Eternal Children (1959)

Oh, let me show you how. See, put that part up there. >> And that one foot. And there's the other foot. See it? >> I do that. >> Now you by yourself. >> All right. I do that. >> Hey, >> good. Now, let's see you do it. >> All right. There. Good girl. There's no >> a boy. Now let's put this one away. >> Good. Now you listen to me, Kevin. Got to listen carefully. Okay. Say two. >> Two. >> Six. Can you say six, Kevin? Six. >> Not a boy. Now, can you say 26 >> six? >> Say 26. >> 26. >> Kevin is a severely child. >> He is 9 years old, but he performs no better than a fouryear-old. That is what psychologists mean when they say his mental age is four. Kevin will mature physically, but mentally, no matter how long he lives, he will never be older than an average child of eight. The basic reason for this is inside Kevin's head. Well, to understand uh mental retardation and its cause, you must appreciate uh that the brain is the organ of the body which has to do with intelligence and something has damaged the brain early in life and this has caused the blowing up of the mental development. This uh damage may occur before the child is born. It may be a hereditary problem. It may be that uh the mother was bleeding during the pregnancy and the child during that time did not get proper nutrition. The child actually may have a difficult uh delivery and the brain may be damaged or the brain may suffer from a lack of uh sufficient oxygen at the time either due to the blood being cut off in the cord or many other reasons. Uh the third uh main group of causes are those which occur after birth. Uh car accidents any kind of an accident to a child which damages the brain may cause retardation. Then the infections menenitis uh encphilitis by encphilitis I mean an inflammation of the brain probably due to a virus any one of these infections may cause uh very serious there's no cure in that we cannot change the damage that a brain is a a very negative way of looking at because so much can be done to help uh these children to help them develop to make them or help them develop to their maximum potential. [music] There are an estimated 160,000 children in Canada today and the number is increasing by an estimated 13,000 a year. Mental retardation can happen at any time to any child in any family, no matter what the background. And it happens to three out of every 100 children born all over the world. It takes many forms. The most grossly children are totally handicapped. They are helpless crib cases and require constant nursing care in a hospital setting. They learn nothing, are never able to do anything for themselves. Their mental defects are usually combined with such serious physical dysfunction that until very recently not many survive beyond childhood. But the advent of wonder drugs has now made it possible to keep these children alive for years and years and years. At the other end of the scale are the mildly sometimes called slow learners. These children are close to normal. They attend special classes and take a simplified academic course. >> Now, this is the province of Quebec. We see it here on the map. This large area, this whole area here is the province of Quebec and it is on the eastern side of Canada on this side of the map. And now I'm going to ask one or two people a few questions about the province of Quebec. We just been speaking about it. Now, uh, Michelle, what is the largest province of Canada? >> Province Quebec. >> Quebec. That's quite right. Did you remember that, too? Did you remember that, Caroline? Which side of Canada is Quebec on? >> On each side. >> Now, um, >> this is the largest category of children, numbering some 140,000. They can learn a useful trade and become economically self-sufficient. Given the right help and understanding, the mildly can usually melt unnoticed into the general population and lead quite normal lives. >> That one >> there. >> Not so the middle group of severely Can you make it make it just like that? And I'll make mine and you make yours. >> There it is. >> You make yours look like mine. >> There. >> Does yours look like mine? >> There. >> Fix it up. Fix it up. >> You want me to fix it up for you? And then you'll do it by yourself. There. See? Now yours looks just like mine. Let let me mix yours up and you make them by yourself now. Go ahead. You make yours just like mine. Make them look the same. >> There. >> Does that look the same? >> Yeah. >> Good boy. Okay. >> Such children, though not totally dependent, will also never be completely independent. They will always need special help and supervision because it is impossible for them to learn to reason, to cope with change, >> to think. All right, let's put this away so it doesn't bother you. >> And now I want to ask you something, Kevin. Okay, will you listen? >> You listen carefully. Lemons are sour, but sugar is >> sugar in the morning. >> Sugar in the morning. Lemons are sour, >> but sugar is Oh, we better sit down. >> We did those. There are an estimated 16,000 severely children in Canada today. Until recently, most of them had no place to go and nothing to do. Public schools do not admit children of such low intelligence. Out of desperation, the parents of these children began 10 years ago to organize their own schools. >> [music] [music] [music] >> Today there are some 15 parent organized day schools for children spread across all 10 provinces. Some are in brand new buildings, others are just getting started in borrowed church basement. Most of them now receive some provincial aid. [music] >> [music] >> Such children were formerly given up as hopeless. These schools are in part an effort to find out how much they may be able to learn despite their mental deficiency. This is the largest parent organized school for children on the North American continent. Teaching children who learn only with great difficulty is a slow process requiring endless repetition and infinite patience. Everything these children ever learn to do may come hard. And all their victories and accomplishments may seem small ones, though not to them. >> Because they suffer extra frustration, these children require extra encouragement and praise. >> That's the B. Now we do your Sharon, will you do your shoe up, please? You better do your shoe up. Sit down here if you want and do it up. That's it. Get your zipper done up. >> Yeah. >> All right. Hold your chin up. >> Good boy. I think I'll have to show yours to the class when you get those rungs in there. Now you put the rungs across. That's a lovely ladder. And what are you doing, Bobby? I'm >> making a ladder. >> You're making a ladder, too? >> Yeah. >> Are you going to make a fireman's ladder like Billy Brown? >> Yeah. >> Well, let me see. You make two big long strokes down there. >> That's one. Now, make another one. >> Oh, I get more paint. >> That's the boy. Get more paint. And now put your rungs across and you're going to have a lovely ladder. In addition to their mental handicap, many of these children have poor coordination and severe speech defects. >> One way in which they learn to move and speak is by singing action songs. >> I'm a star and I can ride them. I can show you how it's done. SO, TEXASANG. >> VERY GOOD. [applause] >> WOULD you like to sing another song? >> That's right. Puppy. >> You say it puppy. >> Puppy. >> No. Say py. Children from all the school grades may need to attend speech therapy classes. >> Put the paper away and blow on the ball because we have to blow when we're talking. Eddie, you try it. No. Hold it right there, Eddie. Come on. Right in. It went very easy. Peter, now we're going to put the goal way down there. And you blow it down. >> Yeah. >> Right in. Isn't that good? >> You Which one is the good one? Which one is the good one? >> Me. >> Which is the bad one? >> Me. [laughter] >> Now, Barbara, what's your letter? >> Me. >> That's right. Would you say pi? >> Pie. >> Say it very easily like this. Pie. >> Pie. >> Just say p. And say puppy. >> No, your your lips are too tight. Make it loose like that. Puppy, don't blow so hard. Try it again. Puppy. That's a good puppy. All right. Now you have this. I think you like cake, don't you, Ward? >> Yes. >> Well, tell me that. I like cake. >> I like cake. >> What kind of cake? Say chocolate cake. >> Chocolate cake. >> Chocolate. >> Chocolate cake. >> And would you say come home? >> Come home. >> It's very good. Would you say kick the football? K football. >> It's nice. All right. Your letter is Mr. C. >> Now, who can tell me what month it is? >> Even after 12 years of continuous schooling, most of these children will not get beyond the first or second grade level and they will never be able to read for pleasure. Some people therefore feel that academic work is overstressed. >> But for their own safety, there are many key words they must learn to recognize and understand. Go. >> David's turn. >> Stop. Go. >> Penny's turn. >> Stop. Go. GOOD. >> Say good morning to you. >> Good morning. >> Good morning. >> Can I help you? >> Can I help you? >> What do you want? Um, >> numbers are especially difficult for children to learn because they are abstract. Some never catch on, never even learn to tell the time. >> But in the form of games such as this makebelieve store, most of the children do learn to count at least as far as 10, do simple arithmetic, handle real money, and make simple change. The more key words and objects they can be taught to recognize, the wider is their narrow world and the less of a burden they are to their families. >> Uh, beans. >> Beans, >> please. >> What else? He can't have >> uh >> T. Here it is. >> And now I ask for the price. >> What do you want? >> Tell them the price. How much is it? Count. >> Oh, it's a little bit more expensive. Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. >> Is that a change? >> Oh, I see. >> 10. There you are. >> Oh, we paid with a check before. >> Although children do not have academic skill, many can acquire some degree of manual skill, especially when the training starts early enough and continues long enough. The only work these children will be qualified to do when they grow up is manual, not intellectual. With that in mind, the schools are slowly beginning to give their children vocational training, teaching them to do simple, useful tasks which may one day help them to move towards partial independence. But the overall aim of these schools is developing the children's personalities, giving them emotional stability. Even if there were no other reasons, a happy child is less of a burden to himself and others than an unhappy one. >> Girls curtsy, boys. How do you do >> here? In a very real sense, kind hearts are more than coronets and simple faith than Norman blood. I will show you the way. >> Join la. [singing] [singing] La [applause] dancing labody [singing] wet. The special school gives these children a variety of experience. And like all children, they respond and grow. Not as much or as fast as normal children, but as much as they are able. >> And by helping the children, the school is in effect helping their parents. parents like Robbie Armor's mother, who knows from experience what it is like to realize that one of your children is >> Terrible, terrible disappointment. It was more a case of admitting to ourselves that he was because we had we knew there was something wrong from the time that he was a few months old. But it was very hard to put our finger on exactly what it was because he was physically not very strong and didn't eat well. And uh we thought that there was something physically wrong at first and as he didn't as he didn't develop uh the skills as he didn't sit up as soon as other children on we felt we felt that it was because we weren't feeding him properly and so on. And then and then even when we at three when we finally had to admit that that that it was a mental defect. There's a you wonder if you've done something wrong yourself. If perhaps you'd looked after him better or given him more attention, perhaps he would have developed or did you do something wrong before he was born that caused this? [snorts] So there is a certain feeling of guilt and then the fear of what this having this child is going to do to the to the other children in the family because I'd never seen a me a mentally person that I know of. All I knew was that some of my friends had brothers or sisters who weren't quite right in the head and been put away somewhere or lived in another part of the house with special attendants looking after them. So there was the terrific fear of the unknown. And then when we began to try to make plans, it felt as though we were up against a blank wall because there was there didn't seem to be any facilities for training him. He uh of course couldn't have couldn't go to the public schools and uh we uh there are the Ontario hospital schools, hospital training schools, but then they were even more overcrowded than they are now with a terrific waiting list. And the other possibility was a private school, private boarding school, but there the expense of that is absolutely prohibitive. And I don't know what we couldn't possibly have done anything for the other children if we'd had Robbie at one of those schools. And uh besides we wanted to have him at home. But it was uh the uh Toronto school opened just about the time that Robbie was ready to have some kind of training. And uh so that certainly relieved that problem. And we found that uh the children took the thing much more for granted than the adult does. And even the uh even the children's friends when they come to the house I have to ask questions but they accept my explanations and accept Robbie. And I suppose acceptance is the most important thing. Acceptance tends to stop at childhood. A child is one thing, a adult another. And the problem of the adult has not yet been fully faced. One possible solution is a sheltered workshop like this one in Toronto. So far, the only workshop of its kind in Canada. Here with supervision, young adults work for pay under subcontract to outside companies needing a variety of simple repetitive manual jobs. [music] >> [music] [music] >> the sheltered. Workshop looms large in the future plans of parent organizations as the next link in a continuing chain of community facilities for the [music] But a constantly accelerating world that prizes speed, values accuracy, rewards efficiency, and rates people on performance alone, is not hospitable to the severely And as automation spreads, more and more of the repetitive manual jobs for which they are suited are being taken over by machines. Many of the will end up in special institutions where they will find companionship and recreation arranged for them. Activities which everyone wants and needs, but which these people are usually helpless to manage for themselves. Here [music] they will also find work tailored to their capacities. Work which is useful to the institution allows them to feel useful to themselves and does not make excessive demands on their limited ability to read, write and counting [music] facilities. however, can only take care of a percentage of the large and increasing number of mental retardates in our population. >> But of course, the the future is the is the great worry now because he has his school. I think he's getting I'm very happy about the sort of training he's getting and in his social life at the moment he has he fits into the family very happily and there he plays with his friends on the street younger children but he has I think a very happy life but at 18 he'll be finished school and what happens then I remember I've been simply haunted by a picture magazine of a boy I think it was an American magazine of a boy who'd been through the uh local training which there was for children, but he finished it. And this picture just showed him sitting alone in a city flat watching TV while the rest of the family were out working. And I think that boy's parents were still alive. But I I Robbie must not be a charge on his sisters when they're growing up. when they're grown up after we're gone and they have their families or their careers, it wouldn't be fair to them and it wouldn't be fair to Robbie because he needs affection. He must have love and if he if he is an incubus on and interfering with their lives, I think it'd be very hard for them to give him the love he should have. >> But what do you think is going to happen to Robbie when he grows up? >> I don't know. Boys grow up to be men and girls to bear that one, Kevin. >> Yeah. >> You look at me so you can understand me better. Kevin. >> A boy. Boys grow up to be men and girls to be >> [music] [music]