Alathena Johnson Smith Explained

Alathena Johnson Smith
Birth Date:February 8, 1894
Birth Place:Chicago, Illinois
Death Date:November 1982
Death Place:Los Angeles, California
Occupation:Child psychologist
Relatives:Adelaide Johnson (aunt)

Helen Alathena Parkman Johnson Smith (February 8, 1894 – November 12, 1982) was an American child psychologist. She was an educator and chief psychologist at the John Tracy Clinic in Los Angeles from 1948 to 1977, working with the parents of deaf children to improve communication and other skills.

Early life and education

Alathena Johnson was born in Chicago and raised in Evanston, Illinois, the daughter of Charles Lincoln Johnson and Helen Sylvester Woods Johnson. Sculptor and suffragist Adelaide Johnson was her aunt.[1] She graduated from Wellesley College in 1915, and earned a master's degree at the University of Toronto. She completed her Ph.D. in 1960, at Ohio State University, at the age of 66, with a dissertation titled "Performance of Subjects aged Two to Four on Nonverbal Tasks Presented in Pantomime".[2]

Career

Johnson was a teacher in Ohio and worked at her father's bank in Texas as a young woman.[3] From 1929 to 1948, she was a special education teacher and school psychologist in Shorewood, Wisconsin.[4] [5]

Smith was an educator at the John Tracy Clinic in Los Angeles from 1948 to 1977,[6] [7] and rose to be the clinic's chief psychologist. "When they ask me if I teach deaf children, I always say, 'No, I teach their parents'", she explained in 1969.[8] She taught in the clinic's correspondence courses and summer programs,[9] and traveled nationally and internationally giving lectures and holding workshops based on the clinic's oralism-based work.[10] [11] [12] She was an adjunct assistant professor in the psychology department at the University of Southern California.[13]

In 1972, Smith received the first Distinguished Alumna Award from the Los Angeles chapter of the Wellesley College Club.[14] She was a life member of the American Psychological Association.

Publications

Personal life

Johnson married businessman William Bush Smith in 1918; they had two daughters, and divorced in 1933. In 1944, one of her daughters, also named Alathena, survived polio with paraplegia.[18] In 1963, Smith was badly injured in a robbery in Marseilles. She recovered enough to resume her work, but experienced severe chronic hip pain for her last years. She died in 1982, at the age of 88, in Los Angeles.[19] [20]

Notes and References

  1. News: Koch . Sharon Fay . 1972-02-27 . Pep, Not Pedigree, Her Forte . 56 . The Los Angeles Times . 2023-03-26 . Newspapers.com.
  2. Smith, Alathena Johnson. "Performance of Subjects Aged Two to Four on Nonverbal Tasks Presented in Pantomime" (Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 1960).
  3. News: April 12, 1917 . Alumnae Department: News Notes . 7 . The Wellesley College News .
  4. News: 1982-11-15 . Dr. Alathena Johnson Smith, 88, noted for work with deaf children . 16 . Chicago Tribune . 2023-03-26 . Newspapers.com.
  5. News: 1938-10-29 . Illinois Woman Presents Talk to P.T.A. . 8 . The Oshkosh Northwestern . 2023-03-26 . Newspapers.com.
  6. Therapy with Parents of Handicapped Children . 10.1177/001440295702300403 . 1957 . Bennet . Daphne Nicholson . Exceptional Children . 23 . 4 . 154–159 . 151322432 .
  7. News: 1953-11-12 . Marriage Counsellor Speaks to 4-C Club . 15 . West Los Angeles Independent . 2023-03-26 . Newspapers.com.
  8. News: 1969-08-21 . Tracy teachers say lips alone should tell the story . 47 . The Honolulu Advertiser . 2023-03-26 . Newspapers.com.
  9. 1950 . Summer Schools for Teachers of the Deaf And the Hard of Hearing 1950 . American Annals of the Deaf . 95 . 2 . 208–218 . 44389308 . 0002-726X.
  10. News: 1954-11-29 . Coast Psychologist Lauds Clinic's Parent Training . 5 . Arizona Republic . 2023-03-26 . Newspapers.com.
  11. News: Lynn . Shirley . 1959-03-21 . Famed deaf clinic closes gap between parents and child . 40 . The Province . 2023-03-26 . Newspapers.com.
  12. News: 1969-06-10 . Preschoolers' Parents Attend NIU Institute . 5 . The Daily Chronicle . 2023-03-26 . Newspapers.com.
  13. News: Hill . Gladwin . 1982-11-14 . Althena Smith, Psychologist . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-03-26 . 0362-4331.
  14. News: Koch . Sharon Fay . 1972-02-11 . Wellesley Girl--78--Feted . 77 . The Los Angeles Times . 2023-03-26 . Newspapers.com.
  15. Parent education and group therapy: An episode . 10.1002/1097-4679(194804)4:2<214::AID-JCLP2270040212>3.0.CO;2-I . 1948 . Smith . Alathena J. . McGrath . Fern . Journal of Clinical Psychology . 4 . 2 . 214–217 . 18869061 .
  16. Smith, Alathena Johnson. "Guidance at the John Tracy Clinic" Volta Review 58, no. 7 (1956): 301-304.
  17. Smith, Alathena J., and Ruth Johnson Harms. Smith-Johnson Noverbal Performance Scale. Western Psychological Services, 1977.
  18. Web site: June 25, 2019 . Alathena Miller Obituary (1920 - 2019) . 2023-03-26 . Los Angeles Times, via Legacy.com.
  19. Web site: 1982-11-14 . Alathena Johnson Smith, a child psychologist whose creative therapy... . 2023-03-26 . UPI Archives . en.
  20. News: Clifford . Frank . 1982-11-14 . Psychologist's Methods Benefited Deaf Children . 49 . The Los Angeles Times . 2023-03-26 . Newspapers.com.

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