Successful Ministry to the Retarded[ETowns] - Elmer Towns

Appendix OneHistorical Survey of Mental RetardationIn reviewing the literature in the field of mental retardation, one becomes aware of thevaluable contributions made in the field by such pioneers as Jean Marc Itard, Edward Seguin, andMarie Montessori. The work of these pioneers and their disciples during the nineteenth centurymay well be viewed as the first golden age for the mentally retarded pupil. 1Much progress has been made since the time when all mentally retarded children werebelieved to be possessed by demons which could only be expelled by magic and prayer. In ancienttimes the lot of the retarded was hopeless, the Spartans simply let them die of exposure. Theearliest known patron, the fourth-century prelate, the Bishop of Myra, has been described asprotector of the feebleminded; however, be is patron saint of all children and not qualified tofigure in the chronicles of mental retardation. 2The rise of Christianity marked a gradual change in attitude. During the Christian era, theretarded were sheltered and treated much more humanely. The nineteenth century saw theproblem of care and training of retarded individuals solved in a more scientific manner with suchleaders as Itard, Seguin, Montessori and Decroly pioneering in what is now termed "specialeducation."Jean Marc Itard, a French philosopher (1774-1838), used methods of experimentalpsychology in attempting to teach or enculturate a retarded child. 3 He was inspired by thephilosophy of sensationalism and the French post-revolutionary belief that man had unlimitedpossibilities, and that education and environment were factors in mental development. 4In 1799 a boy about twelve years of age was captured in the forest of Aveyron in southernFrance. This boy, whom they called Victor, resembled a wild animal more than a human being.He was unable to speak, he selected his food by smell, attempted to escape, and in general did notrespond like a human being. Reacting as an animal, be was consequently called "The Wild Boy ofAveyron." Itard felt that this boy was a good example of a completely untutored human being,and that with proper educational procedures applied to the training of the senses, this untutoredboy could be made human. 5He embodied his program into five propositions:1. To endear him to social life, by making it more congenial than the one he was nowleading.2. To awaken his nervous sensibility, by the most energetic stimulations; and at other timesby quickening the affections of the soul.3. To extend the sphere of his ideas, by creating new wants, and multiplying his associationswith surrounding beings.4. To lead him to the use of speech, by determining the exercise of imitation, under the spurof necessity.5. To exercise the simple operations of his mind upon his physical wants, and therefromderive the application of the same to objects of instruction. 6In 1802 he framed another program, more fitted for an idiot than a savage, whose foundationwas physiological and whose generality embraced: (1) the development of the senses, (2) thedevelopment of the intellectual facilities, and (3) the development of the affective functions. 7