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78
Handicapped Children.
Section 33 of the Education Act, 1944, and the regulations made thereunder
have placed on the Local Education Authorities new responsibilities
for the provision of suitable education for children suffering from disability of
mind or body.
A record of all such children is revised annually from returns submitted
by all Head Teachers, and any new cases attending local maintained schools
are reported to me with a view to medical examination and ascertainment
of their suitability or otherwise of attendance at an ordinary school.
The several categories of pupils requiring special educational treatment
are defined as follows:—
(a) Blind Pupils, that is to say, pupils who have no sight or whose sight
is or is likely to become so defective that they require education by
methods not involving the use of sight.
(b) Partially Sighted Pupils, that is to say, pupils who by reason of
defective vision cannot follow the ordinary curriculum without
detriment to their sight or to their educational development, but
can be educated by special methods involving the use of sight.
(c) Deaf Pupils, that is to say, pupils who have no hearing or whose
hearing is so defective that they require education by methods used
for deaf pupils without naturally acquired speech or language.
(d) Partially Deaf Pupils, that is to say, pupils whose hearing is so
defective that they require for their education special arrangements
or facilities but not all the educational methods used for deaf pupils.
(e) Delicate Pupils, that is to say, pupils who by reason of impaired
physical condition cannot, without risk to their health, be educated
under the normal regime of an ordinary school.
(f) Diabetic Pupils, that is to say, pupils suffering from diabetes, who
cannot obtain the treatment they need while living at home and
require residential care.
(g) Educationally Subnormal Pupils, that is to say, pupils who, by reason
of limited ability or other conditions resulting in educational retardation,
require some specialised form of education wholly or partly in
substitution for the education normally given in ordinary schools.
(h) Epileptic Pupils, that is to say, pupils who by reason of epilepsy cannot
be educated in an ordinary school without detriment to the
interests of themselves or other pupils and require education in a
Special School.
(i) Maladjusted Pupils, that is to say, pupils who show evidence of
emotional instability or psychological disturbance and require special
educational treatment in order to effect their personal, social, or
educational readjustment.
(j) Physically Handicapped Pupils, that is to say, pupils, not being pupils
suffering solely from a defect of sight or hearing, who by reason of
disease or crippling defect cannot be satisfactorily educated in an
ordinary school or cannot be educated in such a school without detriment
to their health or educational development.
(k) Pupils suffering from Speech Defect, that is to say, pupils who on
account of stammering, aphasia, or defect of voice or articulation not
due to deafness, require special educational treatment.
The number of children coming within these categories and their disposition
as on the 31st December, 1951, are tabulated hereunder:—