Unit on Child Care

The description of part of a unit on child care, as adapted from the report of several teachers who worked together for the instruction of a group of adolescent girls, ranging in chronological age from 14 to 16 years and in mental age from about 8 to 10 years, is given in somewhat different form. The objective of the unit was to prepare the girls for better service when caring for children either in their own homes or as a means of earning a livelihood.

The unit was divided into three parts, as follows: (1) Entertainment of the child from 1 to 6; (2) food for the preschool child; (3) care and hygiene of the preschool child. The content of the first of these is briefly outlined below:

ENTERTAINMENT OF the child FROM 1 TO 6

A. Story telling:

1. Selection of material:

(a) Class discussion of types of material suitable for young children: Nursery rhymes, animal stories, fairy stories.

(b) Illustrations of various types of stories, as told by teacher.

(c) Search for material by girls in library and at home.

(d) Listing of stories for future reference.

2. Learning to tell stories:

(a) Development in class of outline for story: Introduction, events, conclusion.

(b) Discussion of outlines as made by individual girls.

(c) Writing in detail the stories to be told.

(d) Practice in telling stories in class.

3. Telling stories to:

(a) Preprimary children in the same school.

(b) Brothers and sisters at home.

(c) Children at baby party.

B. Games:

1. Discussion of various types of play activity and games: their relation to health and recreation.

2. Observation of and report on children at play in kindergarten, in nursery school, on playground, at home.

3. Construction of cut-out puzzles, toys, and scrapbooks for use of children.

4. Practice in playing with the children at school and at home, with reports and discussion of progress.

C. Planning and conducting a baby party for 20 children under 6 years of age, with entertainment through games, toys, and stories, and with refreshments made and served by the girls.

The place of reading, language, and spelling in a unit of this kind is obvious. Stories were read, written, and told. Reports were made on observations and work done. Lists of stories, games, and other types of entertainment were kept. Health and physical education entered the picture in the choice of recreational activities, and even more so in the other two parts of the unit not described here, dealing with food and child hygiene. Art, music, and hand work were used in the preparation of material. The plans for the baby party and the budgeting of expenses met in other parts of the unit necessitated the use of numbers. Social concepts were, of course, emphasized throughout. The entire unit was an excellent example of how many of the vitally functioning elements of

real education can be coordinated on the basis of an experience of immense practical value and interest to adolescent girls.

Time Allotments and Daily Schedules

The daily division of time among the several activities included in a unit of work may seem to some a difficult problem. If an experience is directed to socially useful activities, tight compartments cannot be assigned to subjects as such. Nor can any division of time be suggested that will fit all situations at all periods of the year. This does not mean that the amount of time given to a particular activity may be left to take care of itself, determined only by the inspiration or fancy of the hour. Careful judgment must be exercised, based on purposeful planning in the light of the children's needs and the content of the unit of experience under

way.

In general, it seems safe to say that a carefully planned schedule for children of primary and intermediate ages will show approximately half of the day (or of the week) used for the teaching of various skills (academic and manual) needed in the unit of experience, and the other half for the pursuit of socializing group activities which are involved in the unit and which give opportunities for the application of learned skills. Needed variation made for adolescents will be in the direction of increasing work of socializing and occupational type and decreasing the time spent on academic drill. In order to keep the division of time flexible, many class programs are made on a weekly rather than a daily basis. This insures a certain amount of freedom from day to day and yet furnishes a definite standard of procedure.

Summary

1. The only adequate basis for realizing the objectives set forth for the education of mentally retarded children is a curriculum planned in terms of the day-by-day experiences of the child in life situations.

2. The "unit of experience" provides the means for integrating classroom work with real life. It also provides the means for giving vital meaning to the use of fundamental skills within the ability of the child.

3. Units of experience should be adapted to the characteristics of the

community in which the children live, as well as to the age and ability levels of the children for whom they are planned.

4. Units of experience dealing with home and community life afford rich opportunity for the development of habits, attitudes, and skills essential to successful living for mentally retarded children.

5. The division of time among the various activities of the day or week should be kept flexible and yet meet the conditions of careful planning in the light of the children's needs.

6

Physical and Mental Health

MORE AND MORE are physical health and mental health

coming to be considered not as distinct entities but as two different phases of the same general problem. Narrowly conceived, physical health relates to bodily or organic condition, while mental health refers to emotional response, mental attitudes, and social reactions. In the treatment of children's behavior problems these two cannot be separated, for each is reflected in the other. In the diagnosis of adult ills, also, they are found to be closely inter-related. Each represents one aspect of the total health situation in which the individual finds himself.

Physical Health

The maintenance of good bodily health is a major goal for every child. To help him to achieve this aim is the responsibility of the school through its program of health education. In such a program both specific instruction and the encouragement of good habits are essential. Mere talking about health does not suffice. All children must have daily practical experiences in the care of the body that will serve to establish proper health habits and attitudes. If this is true of the average child, it is of much greater importance for the seriously retarded, who does not grasp abstract principles readily nor see the relation between the act and its consequences, either for good or bad.

Content of Health Education

There is no reason why the general content of health education should be different for retarded children than for the intellectually normal. Good health is the aim for all. The difference lies rather in the insistent emphasis upon simplification of health principles and their application in keeping with the limited intellectual ability of retarded children. For the young child primary emphasis should be placed upon establishing simple habits of cleanliness and personal hygiene, bodily coordination, and protection against accident and disease. As the child grows older, he should be assisted in making applications of health principles in home and community