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THE FIRST EDITION of this bulletin appeared under the title "A Guide to Curriculum Adjustment for Mentally Retarded Children." It was prepared as the outcome of a conference called by the Office of Education. Visiting members of the conference were all outstanding in the area of education for the mentally retarded, and to them great credit is due for the preparation of most of the basic material constituting the subject matter of the bulletin.

Ever since the appearance of the original bulletin in 1936, it has been much in demand. The time has come, however, to re-evaluate its contents in the light of developments of more recent years and to issue a revision with such changes and additions as appear to be needed. In doing this, the Office of Education has had the benefit of the thinking and experience of several other persons who are now engaged in the education of mentally retarded children and to whom grateful acknowledgment is made.

A critical appraisal of the original material by specialists in current education has brought to light little that requires drastic revision. Special education for the mentally retarded 15 years ago was striving to put into effect a number of the concepts of education that are being recognized today for all children. Experiences in living were the central theme about which the curriculum for them was even then being organized. Since that time, we have tried continuously to improve our practices for them, but the goals were there years ago.

It is about those goals that the original material of this bulletin was organized, and the general plan of organization remains the same. Because considerable progress has been made in adjusting the secondary school curriculum to the needs of seriously retarded pupils, an entirely new chapter on high-school programs has been added. This is not the only section of the bulletin, however, that applies to boys and girls of highschool age. Throughout its pages, material appears that can be applied to retarded adolescents, whether enrolled in the secondary school or in the elementary school.

Current photographs have been substituted for those used in the original bulletin. Reading references have been brought up to date. They include some dealing with the mentally retarded in particular and some relating

to education for children in general. It is hoped that, with these and other changes and additions, this revision of the bulletin will prove of even greater assistance than the original publication seemed to be to teachers and prospective teachers of mentally retarded children.

GALEN JONES

Director, Division of Elementary and Secondary Schools.

Acknowledgments

T

HE OFFICE OF EDUCATION is deeply indebted to the persons who were members of the group constituting the joint authors of the first edition of this bulletin. They were: Florence N. Beaman, Charles Scott Berry, May E. Bryne, Virgil E. Dickson, Ransom A. Greene, Lillian M. Hoff, Leta S. Hollingworth, Edna M. Kugler, Thomas V. Moore, Meta Anderson Post, Henrietta V. Race, Bertha E. Schlotter, and Alice W. Wygant.

Sincere appreciation is expressed also to the following persons who furnished descriptive material on programs in current operation or supplied the photographs used in this revision:

AMY A. ALLEN, Supervisor, Division of
Special Education, State Department of
Education, Columbus, Ohio.

FRANCIS A. CAINE, Supervisor of Atypical
Classes, Public Schools, San Francisco,
Calif.

ANNA M. ENGEL, Divisional Director, De-
partment of Special Education, Public
Schools, Detroit, Mich.

RICHARD H. HUNGERFORD, Director, and
WINIFRED FEMIANI, Supervisor, Bureau
for Children with Retarded Mental
Development, Public Schools, New York,
N. Y.

EULALIA C. HYATT, Supervisor, Special
Schools, Public Schools, Canton, Ohio.

RUTH A. HARGITT, Director of Special
Education, Public Schools, Cincinnati,
Ohio.

CHRISTINE P. INGRAM, Director, and CATH

ERINE LOVELL, Supervisor, Department of Special Education, Public Schools, Rochester, N. Y.

ELIZABETH KELLY, Director of Special Edu

cation, Public Schools, Newark, N. J. MARY FRANCES MARTIN, Supervisor of Special Education, Public Schools, Los Angeles, Calif.

LEON MONES, Principal, Cleveland Junior
High School, Newark, N. J.

E. A. WHITNEY, M. D., Superintendent,
Elwyn Training School, Elwyn, Pa.

Purpose and Plan of the Bulletin

MENTALLY

ENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN, as here defined, are those who because of poor intellectual endowment are unable to cope with the standard requirements of regular grades. They are in particular need of special educational services planned for intellectually subnormal children. These include approximately 2 percent of the school population. Some children are so seriously defective in both social and intellectual development that they may need to have the benefit of residential school care. Others are much closer to the border line of intellectual normality. Both of these types, as well as the intervening groups, are found in special schools and classes and sometimes in regular classes. All of them are included among the seriously deficient but educable children in our schools and institutions.

Whether in a regular or in a special elementary class, in a city school or in a rural school, in a regular secondary school or in a prevocational or vocational school, in a day school or in a residential school, the basic needs of these children are the same. Adjustment should be made in accordance with the limited capacities which they present. In whatever segment of the school system they may be found, they all call for sympathetic understanding and intelligent guidance.

Plan of Bulletin

One must try to visualize the retarded boy and girl as they are ready to leave school to cope with the problems of everyday existence. This is a logical point of departure in determining which school activities should receive major emphasis. Because it is agreed that all activities, to be most effective for instructional purposes, should arise out of the experiences of the children themselves, the unit of experience is given a prominent place in the plan of the bulletin.

For the sake of convenience, units of experience are classified in the

successive chapters according to major content. Such an arrangement does not obviate the need for coordinating experiences that are concerned with several types of content or subject matter. A "unit of experience" presupposes an integration that recognizes the child as a unitary being with a life experience to which every activity of the day contributes. It is the business of the school to make real to him the relationship among these several activities and to make them function in a vital way in his everyday life.

No attempt is made to assign particular activities to particular grades. In the education of seriously retarded children, grades as such have no place. Age and physical and social maturity are the important determinants in the selection of content, which must then be adapted to the mental capacity of the child. Any unit of experience on primary or intermediate level can be so handled that the oldest and the youngest, the brightest and the dullest, will have work to do in keeping with his ability and interest. For adolescent students the occupational point of view gains in importance along with ideals of homemaking and civic responsibility, though these should by no means be neglected in earlier years. Many units of work can be planned on such a basis. Even the teacher who has only 1 or 2 seriously retarded pupils in a class of 35 or 40 children can, through the unit of experience, make a place for every child in the room in keeping with his capacity. With such an arrangement the intellectually deficient pupil has far greater chance for individual participation and development than he has in a class in which the old type of recitation technique is used.

Function of the Bulletin

The function of a traveler's guide is to lead the way, to point out the dangers of the road, to call attention to the beauties of the landscape. But he takes not one step for his companion. The traveler must use his own feet, his own ears, his own eyes, if he is to fulfill the purpose of his expedition. It is this function of guidance which it is hoped the present publication will perform. It does not offer a curriculum ready-made, nor even part of a curriculum. Rather its purpose is to present the fundamental principles involved, to point out desirable bases for the selection of curriculum content, to suggest a variety of activities in keeping with these bases of selection, and to illustrate how such activities can be coordi nated into units of experience.

No person or group of persons, however skilled, can superimpose a curriculum upon classroom teachers working in a thousand different situations. They can only point out the ways in which a curriculum can be developed locally. They must leave to the State and to the community the task of applying the principles evolved to the situation at hand. Units of experience need local coloring. Community conditions must be recognized, geographic factors considered, and social interests observed. All of this can be done only by persons who are familiar with State and community situations. Hence, such a bulletin as this cannot be exhaustive, but can only sketch the outlines of a picture the details of which must be filled in locally.

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