Fifth annual report of the trustees and superintendent of the Ohio State Asylum for the Education of Idiotic and Imbecile Youth, to the governor of the state of Ohio : for the year 1861.

  • Ohio State Asylum for the Education of Idiotic and Imbecile Youth.
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fifth annual report of the trustees and superintendent of the Ohio State Asylum for the Education of Idiotic and Imbecile Youth, to the governor of the state of Ohio : for the year 1861. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    expressing mj obligations to each of the officers and attendants, for the readiness with which they have cooperated with me in this measure, and the cheerfulness with which they have assumed the increased cares that have consequently devolved upon them. Of the pupils now in the Asylum, sixteen have been under instruction less than one year, their progress has generally been satisfactory for ihe time; the remain¬ der have been under instruction from one to three years, and their progress has been s ill more marked and encouraging. They have improved in general intel¬ ligence and in the power of self-control; correct habits have taken the place of those that were vicious and disgusting ; the wandering eye, and still more wan¬ dering mind, are fixed; once feeble or wayward muscles are made to respond to the will with promptness and precision. Of the pupils in the Institution at the date of the last report, fourteen have learned to read and write, and obtained some appreciation of the first rules of arithmetic. While individual cases have disappointed us, the general result of the instruction given has been better than could have been anticipated in the begin¬ ning. Of the twelve girls in the Institution last year, seven have learned to sew neatly, and to perform other light and agreeable domestic duties. For the past season we have had twenty boys, and of this number five were large enough to work, while others could perform light tasks about the garden. With these chil¬ dren we have worked effectively four acres of ground, and been enabled to raise abundance of vegetables for the use of our whole family during the season and \ for the coming winter. The beneficial effect of productive labor upon the children has been very per¬ ceptible ; they have taken great interest in their labor and felt great pride in their success, evidently feeling the striking contrast between their former indolence and inactivity, and their present cheerful and busy spiiit. But aside from these results, and as a sanitary measure merely, we should still deem it necessary to pursue our plan of labor with this class, mod of whom are poorly developed and ill conditioned physically. So intimate are the relations of mind and body, that what affects the one beneficially is a gain to the other, and nothing tends more to break up the listless inactivity so characteristic of feeble-minded children, than cheerful pleasant labor in the open air ; the constant change that meets the eye invites and cultivates observation and attention, and awakens new thoughts and feelings. The means of providing some permanent einplojment for our pupils is a matter which demands attention. For this purpose it is believed that nothing would be more desirable than a farm, the great variety of labor which a farm affords being an especial advantage to this class. This subject was presented to you, in detail, by my predecessor in his last annual report, and his opinions have received the corroboration of our own experience during the present year. The importance of teaching this class of unfortunates to labor is, we fear, overlooked. It is not my wbh to raise extravagant hopes for them, but the fact, we think, is demonstrable.