File:Nutrition and growth in children (1922) (14782475214).jpg

Identifier: nutritiongrowth00emer (find matches)
Title: Nutrition and growth in children
Year: 1922 (1920s)
Authors: Emerson, William R. P. (William Robie Patten), b. 1869
Subjects: Children Growth
Publisher: New York, London, D. Appleton and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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Text Appearing Before Image:
Similarly, such physical abnormalities as
hare-lip, arched palate, ill-shapen head, ear, or
limb, are not conclusive proofs of mental defi-
ciency, although they are more frequently found
in mentally defective than in normal children.
Individuals vary, but any wide variation, either
mental or physical, should be investigated.
It is the task of the nutrition clinic to de-
termine by careful study and observation the
significance of any of these symptoms that ap
-pear in the children admitted for treatment.
Mental development closely parallels physical
development, and any failure on the part of a
child to show the interests and activities usual
in children of his age should challenge atten-
tion. One of the best tests is the first impres-
sion made on the examining physician. If, in
addition to this, the history shows that the child
did not walk or talk at two years, that he has
been difficult to get along with, or defiant of
fundamental social law, this combined evidencej
ustifies a thorough mental examination. In

44
Text Appearing After Image:

Figure 11. mental retardation or mental deficiency
Tom was 11 per cent underweight, a mouth breather, with round
shoulders, flat chest, spinal curvature, and flabby muscles. Ho was
considered stupid, and kept after school in a vain attempt to hold him
up to his grade. The right half of the picture shows him after his
diseased adenoids and tonsils had been removed and he had followed
directions as to diet and rest. The transformation in his con-
dition can be seen to be mental as well as physical.

MENTAL EXAMINATION

most communities there are trained experts who
can pass authoritatively upon a childs mental
condition. In consulting such a specialist all
available data from the nutrition class should be
supplied him to aid in his investigation of the
child's mental health.
In questionable cases, however, the child
should be given the benefit of the doubt, and an
effort made to correct his malnutrition. It
should be remembered that the unmanageable
child is more often ill than bad or deficient.

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