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154
Each of the Willesden Mentally Defective Schools is
visited weekly by the Assistant Medical Officer, and once
a term or oftener by Dr. Shuttleworth, the Committee's
consultant for Mentally Defective cases.
At the routine weekly inspections any physical defects
in children attending the school are brought under the notice
of the Medical Officer, and are dealt with as may be necessary.
Each child is examined as to its mental and physical
condition at least once a year, the parent usually being
present for this examination.
New cases referred by head teachers of ordinary
elementary schools, school attendance officers, or others, are
in the first place seen and examined at the offices in Dyne
Road. Each child should be examined alone, in a quiet
room with no distractions, and preferably with no one else
but the parent present. These conditions can seldom be
obtained in the ordinary schools. If the child is found on
first examination to be feeble-minded and educable it is
admitted to one of the Council schools for Mentally Defective
children as soon as possible. It has happened that
admission has been delayed owing to lack of ambulance
accommodation even when there were vacancies in the
school. An additional ambulance has, however, now been
hired, which has relieved the overcrowding in existing
ambulances, and enable all educable feeble-minded children
to be admitted to school.
The Binet Simon tests as translated and adapted by
Goddard are used as the basis of mental examination.
Various alterations have had to be made. The pictures
published in America were found to be unsatisfactory, portraying
as they did scenes unfamiliar to children here.
Other pictures shewing streets, with motors, trams, policemen,
soldiers, etc., parks with children playing, and similar
well-known sights, have therefore been prepared, and are
found to be much more suitable.