Book Description

Excerpt from The Psychology of Special, Disability in Spelling The experiment here described was carried on during the academic year 1916-1917 at Teachers College, Columbia University. We wished (1) to observe, over a considerable period of time, the learning of pupils with special pedagogical defects, i.e., those pupils who are of normal general capacity, but who are incompetent in one particular school subject; (2) to apply psychological tests to such pupils, with a view to a diagnosis of their disabilities; and (3) to discover and devise, if might be, remedies for such defects. Incidentally we wished also to study the psychological processes involved in mastering the two school subjects, arithmetic and spelling. Two experiments were therefore undertaken, one with pupils who showed special disability in arithmetic, and another with pupils who showed special disability in spelling. The present report has to do with the group whose defect was in spelling. The work was so organized that Miss Winford became responsible for the actual teaching of the Experimental Class in spelling. Dr. Hollingworth was responsible for the psychological analyses, and for the planning of specific experiments, and is responsible for the conclusions set forth in this report. Miss Maud Keator, assistant in charge of Experimental Classes in Teachers College, taught the 'Arithmetic Group', which served as a control for the experimental teaching of spelling. Professor E. L. Thorndike originally conceived the plan of studying special defects thus, in experimental classes, and he and Professor F. G. Bonser gave much time and thought to guidance of the work. Special thanks are due to Mr. Solomon Lowenstein, superintendent of The Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York City, and to Mr. L. J. Simmonds, assistant superintendent of The Hebrew Orphan Asylum, for their intelligent and sympathetic cooperation. They allowed us freely to select from the children under their care, in Public School No. 192, those who needed special attention such as we wished to give, and they looked after the punctuality and regularity of attendance of the pupils throughout the school year. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.