The significance of individual differences in relation to reading

be referred to medical care as early as they are discovered or as it is possible for them to do it. However, there is another kind of remedial work to which I want to direct your special attention. It offers a real opportunity for effective measures with very little effort and does not require highly specialized assistance. It has been pointed out in these remarks that two very definite conditions exist. Namely, that the preponderance of hearing impairments among the pupils of the public schools is of the mild type, averaging only less than twenty-five per cent loss, and that a great factor in the handicaps of this type is adverse acoustic conditions. Many of the cases of hearing impairment-about one-third of the total cases-are seriously impaired in only one ear. This means that about all that is needed to meet the conditions of the majority of cases is careful seating so that they are placed in the most favorable location with reference to the principal sources of sound, supervision, and direction. In cases of unilateral deafness the best ear should be put forward, for it is possible to put the best ear forward just as it is to put the best foot forward. The fact that the component parts of speech sounds vary greatly in intensity or loudness raises the slight disabilities described to a point of major importance. The vowels contribute to the loudness of speech; but its intelligibility depends upon the initial and final consonants of the syllables. These consonants are extremely weak by comparison with the vowels and may be easily obliterated by slight losses

Developmental psychology · Linguistics · Mathematics education · Reading (process · Relation (database · Assistive Technology in Communication and Mobility · Child and Adolescent Health · Computer Science · Psychology