Abstract
Mont St-Aubert is a small medico-pedagogic institute in its first years of organization, which is located near Quebec city and is administered by the Brothers of St-Jean-de-Dieu. Twenty-nine educable mental defectives, from 12 to 18 years of age with an I.Q. of between 50 and 80 are accepted in this institution.
In the last 10 years or since 1948, more than 100 defective boys have been discharged from Mont St-Aubert, of which 20 were returned to their family, the others being orphans for whom home and employment had to be provided. 50% work in a farm; 19.3% as labourers; and 36% as dish-washers. The others are helpers, messengers, specialized workmen, taxi drivers, soldiers, shoe shiners, etc.
Their adaptation has been judged excellent in 56.7% of cases, fair in 14.4% and bad in 28.9%. In 79.4% of these children, one, two or three changes of jobs were necessary, while for the others we had to do four or more attempts.
Criteria for putting them on a job are, to our mind, a good conduct, a good morality, the capacity to do the job offered, a good health and fairly good looks. Intellectual quotient, regularity to work, behavior in the institution, character and emotional stability must be evaluated.
A fairly good number of mental defectives have some intellectual potential and particularly with character and behavior stability and fairly good physical resistance can be socially adapted in satisfactory condition.
They must be provided with sustained help and in that respect the invaluable assistance given by social agencies, such as in Quebec the “Sauvegarde de l'Enfance” is to be recognized, because of their help and protection to defective children.
The sheltered workshops, which have become quite extensively used in the U.S.A., appear to be a very interesting solution to the problem, by the patient on his own, as well as that who is in an institution.
The future of the mental defective represents a medico-pedagogic problem when medecine must be of assistance to pedagogy.