BOOKS AND EVERYDAY LIFE
In Cushla and her books Dorothy Butler has given us quite a remarkable portrait of a girl chronically ill from birth who has had long periods in hospitals in great pain. She suffers from a delayed physical development which includes difficulty in focusing her eyes and controlling her movements. Some doctors also think she is mentally retarded. She is lucky enough to have had a happy childhood thanks to plenty of books from as early an age as four months. Her parents have to carry her most of the day and night, comforting her, and helping her through fits. They constantly sing and read to her and show her pictures. The sound of the human voice and the sight of colour, calm and stimulate her at the same time. It becomes natural for these parents to use picture books, rhymes and lullabyes. The author says in a post-script:
| "How can one assess the contribution of her books to the quality of Cushla's life? It seems clear that access to such a wealth of words and pictures, in a setting of consistent love and support, has contributed enormously to her cognitive development in general and her language in particular. But perhaps, most of all, Cushla's books have surrounded her with friends; with people and warmth and colour during the days when her life was lived in almost constant pain and frustration. The adults who have loved her and have tried to represent the world to her when she could not do this for herself have played their parts. But perhaps it was the characters themselves who went with her into the dark and lonely places that only she knew. And perhaps they will always be with her; Peter Rabbit and Grandmother Lucy, Mr. Gumpy and James, followed by a procession of cats and kings, tigers and bears, with Davy and Emma and Naughty Agapanthus bringing up the rear. If so, she will be well fortified. Perhaps Cushla's own words, recorded on 18 August 1975, when she was three years, eight months old, tell us all we need to know. They were spoken as she settled herself on the sofa, her rag doll in her arms and the usual pile of books at her side: "Now I can read to Lobby Lou, 'cause she's tired and sad, and she needs a cuddle and a bottle and a book." Surely a prescription for any child, with or without handicaps." |
And the author concludes:
| "Seven years ago, before Cushla was born, I would have laid claim to a deep faith in the power of books to enrich children's lives. By comparison with my present conviction, this faith was a shallow thing. I know now what print and picture have to offer a child who is cut off from the world, for whatever reason. But I know also that there must be another human being, prepared to intercede, before anything can happen. Had she been born to other parents - however intelligent and well-intentioned - Cushla might never have encountered, as a baby, word and picture between the covers of a book. Certainly, no authority prescribes reading aloud for chronically ill babies whose handicaps are thought to be mental as well as physical. It is in the hope of recruiting more human links between books and the handicapped children of the world that Cushla's parents have agreed to the publication of her story. We are all confident that a much older Cushla will want to help with this recruitment. We think that Cushla's belief in books as bridges may be even stronger than ours." |
A handicap of whatever kind almost always means loneliness. "The children in children's books are our friends" the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren once said. Handicapped children need friends more than others because they will usually be more lonely than other children.
Cushla's parents started with books when Cushla was only four months old. According to recent brain research, an unborn child reacts to sounds as early as the 16th - 18th week so there is no reason why we should not sing for it before birth. Many young people in our economically developed countries often live far from their relatives, and cannot remember the old songs and lullabyes. There is a need for collections of lullabyes and nursery rhymes so that parents can learn them or be reminded of the songs they heard when they were children. It is important for all children to be sung to, just as it is important for all children to experience colour in picture books from an early age and to recognize objects from daily life in their books. It is even more important for those who are handicapped from the start.
At the very beginning of the child's life one must start with rhymes and lullabyes and picture books. This is one of the most important pieces of advice that doctors, psychologists and welfare workers can give the parents of handicapped children. They must be able to obtain counsel as to which books they should buy or borrow from the library. Librarians should also realize that is the parents of disabled children who are most in need of constant good advice and help to find suitable books. Here one can use most of the usual picture books for language-retarded children, provided they are not too complicated or frightening. It is important that we use them, as at this age one lays the foundation for interest in books. Not only will good picture books make children familiar with books so that they will profit by them for the rest of their lives, they will also help brain damaged, autistic and retarded children to learn to concentrate at an early age.
Children should be familiar with books before they become conscious of their own language problems. They need to have a good relationship with books before books become a problem, which they undoubtedly will later on since the written word is more difficult to master than the spoken word. Learning to read is complicated and the feeling of defeat can be overwhelming when one has problems with both talking and reading. Books must be associated with happy feelings from the earliest age, while the child sits on the lap and parent and child look at books together. This is important in trying to lay a foundation for their future. Many children with delayed speech will never get as far as asking anybody to read to them. The adult must take the initiative. When it comes to the most helpless ones, it is often of no use to read to them. Instead we must tell them very simple stories, repeating the less common words in many different contexts and pointing at the pictures, talking quietly.
Not only parents but other adults as well should help to stimulate speech by means of picture books and rhymes. Handicapped children need kindergarten staff and school teachers and social workers for speech training and contact. The difficulties in obtaining the right books increase as the children grow. When they discover that they talk and are not understood, or do not understand others, or cannot find the right words, it is not surprising that they avoid books, for books consist of words and words are associated with confusion and defeat. It is therefore important to obtain a good relationshop with books from the earliest years. But it is never too late to begin. Even when the children grow older one should continue to use picture books but not books for small children. One should search for illustrations of things and activities which interest them. Picture books are necessary throughout childhood. The pictures must tell a story and the text must be brief and simple. Gradually one can pass over to books with more text and fewer pictures. Even if the contents are simple or trivial, one must not forget the significance of recognizing feelings: loneliness, anger, or happiness. The story should end safely, however, not in fear or anger.
Development of language and reading go hand in hand and it is therefore important that we produce books for these language retarded children that will encourage them to communicate. In our society, reading is the key to information. In reading to the handicapped child, the results perhaps will show much later on. We must realize, however, that the development of language and the corresponding level of reading are often delayed several years.
For those who struggle with the art of reading, we need a wide choice of books. As a matter of course, we need many easily read books which are tempting and amusing. We need them for the other children too, but we need them far more for those who strive very hard to read so that they will feel that their efforts are worthwhile. We must have easily read books for different interests and age groups, and we must use insight and knowledge of what makes a book easily read.
To conclude: The child needs picture books and rhymes, and it needs to be read to even after it has learnt to read. There is a need for easy reading material while one is learning to read, even if the learning process should last ten years instead of one. There is a need for gradually more difficult books with varied and wide ranging content at every stage. The children should become familiar with books from their earliest years. They can only obtain this by continually having a wide range of good books. They need to be read to as often as possible, to enrich their vocabulary, and to stimulate their imagination, Their parents and others who have them in their care need guidance in finding suitable literature.
"Suddenly, as we were walking along, Britta took out her story book and smelt it. Then we all smelt it too. New books smell so good that you can almost feel from the smell how lovely it will be read them", the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren writes in "The Six Bullerby Children". We wish all children could share such experiences.