re five years of age. If she has
the patience and the time to follow the directions given, she will have
done her child a very great service; the greatest that lies within her
power; and she will have laid the foundation for a more rapid and better
development of speech than would have been possible without her
preliminary training.

Not every mother will find it possible to carry out all the suggestions
offered in this little book, but no one should feel discouraged on that
account. It seemed best to offer too many suggestions rather than too
few, because these pages may fall into the hands of some mothers whose
situation is such that full advantage can be taken of every idea here
given. Presence of too much matter in the little book will not destroy
its usefulness in cases where only a portion can be applied, whereas the
lack of some of the ideas might limit its value in certain instances.
No one should give up in despair just because it is not possible to do
all that is here suggested. Something, at least, can be found here which
it is possible to do that will help very much.

Sometimes, through a false sense of shame, or through ignorance of the
possibilities open to a deaf child, mothers have refused to admit that
their children were deaf, or to allow anything to be done for them,
until very valuable time has been lost. This is unfair to the child, and
very wrong. A mother should have only pity for the deaf child and
eagerness to aid him to overcome his handicap so far as possible. Delay
in frankly facing the facts and in taking all possible measures to
develop the remaining faculties will in the end only increase the
mother's shame and add to it the pangs of remorse.

In a little book written to guide physicians in advising parents of deaf
children, I said:

"The situation of a deaf child differs very much, from an educational
standpoint, from that of the little hearing child. Two hours a day
playing educational games in a kindergarten is as much as is usually
given, or is needful, for the little hearing child up to six or seven
years of age; and his mental development and success in after life will
not be seriously endangered if even that is omitted and he does not
begin to go to school until he is eight or nine. The hearing child of
eight who has never been in school and cannot read or write has,
nevertheless, without conscious effort, mastered the two most important
educational tasks in life. He has learned