
properly, the teacher shows a card (visiting-card
size) on which is printed (in print-type letters about
a centimeter high) the word "_pane_." All the children
are made to read it. Then some child is asked to put
the card where he finds the word written before him;
next, on the _object_ the word stands for. The
process is repeated with two or three other objects,
with their respective names: _pane_ (bread), _lume_
(lamp), _cece_ (peas). Then the teacher gathers up the
cards from the various objects, shuffles them and
calls on some child: "Which object do you like best?"
"_Lume!_" "Find me the card with the word _lume_!"
When the card has been selected, all the children are
asked to read it: "Is Mary right in saying that this
is the word _lume_?" "Put the card back where it
belongs!" (i.e., on its object). In the subsequent
lessons, the old cards, with the objects they stand
for removed, should be mixed with the new ones. From
the entire pack the children are to select the new
cards and place them on their objects. A primary
reading book ought to present these words next to a
picture of the object for which they stand.

In this way the children are brought to unite the
individual symbol into words. When they have been
taught to make the syllable, the reading lesson may be
continued without the use of objects, though it is
still preferable to use words which will, if possible,
have a concrete meaning for the children.

_Writing:_ The children are already able to use the
cursive (writing) alphabet which corresponds to the
small letter (print-type) that is neither "touched"
nor written, but is merely _read_. They must now write
in hand writing, and place close together, the little
letters which they have assembled in the movable
alphabet to compose words. As each word is read or
written for every object lesson, for every action,
printed cards are being assembled which will later be
used to make clauses and sentences with movable words
that may be moved about just as the individual letters
were moved about in making the _words_ themselves.
Later on, the simple clauses or sentences should refer
to actions performed by the children. The first step
should be to bring two or more words together: e.g.,
_red-wool_, _sweet-candy_, _four-footed dog_, etc.
Then we may go on to the sentence itself: _The wool is
red_; _The soup is hot_; _The dog has four feet_;
_Mary eats the candy_, etc. The children first compose
the sentences with their cards; then they copy them in
their writing books. To facilitate the choice of the
cards, they are arranged in special boxes: for
instance, one box is labeled _noun_: or its
compartments are distinguished thus: _food_,
_clothing_, _animals_, _people_, etc. There should be
a box for _adjectives_ with compartments for _colors_,
_shapes_, _qualities_, etc. There should be another
for _particles_ with compartments for _articles_,
_conjunctions_, _prepositions_, etc. A box should be
reserved for _actions_ with the label _verbs_ above;
and then in a compartment should be reserved for the
_infinitive_, _present_, _past_ and _future_
respectively. The children gradually learn by practice
to take their cards from the boxes and put them back
in their proper places. They soon learn to know their
"word boxes" and they readily find the cards they want
among the _colors_, _shapes_, _qualities_, etc., or
among _animals_, _foods_, etc. Ultimately the teacher
will find occasion to explain the meaning of the big
words at the top of the drawers, _noun_, _adjective_,
_verb_, etc., and this will be the first step into the
subject of _grammar_.

GRAMMAR

NOUN LESSON

We may call persons and objects by their _name_ (their
_noun_). People answer if we call them, so do animals.
Inanimate objects, however, never answer, because they
cannot; but if they could answer they would; for
example, if I say _Mary_, Mary answers; if I say
_peas_, the peas do not answer, because they cannot.
You children _do_ understand when I call an object and
you bring it to me. I say for example, _book_,
_beans_, _peas_. If I don't tell you the name of the
object you don't understand what I am talking about;
because every object has a different name. This name
is the word that stands for the object. This name is a
_noun_. When I mention a noun you understand
immediately the object which the noun represents:
_tree_, _chair_, _pen_, _book_, _lamb_, etc. If I do
not give this noun, you don't know what I am talking
about; for, if I say simply, _Bring me ... at once, I
want it_, you do not know what I want, unless I tell
you the name of the object. Unless I give you the
_noun_, you do not understand. Thus every object is
represented by a word which is its _name_ and this
name is a _noun_. To understand whether a word is a
noun or not, you simple ask "Is it a thing?" "Would it
answer if I spoke to it!" "Could I carry it to the
teacher?" For instance, _bread_. Yes, _bread_ is an
object; _table_, yes, it is an object; _conductor_,
yes, the conductor would answer, if I were to speak to
him.