ABSTRACT
Whereas idiots and imbeciles, and sometimes even the feeble-minded, may be recognised in the cradle, and their parents may therefore be early reconciled to their misfortune, it is otherwise with backward children. Backward children closely resemble normal children. Moreover, while the deeply defective children are in the eyes of parents merely helpless children, those of lesser defect - backward children are frequently a source of great trouble and anxiety to their parents. The mental defect may exist from birth, though not recognisable, or it may be due to some disease which weakened the brain in infancy. Every effort should be made in elementary schools to distinguish between the backward and the normal child, and it should be part of the teacher's duty to classify them. The best known of the methods for testing the mental ability of school children is that devised by Binet, the purpose of which is to rank them according to mental age.
