viduals in need of rehabilitation, and after careful analyses of the cases gave its expert opinion on the problems presented. This method of dealing with concrete cases familiarized these personnel managers with vocational rehabilitation work, and through the committee an understanding of the work was given to others prominent in industrial concerns. One method of reaching most of the employers of the city was to send them an occasional bulletin, describing the work briefly and suggesting certain handicapped persons for various kinds of employment. Many employment managers accepted the opportunity of employing a person for whom they had a place. Such a plan extends quite effectively the policies and ideals of rehabilitation work to the industries of a city, and in the process provides placement opportunities as well. Just the other day an employment manager who had gained a knowledge of the work through the bulletins which he had received from the committee, called for three persons who were handicapped by leg injuries. There are various devices which might serve to interest employers. One that was used was a conference of employers which took up some problems pertinent to rehabilitation. In these and other ways employers are informed concerning vocational rehabilitation work, and thereby the problem of placement is simplified.

Perhaps there have been few concrete suggestions for placement, but rather I wish to emphasize the importance of developing a program which gives a concrete knowledge of rehabilitation work to employers, and that understanding provides opportunities for placement on a sound basis. But it is more important that interpretation may serve to instruct industries in vocational rehabilitation so that more extensive work may be carried on to further the interests of the disabled.

Chairman FOSTER. We will next take up "Training methods." Mr. Willis W. Grant, supervisor of Iowa, will speak to us on "Feasibility." Mr. Grant.

TRAINING METHODS: FEASIBILITY

W. W. GRANT, Supervisor of Rehabilitation, Iowa

It is only possible in a five-minute paper on such a broad subject to bring out some points for discussion where there may be differences of opinion. It goes without saying that we are all striving to make our work as effective as possible. Conditions vary in each State and policies are often determined by the opinions of those higher in authority and in less intimate contact with the work. These discussions are doing much to bring about a general policy which is based on our combined experience, but I hope we will never reach

the time when each State and each individual worker is not free to make some adjustments due to local conditions.

There is danger of confusion because we are thinking of different type cases. I suggest for the moment that we divide our problem, not as to disabilities, arm, leg, hearing, etc., but into two general divisions, the young or immature and the mature. In the immature group I would place some cases up to 35 years while some cases as young as 25 would be considered mature. I am not including mental defectives. I am mindful, however, of the old college president. He said he always made it a practice to keep on friendly terms with the students who were dropped because of failure in studies. He found that, later, many of these were able to make the largest contributions to the endowment funds.

My division of cases is none too well defined but I am trying to arrive at a basis for the discussion of two separate groups. On the one hand we have the victim of congenital and childhood deformities and on the other the person who is incapacitated after normal adult activity.

By "mature" I mean a person of fixed habits of thought. It will include the man we visualize when we speak of the "working man." In considering this class I agree that we should get them back into employment as quickly as possible, either with or without limited practical training. I believe this for two reasons: First, because they have either acquired family responsibilities or have demonstrated inability to carry such responsibilities. Second, they have acquired either stability in employment or are unstable. Those who are stable will probably have friends among employers and fellow workmen who will make it comparatively easy for them to return to employment. Many of these never come to our attention.

It is the unstable ones who cause all our gray hairs. They were not very desirable employees when able-bodied; they are not more so now. Training, or any service for that matter, to this group is wasted. It is because they are so troublesome that many think of this as our largest group. If there were some method of segregating and eliminating all of these, rehabilitation would be as useful and have as much prestige as before. Of course we can not refuse our service to anyone, but I think our agents can acquire skill in sensing and avoiding an extensive training program with these potential failures.

In my personal contact with disabled persons I am constantly on the alert for the person's natural opportunities. I mean a cousin who is a foreman, or his membership in some organization, or a sympathetic employer, and so on. We trained a man who lost a leg in a coal mine to become a barber despite the fact that his hands

were large and he was unskilled with tools. Why? He lives in a mining town and has a host of friends there. He has started his own shop and is successful. We gave another man placement training in a shoe repair shop, regardless of the fact that he was a foreign laborer and an inebriate. He is now buying the shop which is modern and well equipped. Why? Because he had a friend, a substantial business man, who had faith in him and has watched over him daily. We played up natural advantages.

Turning to the other division, the younger group. This is by far the most promising field. We must approach this from a different viewpoint. Nothing is settled and very little is demonstrated as to their future possibilities. We face a responsibility and an opportunity. The group includes potential giants and potential failures. They have the natural advantage which everyone concedes to youth. It will not be so difficult to separate the successes from the failures. Open the opportunity to all and the undesirables will drop out. They haven't the determination. In Iowa, where the opportunities for education are universal, we are able to look for our most hopeful prospects in the graduating class of high school. They have demonstrated some measure of ability. It seems unwise and unnecessary to approach this group with a policy of limited training. The outstanding men of our day who have overcome serious physical defects have always made their success through intellectual activities. Is it not our responsibility to develop such latent ability wherever it may be found? A mechanical-minded high-school graduate stands many more chances of permanent success as a graduate engineer than he would in restricted jobs in a machine shop. Why should we hesitate if he provides his own maintenance expense? Can not we balance his probable earning capacity against his cost of training with as much satisfaction as we do with cases in general?

We must not get away from the old original "job objective." In dealing with the younger group it seems necessary to insist that all hands think in terms of ultimate jobs rather than courses of study. Results must be practical. Sometimes it happens that we train some one for one job and he finds quite different employment. This is still good rehabilitation, for he probably would not have landed in either job without the training. I dare say there are few persons present who trained themselves years ago for their present position. Yet we would not have our jobs without training. The elements of chance and adapability enter into every life, and we must not neglect any factors in our problem.

To descend to more concrete subjects, I want to hurriedly hand out a few problems for discussion. I notice a few of the States are naming types of cases that are not "eligible." Would it not be more

correct to say not " feasible," or is it agreed that a State may refuse to serve a class and still be within the Federal act. Do these States feel embarrassment in refusing service to an individual in a restricted class?

Is it universal to consider lip reading for the adult deaf vocational training? We feel that it is almost essential, and sometimes start the lip reading before a job objective can be determined.

Are you influenced by the extent of the disability in determining the amount that may be spent on a case? Is this logical and is it satisfactory?

Is a great variety of training an evidence of enterprise and sound judgment? Somehow it seems wise to consider the market. Where it is difficult to find a training opportunity for an occupation it generally means that there is no great demand for new workers in that line. If it is an unusual occupation, changed conditions may throw the worker out of employment permanently. This is an argument, by the way, against too free use of correspondence courses.

I wish I could open up the problems of the blind and the tuberculous and the "shut-ins" that are still far from being "shut-out " and many others, but the time is limited.

If there is anything in this paper worth remembering it is that each case is an original problem and differs from any other. The greatest difference is not in the curvature of the cervical spine but in the push and ambition and the "will to do" and their natural opportunities for doing it. Any limitations in training that may be imposed should be made after recognizing two distinct types of disabled persons, the young and the mature.

Chairman FOSTER. Mr. Clarke, of Illinois, will now talk to us on "Supervision." Mr. Clarke.

TRAINING METHODS: SUPERVISION

RUSSELL R. CLARKE, Assistant Supervisor of Rehabilitation,

Illinois.

Mr. Chairman, ladies, and gentlemen: When one is assigned a subject to discuss, he usually feels that his particular assignment is the most important one on the program, and that is how I feel about Supervision," the subject assigned to me on this occasion. It is a broad subject and begins with the first contact with the eligible applicant for rehabilitation service and continues throughout the period of selecting a suitable vocation, the period of training or preparation for it, the period of probationary employment, and until a final closure is made in the case. It is a part of the program from the very start until the finish.

Supervision, as I understand it, is the act or rather the acts of assisting the client in selecting the proper vocation, in securing the right preparation, in seeing to it that he receives the best possible training available; that he obtains the job for which he is prepared; that he takes full advantage of his opportunities; and that he does not take advantage of his State and Government.

To obtain the best results from a rehabilitation program, it is essential that proper supervision be given.

When a school training program is in force, it is comparatively an easy matter to maintain a good supervisory relation with the trainee. In fact, the organized and recognized schools are both willing and anxious to render all aid possible and to meet the requirements of the rehabilitation department in making regular and special progress reports on the students in their respective institutions.

In Illinois, our general rule is to contract with the school for training of a given nature for the individual, agreeing to pay a certain sum for it, but paying it in monthly installments of so much per month until the full amount is paid, or until the student is, for some reason, discontinued. The school is required to present its bill at the end of each month of training. The bill must be accompanied by a training report covering the period for which bill is rendered, which report sets forth the student's progress during that time, showing the number of days present, days absent and reasons for absence, if any, grades made, and other pertinent facts. The report is signed by both the head of the school and the student and serves as a validating receipt for the service rendered, after which, the bill is vouchered for payment.

It is desirable that such friendly relations between the department and the schools be maintained as will be conducive to their full and free cooperation in rehabilitation work as a whole and particularly to the students placed in their charge. It is quite as necessary to sell the school the rehabilitation idea as it is the employer; certainly nothing is of more importance than the interested cooperation of the training agency in the trainee. The success of a rehabilitation program depends very largely upon the ability and whole-heartedness and willingness of the agency to properly qualify the student for his chosen line of work. To be sure no one is in a better position to impart encouragement and guide the student than the school and at the same time keep the department informed as to his attitude and general status.

It is essential that we use only responsible schools and those whose faculties are in sympathy with and believe in rehabilitation. It is only through this character of organization, that satisfactory cooperation may be had.