202 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 



three E's, but an endeavour should be made to distinguish between 

 pure mechanical performance and intelligent use. 



The three E's may be taken separately or together; with an older 

 or more intelligent-looking child I like the combined methods. Thus, 

 show the child a paper on which is typed or written ' Pick up a pen 

 and write your name.' If this is done, the power of intelligent reading 

 is established. Or end up with 'Write down what is in the fire.' 

 A response shows the power of spontaneous writing, and if such a 

 child can do some reasonable calculation no question of deficiency 

 arises. Indeed even if the calculation failed, but the child could 

 count, much evidence would be necessary to show that it is more than 

 backward. However, with the bulk of the children seen at admission 

 examinations no such short cuts can be employed. 



Reading. 



It is necessary to have several grades and varieties of reading- 

 books, as a certain initial shyness may prevent a child making an 

 effort with a book which has a different type from that to which he is 

 accustomed. Children say, ' We don't have this book at our school.' 

 However, with the help of the teacher from the school in question 

 a suitable book may be chosen, and the child is shown a simple sen- 

 tence and asked to start reading. I generally choose three- and four- 

 letter words — e.g., the cat was on the mat, &c. If this is read satis- 

 factorily I ask the child to show me a mat (if there is one in the room), 

 or the cat (if a picture of one is available). This being done correctly, 

 harder sentences in this or other readers are found until the child's 

 limit as to (a) mechanical and (b) intelligent reading have been deter- 

 mined. The results are entered as Grade I., II., III., or Standard 

 I., II., &c. , as the case may be, corresponding to the level of these 

 classes in the average Elementary school. Should the child not start 

 to read, it may be shown some little words and asked to read them, 

 is, it, was, on, no, &c, being useful. Or the child may be shown 

 the picture in the reader of a cat, dog, cow, &c, and asked to point 

 out the word on the page. It is well to note all instances of reversal, 

 thus, on called no, Ac, for they are fairly common. They repre- 

 sent a common phase in the lower grades of infants' schools, but 

 should have been dropped entirely by the age of eight. To connect 

 the mechanical process of reading with an understanding of what is 

 read is most important, and in this connection an examination of, say, 

 twenty children from some two or three schools throws light on the 

 teaching methods even more than on the attainments of the individual 

 children. 



It is well to get the child to spell out a word or two, as quite a 

 number know words while only knowing a few letters. I feel con- 

 vinced that the bulk of children in the schools learn each word initially, 

 if not permanently, as individual ideographs, and that the process of 

 learning to spell them afterwards is slow and painful. For this reason, 

 if a child has been referred back to the infants' school for, say, six 

 months, and then comes up for re-examination, it is well to adopt a 

 somewhat different order and method on the second occasion, for an 

 observant parent — and there are some such, even of defective children — 



