View report page

*During the year the School Hygiene Inspections increased because an effort was made
to examine all school childrens feet for verrucae (referred to on page 105).
†Visits on account of tuberculosis and other infectious diseases have decreased by
approx. 20%. It is to be hoped that the necessity for visiting in future years will
show a decline.
DEAFNESS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
The Memorandum on Deafness in Early Childhood by the Standing Medical Advisory
Committee (Central Health Services Council, 1971) was being prepared in 1970. It is pleasant
to be able to record that many of the main measures urged in this Memorandum were in operation
in Bexley London Borough from 1967 onwards and perhaps a brief note on the history of
this service might not be out of place.
It was in 1967 that the idea of a comprehensive service for the deaf was the theme of
a conference in London, taking into account almost every viewpoint on the subject. The
importance of the very early detection of impaired hearing in babies had been realised for many
years, but the facilities for putting this principle into action were lacking. In developing a
comprehensive service the first aim was to encourage the fullest growth of the deaf child's
personality, and the first fundamental step in that direction was therefore to ensure early
ascertainment of such children so that special training could be commenced for them before
the age of two years. If these childhood services should be increasingly successful, the welfare
services for the adult deaf within the age-span 16-64 years might be expected to decrease.
In mid-1968 there were 90 children up to the age of 15 years known to the Department
to have some degree of hearing loss and 101 persons within the 16-64 age-group on the
handicapped register had varying degrees of hearing loss.
In 1966-67 there were three important developments: —
(1) An audiology unit staffed by an otologist, a medical officer, a peripatetic teacher for
the deaf and a nurse-audiometrician was set up at 315, Broadway.
(2) Early ascertainment of babies with impaired hearing was commenced by medical officers
and a few health visitors. These members of staff had attended appropriate courses
of training.
(3) Early auditory training of babies, including parental guidance, was begun in the home
by the peripatetic teacher of the deaf. Later it was intended to develop this aspect
of the work by forming small auditory training groups at the Unit.
59