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As the figures show there has been considerable increase in the number of pre-school age children referred to the
clinic, which / feel is a step in the right direction. / hope this trend will continue."
Medical Services at the Vale School for physically handicapped children
This school offers day education to physically handicapped children in the borough and also from the London
Boroughs of Enfield and part of Barnet. I must again express my gratitude to Mr. A.J. Ives, headmaster of the
school, and his staff for their valued co-operation with the medical staff. The medical team at the school consists
of a visiting consultant, school medical officer, physiotherapist, occupational therapist and speech therapist.
The cerebral palsy unit associated with the school is a centre to which mothers are referred for advice and
children for treatment as soon as cerebral palsy is diagnosed. Dr. William Dunham, Consultant in Physical
Medicine, attends weekly and a full time cerebral palsy therapist gives treatment to the children under his
direction. A speech therapist and an educational psychologist are available to give advice and treatment in
suitable cases. Dr. Dunham reports as follows on the work of the unit during 1971:—
"The proportion of children attending the Vale School for Physically Handicapped Children who have cerebral
palsy — who are "spastics" — remains at about one in three, a proportion which has been almost constant for
several years. These children have in common difficulty in co-ordinating their movements, but these difficulties
vary both in kind and in severity from one child to another; affected children may have other problems such as
deafness as well. Recognizing these facts, the school has, as well as a visiting school medical officer, a visiting
consultant whose job it is to try to sort out the difficulties of the individual child, and a whole-time therapist who,
in collaboration with the parents and teachers, tries to organize the child's life so that he overcomes his movement
difficulties as rapidly and as completely as possible. Where the child is attending hospital, school and home
management of the child are organized in collaboration with the hospital consultant.
The earlier in his life a child comes under supervision the better he is likely to respond and parents are encouraged
to bring children with cerebral palsy to the school for assessment and advice on management, even before they
reach school age."
Of the five new cases seen at the unit during 1971, three were Haringey children and two from outside the
Borough. One of these children was under five years of age and four over five. Recommendations made for the
new cases were as follows:—
Recommended for admission to the Vale Special School 4
Recommended for later re-assessment 1
Medical Services at the William C. Harvey School
Medical supervision for the children who attend this school for the more severely educationally subnormal
children is provided by a team consisting of two visiting medical officers, a full time school nurse, a part time
physiotherapist, and a speech therapist who at present attends on one session a week. It is hoped in the near
future to increase this provision to full time physiotherapy and an increased number of speech therapy sessions,
as soon as additional staff can be obtained. The presence of a high proportion of children in the school with
severe dual handicaps stresses the urgent need for increased speech and physio/occupational therapy facilities.
Audiology Unit
The Audiology Unit is within the curtilage of Blanche Nevile School and there is excellent co-operation between
the medical and teaching staff. Three sessions are held each week.
The medical team consists of a Consultant Otologist, Medical Officers, and three audiometricians. There is regular
supervision of pre-school children with hearing defects and school children with hearingloss who attend ordinary
schools. Pre school children with hearing loss are admitted where possible to day nurseries, play groups and
where necessary to the nursery class at the Blanche Nevile School. Many of these children wear hearing aids and
those not attending Blanche Nevile School are supervised by two full time peripatetic teachers who work in close
co-operation with Dr. L. Fisch. the Consultant Otologist.
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