https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-picayune-blind-deaf-man-seei/209779868/

Blind, deaf man “seeing” city with his fingertips 

Visits Vieux Carre, Finds Landmarks “Interesting“

By Ellen Middlebrook

Thirty-one-year-old Tad Chapman of Redfield, South Dakota, is taking in the sights and sounds of New Orleans with his fingertips. 

The fact that he has been blind and deaf since he was four years old has not hindered him in “seeing” the Vieux Carre, churches, libraries, and museums of the city which he finds “very interesting“.

By day, he visits historical spots with his parents, Dr. and Mrs. W. S. Chapman and by night he records all his experiences in a diary that comprises a running story of his life.

 Finds City Interesting

“New Orleans is a very interesting city,“ he said in a clearly enunciated monotone. “I enjoyed my visit to the Southern Regional Laboratory because it is a place where people are trying new experiments for the future. It was fun and a privilege.”

Tad converses easily with anyone by placing his thumb on the lips and he is the first deaf and blind person in the United States, his parents said, to learn to communicate with people through their normal speech instead of a system of spelling words with a code. 

“When he goes on a sightseeing tour he touches everything and ask questions about them“, said Mrs. J. B. Davies, 3888 Colbert, who accompanied the family on their rounds Monday. “When we visited the Cabildo, we were wondering what the date of the Battle of New Orleans was until Mrs. Chapman asked Tad and he told us.”

 Remembers Everything

“Oh yes, he remembers everything,” said Mrs. Chapman as she exhibited his diary, it was full of descriptions, names, numbers, and statistics. 

He demonstrated how he writes his notes first on his braille machine, then types them on his typewriter. He keeps busy every minute of the day – either by typing, reading, weaving attractive woolen rugs, or playing the piano. 

“The sound of music goes up my arms and sings to me more beautifully than I can sing,” he explained. His mother added that when he is at home, he plays the piano about two hours each day because it “relaxes him and he enjoys it.”

Tad lost his sight and hearing when he had cerebral meningitis at the age of four. When he recuperated, he had forgotten how to talk and his parents first communicated with him by making signs with his hands. 

 A year later, he was enrolled in the Sioux Falls South Dakota School for the Deaf, and because his father insisted, his teachers bypassed finger-spelling, and from the start taught him to understand their speech. 

Learns Words Quickly 

“I believed that if Helen Keller had learned to speak at the age of 13 that a child could learn to speak too, “Dr. Chapman explained. “It had never been tried before, but within six months Tad learned to understand some words when spoken to him and he would repeat them until he learned to do it correctly.”

Tad finished the eighth grade in Sioux Falls and graduated from high school at the Perkins Institution in Waterton, Massachusetts in 1938. He took two years of Latin and French and after graduation traveled throughout South Africa on a lecture tour to stimulate interest in the work for the deaf and blind. 

His mother, who hovers over him affectionately, constantly interpreting the events of the day, said that he started taking piano lessons when he was eight years old. 

 Taught to Play Piano

His little sister played the piano, and he begged to be taught, but his teacher, Miss Inis B. Hall, now director of a school for the blind and deaf in California, did not think his schedule could include music lessons. 

 “Then one day, Tad asked Miss Hall if it was wicked for a little blind and deaf boys to learn to play the piano, so she softened and started giving him lessons. 

Because Tad likes to travel, he and his parents are touring the country in a trailer.

A Preliminary Study of Tad Chapman - A Case of Deaf Blindness

 A preliminary study of Tad Chapman a case of deaf blindness

 by Robert H Gault 

Gault, Robert H. (Robert Harvey), 1874-1971 | Archival and Manuscript Collections

With his attendant, Miss Amanda Harmening, Tad Chapman visited my laboratory daily, morning and afternoon, from September 2 until the ninth 1931.

Tad is 16 years of age and there is no evidence he either sees or hears. Certainly, he does not hear the human voice. He has been in this condition since his fourth year of age as a result of spinal meningitis. Tad is an excellent physical specimen; he weighs over 160 pounds and is well developed. He has excellent deaf speech. He exhibits a favorable disposition and personality generally. He is mentally alert; inquisitive to the nth degree. He is a pupil in the Perkins Institute for the Blind and is doing seventh grade work.

Tad habitually picks up speech by placing his right hand over the left cheek of his companion with his thumb near the corner of the mouth. By this means, he gets sufficient sensory cues to enable him to interpret speech very satisfactorily.  On our very first meeting, he thus received what I had to say to him.

Not only so, but when I placed a 60-page pamphlet over my cheek, and with his hand on top of the pamphlet, he, although faultingly, followed the drift of what I was saying to him. He behaved likewise with his hand over one end of a paper tube, the other end of which was at the speaker's mouth. When the book and the tube are employed in the manner just indicated, Tad, of course, lacks stimulus from the gross movement of the speaker's cheek and jaw. He obtains only vibratory stimuli communicated through the solid paper or through the column of air the paper too. These are methods of reception that he practices but little. According to Miss Harmening, he had not attempted to receive speech through the tube for upwards of a year until now.

Since he succeeds as he does, even when obstructed by the book or the tube, it goes almost without saying that he should succeed likewise with the Gault-Teletactor. This is an instrument by means of which the forms of spoken language may be communicated to the tactile organs of a “listener“. It consists of a very sensitive microphone, an amplifier, which is connected with the lighting current, and a vibrator or receiver upon which the “listener” holds his fingers of his hand to feel the speaker’s voice. If the deaf and the deaf-blind can receive forms of spoken speech with such an instrument, and if they can learn to interpret speech thus, the instrument should be a very great value to people who are so handicapped. It offers an avenue through which the deaf and the deaf-blind may communicate with a speaker. But not only so (and this is very important), it presents an opportunity for such intercourse and cooperation among the deaf and deaf-blind, because the apparatus as it stands at present is capable of stimulating at one and the same time any number of persons from one up to 50; moreover, each individual has a microphone as well as his vibrator so that he can make his own voice felt upon the fingers of all his companions. 

Accordingly, I was greatly interested in and attempted to discover even a little evidence as to what Tad could accomplish without any previous training upon the Teletactor.

It is only fair to Tad to say in this connection that not only was he wholly unaccustomed to the instrument I have described, but he was evidently under a very heavy. handicap, owing to the fact that within the 24 hours preceding my meeting him, he had been transported from the rare dry atmosphere of South Dakota to the intensely hot and humid air of Evanston Illinois. During the week that Tad spent here, we were afflicted with an especially high degree of humidity, and Tad was consequently drowsy, especially in the afternoon. He repeatedly suppressed, or attempted to suppress, his yawns. On several occasions, when there was a lull in our work, he promptly fell asleep. I believe, therefore, that what he did here in the course of his visit is not a complete index as to what he would be able to do in a climatic situation to which he is adjusted.

Our first efforts were merely to make Tad acquainted with the fact that when one speaks into the microphone one can hear the voice in the vibrator of the instrument. This was accomplished through his feeling the questions: What is your name? Where do you live? Where do you go to school? first upon Miss Harmening’s cheek, and then upon the vibrator or a receiver of the Teletactor. A few minutes later, he received and understood the following questions: How do you do, Tad? How are you today? And where do you live? 

This was on the first morning of his visit. It was followed by an attempt to see whether, through the sense of touch or of vibration. There was any possibility of his learning to report the direction of a source of vibrations. For this purpose, his fingers were placed on the edge of a heavy oak table. At the other side of the table, I sat directly in front of Tad and 40 inches removed from him. With a rubber hammer, I tapped the table top, now 48 inches on my right and now 48 inches on my left: Tad having been asked to report whether the tap upon the table was upon his left or on his right. He correctly reported 21 out of 27 trials. 

On the afternoon of this first day, we tried speaking a number of sentences to him into his right hand through a stiff paper tube. The sentences employed were the following: I like warm days in the country. I had a ride with my brother. Will you go for a ride with me? Did you enjoy the ride today? Let us go now into the country. The sentences were spoken in unknown order 20 times. He correctly answered the questions or repeated the sentences 11 times which is (considering the fact that there are five sentences) a considerably better record than one could make by guessing. In the next place, we tried getting the same sentences over to Tad‘s fingers through the tube. In the course of the first trial, there were 31 utterances in unknown order. Out of the 31, he recognized 17 and responded to them correctly. He could have guessed approximately six. Later in the afternoon, 21 presentations of the same sentences yielded 14 correct responses. A chance result would have yielded approximately four correct responses.

On the following morning, we again tried the tube. The sentences we have already referred to were spoken against Tad‘s hand in unknown order – 38 impressions with 16 correct responses. A guess would have yielded approximately eight correct responses. Turning again to the Teletactor, 40 representations were made with 27 correct reactions – approximately eight might have been the record in an effort at guessing. 

It is clear enough from the foregoing, that when sentences such as were employed as stimuli, some tactual differences are at hand by which Tad can make discriminations. In this connection, it should be observed that four of our sentences have eight syllables each and one 9 syllables. Tad‘s judgment, therefore, could hardly have been based merely on a count of gross impressions – one from each syllable. Unquestionably, up to the present point, he has been depending upon a gross pattern of the sentences, including the distribution of phrases, pauses, emphases, variation in tempo, etc., all of which together in our world of speech, go a long way toward communicating meanings. 

It seemed to me, furthermore, to be desirable to discover whether Tad can react to differences in pitch. Accordingly, we produced tuning forks upon a resonating box. With his fingers upon the box, he always detected the vibration of the fork, and called it “something like music“ or “some music“. We did not discover how nicely he can distinguish between a higher and a lower pitch – that is, how far they must be apart in order that he may just be able to recognize that they are different in pitch. Furthermore, owing to the fact that one of our oscillators, which we use in experiments of this nature, was temporarily out of commission, it was impracticable to make a thoroughgoing test of this question. However, we have made an approximate finding. By means of loaded forks, and by the aid of a musically trained ear (Mr. Schott of the Northwestern School of Music) we arranged a series of forks so their pitches differ one from the other by about 4%. That is, the vibration rate of one fork is about 4% higher than one of the forks adjacent to it in the series and 4% lower than the other adjacent fork. These forks were struck by pairs, and one after another was brought before the microphone of the Teletactor. Tad with his fingers upon the receiver undertook to report which was higher and which was lower in pitch. He made the distinction when the difference was but 4%. I should say that one of my graduate students parent (Dr. Roberts) has within the last few weeks completed an intensive piece of research aiming to discover what is the least possible difference between pitches which the fingers can detect. After months of training, his normally hearing subjects were able to notice the difference between the vibrating bodies when their difference was but 2%; but Tad without training, made the discrimination when the difference was but 4%. I should say that at the beginning, Dr. Roberts' experiment, his subjects were making the distinction only when the actual difference was 10%. This makes Tad's performance all the more remarkable, and it is an intriguing question – how far below 4% he could go with a reasonable amount of training. Tad is sensitive to all notes on the standard notation scale.

In an effort to discover Tad’s ability to distinguish between differences in rhythm, Mr. Schott began by counting four beats to the measure without accent and then with accent in the middle of the measure. To this Tad responded correctly very rapidly. With this accomplished, Mr. Schott expanded the beats up to nine, first without accent and then with accent, and with each change of the counts, Tad was at first confused, but within a short time, he caught on to the rhythm and counted along with the proper time and accent, in all these cases with his fingers upon the Teletactor. 

The most remarkable recognition which Tad made was when the count was up to seven and the accented beats were changed from one and four to one and five. Tad caught this change and counted correctly within 15 seconds. And when the beats went up to nine at a high rate, he counted them with as much speed and accuracy as could the normal hearing and seeing person. 

He recognized the difference between “Yankee Doodle” and “America“ as sung through the Teletactor. He did not know what they were, of course; but he was told was what was being sung thereafter. He sang “Yankee Doodle“ with Mr. Schott, occasionally inflecting his voice along with Mr. Schott’s inflections. Whether this was due to previous training or to the stimuli he was receiving in his fingers, it is impossible to say. He was very shortly able to recognize “America“ and “Yankee Doodle“.

Tad was encouraged to recite into the microphone anything he might choose from his repertoire, while holding his fingers upon the receiver so he could feel his own voice. He recited the Lord‘s prayer, the Creed, the “Barefoot Boy“, and in addition his school pledge. Once he had got started with this sort of exercise, he turned to it repeatedly and enjoyed it very greatly. Incidentally, here is a suggestion for a use for the Teletactor, i.e., in connection with self-training by means of feeling one’s own voice; thus one may acquire a control of speech, at any rate, it will very greatly facilitate such control. 

When Tad had occupied himself for some time at reciting against his own fingers, I undertook to recite one or two of his selections, to have him feel my voice and, perhaps, to recite in unison with my voice guided by his feel of it. I chose the Lord’s Prayer, having asked him to recite aloud with me as he felt it. But when I began the recitation, he had not yet got his fingers upon the receiver. I did not notice this until I was ready to begin the phrase “hallowed be thy name”; but with the word “hallowed“ his fingers came into place and instead of his beginning with “Our Father”, he began with “hollowed”. I am unable to answer the question whether he began at this point because he recognized the word by its feel or for some other reason. But I have satisfied myself that Tad can obtain a great deal of help in relation to vocal expression through such exercises as I have had with him. Indeed, this has already been demonstrated with deaf, but seeing children. 

Finally, I was interested to discover whether Tad could locate the accented syllable in bisyllable compounds. All this is accomplished by my deaf subjects without great difficulty. As a preliminary, I explained to Tad that I would pronounce a word with two parts in it – one heavy and the other part light, I was surprised to find that his responses were no more than guesses, but when at last, I explained that one part of the word would be hard and the other part soft; that sometimes the soft part would come first, and sometimes the other part would come first, he got the idea immediately, and made an excellent record. One’s ability to make such discriminations is of very great importance in connection both with the development of good speech and with differentiation of meanings. Having established Tad‘s ability to discover the accented syllable, we were assured that he can quickly learn to detect the emphasized word in a sentence; and this is equally important both for speech and for interpretation on the Teletactor. 

On the whole Tad‘s performance here has been very illuminating. I am more than ever convinced that in the Teletactor we have an instrument that is of very great value in connection with: 

(1) the development of a language sense in the deaf-blind 

(2) the use and interpretation of spoken language 

(3) self-training by the deaf-blind 

(4) developing social intercourse among the deaf-blind through the medium of spoken language, accomplished by connecting both a receiver and a transmitter, for each of several pupils through an amplifier with the same microphone at the teacher’s desk.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/worcester-telegram-teletactor-brings-mus/209735611/

 

The South Dakota Advocate, Volume XXIII, Number IX, June 1926

Dictated transcription from page 6-7

OUTLINE OF WORK

—----

Done by Tad Chapman, Age 11, Totally Deaf and Blind since the Age of Four

—----

By Miss Margaret L. Grady

The first three months of the school year were spent in a general review of the work given since January 1921. The first new work was taken up in December, 1925.

Language – In developing language we have followed the Jones-Croker and Pratt Language and Drill Stories. He completed Book I March 12th. He then began Book II and by the end of the school year will have reached page 45.

Geography—Preparatory geography work was taken up this year–directions–location using “in the northern part of” etc. He has had besides South Dakota the maps of Minnesota and Iowa, with the important cities and rivers in each. He has learned to bound South Dakota.

Speech Reading – He reads speech the following ways: 

First: By putting his right hand on the lips of the speaker, 

Second: By putting his right hand on the face on the side of the face, 

Third: Putting his thumb on the chin of the speaker, 

Fourth: Putting his hand on the top of the speaker's head, 

Fifth: Putting his hand on the back of the head, 

Sixth: He can understand a whispered conversation.

He does equally as well by the second position as by the first. He answers questions asked by two people at the same time. He usually responds first to the person on the right, as his right hand is more sensitive to vibration than the left.

Braille – All his lip reading and drill stories are written in braille. He is able to read them readily, gets the thought and can answer the questions in an intelligent manner after he has read the story.

Typewriting – An ordinary portable Remington is used for his typewriting. The touch system is used as nearly as possible on this machine. His typewriting exercises are outlined so as to conform with his language.

Arithmetic – He counts by 2’s, 3’s, 4’s, f5’s, 6’s, 7’s, 8’s, 9’s, 10’s, 11’s, and 12’s. Has learned the multiplication tables from 2’s to 12’s inclusive. Has learned “carrying“ in addition. He also has oral problems in addition, subtraction, and multiplication. 

Tad has missed only one day on account of illness this year. I have found him to be a most attractive child in every way. He is very fond of his school work and greatly enjoyed his association with both the pupils and teachers this year.

~~~~~

Image taken from back inside cover of the South Dakota Advocate.

Note:

E.S. Tillinghast is the Supervisor of the Literary Department.  Miss Sophia Alcorn is a Supervising Teacher in the Literary Department. Margaret Grady is a teacher in the Deaf Blind section. Amanda Harmening is the Deaf Blind Supervisor.  [Alice E. Chapman was not related to Tad Chapman.]

A letter from Tad to his Little Sister

​ Tomkins Cottage

Watertown, Mass.

November, I, 193I.

Dear Janet:

I was so pleased that you wrote me such a nice letter, and I love you very, very much for it. You must write me another letter soon.

I am sorry that Tom is a very bad boy because he did not pass. If he does not finish his school next June, he will have to go to school all summer.

I enjoy Miss Hall very much this year. What is your teacher’s name? Please takl [ask] Tom what is his teacher's name?

I was sorry to hear that you were sick on your birthday. I am not feeling very well today, I have a bad cold. because I did not wear my over coat yesterday. The weather is getting colder every day.

What is mother doing? Are you helping mother to set the table and wash the dishes like I did? I hope so. Because mother has to work very hard for us. And we should help her.

With love, your brother

Winthrop

[Note: Tad helped set the table and wash the dishes after he became deafblind. Mom would tell a story about trying to sneak a dish back into the sink to be washed again because some dirt had been missed and Tad would catch her.]

[Note: Janet would have been 8 when she received this letter.]