. lo AD) 
(od 
As to the first question of how we may discover the feeble-minded 
girl in the elementary schools, and indeed in the homes, I have this to 
offer. It is my belief that the public schools will have to provide them- 
selves with psycho-educational clinics for the determination early in the 
life of the child of any sort of mental deficiency. There should be avail- 
able to every school in the State such a clinic, for no school of a hun- 
dred or more children is so fortunate as to be without those whose mental 
deficiency may be low enough to be designated as feeble-minded. Recent 
statistics from the New York City schools, Chicago, New Orleans, Omaha 
and elsewhere, show that about two per cent. of all the children in the 
public schools are feeble-minded. It is possible that this is too high a per- 
centage, but even if only one child in a hundred is feeble-minded it is ex- 
tremely important that that fact be determined very early in its life. The 
phycho-educational clinic will perform the important function in a com- 
munity of determining, not only all stages of mental deficiency, but also 
all the stages of mental acceleration; and it is extremely important that 
those individuals whose rank in intelligence is considerably above the 
average should also be known and the educational needs adapted to them 
in a suitable manner. Without such scientific aid in the diagnosis of the 
child early in her life much energy is wasted in trying to train and educate 
the child who may be uneducable. Psycho-educational clinics would also 
serve as a means for determining all grades of mental development in all 
children and would thus serve as a corrective agency in the proper de- 
velopment of all children. Teachers are generally unskilled in the matter 
of mental diagnosis of their pupils. They teach upon the assumption that 
all children have mental capacity about equal. Upon this assumption many 
a feeble-minded child has suffered punishment and humiliation for lazi- 
hess, indifference, lack of zeal, inattention, etc., When as a matter of fact 
the child did not possess more than a third or a half of the mental capac- 
ity to do the task assigned. It is my belief that the State should support 
enough psycho-educational clinics in different parts of the commonwealth 
as to be available for the use of all teachers and parents. By this agency 
the feeble-minded girl would be detected early in her life and would be 
under close observation for a number of years and could finally be dis- 
posed of to the best advantage of the public schools, the parents, and the 
social interests of the State. 
My second point is, “What are the symptoms of feeble-mindedness ?” 
