Re: My Methods with School Children

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Lelouch Lamperouge

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Nov 20, 2009, 5:15:12 AM11/20/09

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My Methods with School Children
By a Public School Nurse
——
Editor's Note.—Better Eyesight considers itself fortunate to be
able to publish this remarkable record of the improvement of the
vision of school children by means of the methods which it advocates.
The attitude of the educational authorities toward the beneficent work
of this public-spirited nurse is noteworthy.
——
On re-reading an article in the August (1920) issue of "Better
Eyesight" I find that a nurse, after inquiry in regard to treatment of
the eyes without glasses, and observations at Dr. Bates' clinic, said
she would treat the children at school in the same way. I started last
fall, in a district school, located in one of the suburbs of New York
City, to do likewise, but, unfortunately, after having helped several
children, I am advised by the school authorities to discontinue.
However I shall give some idea of the work already accomplished.
In the examination for records of the children's eyesight, etc., I
found several quite below normal—some with one eye more than normal
and the other far below. In one case for instance, the left eye was
20/13 and the right 9/200. This child, Catherine, after having been
shown how to practice, was able to help herself by cutting the letters
from a newspaper and pinning them to the wall, until she procured a
test card. At the present time her sight is 12/50 in the right eye, a
four-fold improvement. All this she has done by her own efforts and
practice at home. I have helped her only once since the first
examination in the latter part of March. Her mother has taken off her
glasses, too, and does not suffer any more with burning of the eyes,
as she did formerly. She is grateful, and much pleased with her
success.
Another child I brought to the clinic, and Dr. Bates saw him after
I had helped to correct a squint in the left eye, which remains
straight unless he strains. The correction occured at the beginning of
the school year. The child's sight has also improved, in spite of the
fact that he practices less at home than any of the others and needs
constant urging.
The children come to me just before the close of the morning
session, sometimes only for fifteen minutes. They palm and do the
swing, either the head alone or the entire body. Lately I've found
that the swing was more successful than palming alone.
When examining the children in the classroom I found they could
read the twenty line at twenty feet after starting at thirty or forty,
if the strain was relieved in this way: I would point to a letter or
number on the thirty or forty line and then return to the twenty line.
Almost immediately they would read 20/20.
One boy I started at 20/20. For some reason he could not read a
letter until he got to the top of the card. I then had him palm and
read with each eye alternately. In a few moments he had read correctly
every line to the very end—20/20.
All the children are greatly interested and pleased with their
progress, and the parents fully approve. In every instance I have let
the parents decide whether or not the children should be treated so
that they would not need glasses. The children themselves say very
emphatically that they will not wear glasses.
——
Questions and Answers
All readers of this magazine are invited to send questions to the
editor regarding any difficulties they may experience in using the
various methods of treatment which it recommends. These will be
answered as promptly as possible, in the magazine, if space permits,
otherwise by mail. Kindly enclose a stamped, addressed envelope.
——
Snellen Test Cards
There should be a Snellen test card in every family and in every
school classroom. When properly used it always improves the sight even
when it is already normal. Children or adults with errors of
refraction, if they have never worn glasses, are cured simply by
reading every day the smallest letters they can see at a distance of
ten, fifteen, or twenty feet.
For Sale By
The Central Fixation Publishing Company
Paper—50 Cents
Cardboard (folding)—75 Cents
Delivered
A limited number of reprints of articles by Dr. Bates published in
other medical journals also for sale. Send for list. Also back numbers
of "Better Eyesight". First twelve numbers, $3.00; bound in cloth,
$1.25 extra; single copies, 30 cents.
——-
Fundamentals of Treatment
Better Eyesight
A monthly magazine devoted to the prevention and cure of imperfect
sight without glasses
Copyright, 1921, by the Central Fixation Publishing Company
Editor—W. H. Bates, M.D.
Publisher—Central Fixation Publishing Co.
$2.00 per year, 20 cents per copy
300 Madison Avenue, New York, N. Y.
Vol. IV - June, 1921 - No. 6
——-