OCR Text |
Show INCURABLE DEFECT IN BRAIP Color-Blindness Cannot Bo Over-Come, Over-Come, Though Word-Blindness May Be Alleviated. Two defects In regard to sight word-blindness ami color-blindness are described by im Knglish writer. IIo points out that they are not defects de-fects of the eyes nt nil, but are really mental defects, and, curiously enough, are found very often in clever men, the discoverer of the defect Dalton, the great scientist being himself color-blind. Color-blindness occurs In about three to four per cent of mules ami in a smaller number of females. It Is frequently hereditary, but, strangely enough, though the males suffer from the defect, the females carry it on. Color-blindness is a defect lu the registering apparatus in the brain and Is Incurable. It is of Importance to recognize the defect early, and to turn the attention of the sufferer to wqrlc In which this defect will not be a handicap. han-dicap. Such children should learn early that there is no work for them on the railway. Word-blindness Is a much more serious se-rious defect, and may be the cause of the difficulty some children find In learning to rend. They see correctly. Tested with figures or pictures, they may pass the standard, but the letters let-ters of the alphabet, when strung to-, gether to form words, convey no meaning mean-ing to them. The effect is due to a: want of association of the brain centers. cen-ters. The defect is usually mistaken at first to indicate defective eyesight,, but this is not so. It is noteworthy that these same children may show' considerable ease in reading figures, even money sums. To teacli these children to read, words must not betaken be-taken letter by letter, but as a whole, the word "cat" must be taken not asj "c-a-t," equals cat, but the whole thing must be the sign for cat. The, method Is known as the "look and say" plan, and by its aid it is possible to teach the child to read. |