View report page

27
these defects during the age when they are under the supervision of
the child welfare authority. It is in this period of life that
infirmities such as postural errors, rickets, defective teeth, and
tonsils and adenoids make their appearance. Many of these defects
could be prevented by an adequate system of medical supervision
during the pre-school period. This condition of affairs naturally
raises the question, what are we doing and what further can we
do for the pre-school child ? The supervision of the toddler can
be secured through the medical sessions at the Infant Welfare
Centres which are available not only for infants under one year,
but also for pre-school children.
It is disappointing to find that the number of toddlers attending
the general clinic session is small. In 1935 the number of individual
children between one and five years attending the various Centres in
Camberwell was only 3,533.
Sessions for toddlers are now held at two of the Voluntary
Association Welfare Centres in the Borough. The number of
individual children who attended these special sessions during
1935, of which there were three in existence up to the time of the
transfer of the Mayward House Infant Welfare Centre to Municipal
control in June last, was 1401. The total attendances of these
children numbered 2,347.
Some years ago a special toddlers clinic was started at the
Peckham Municipal Centre, and parents were invited by letter to
bring their children for examination on their birthdays. By means of
the departmental record of births the invitation to the parents was
timed to reach the child on the morning of its birthday. This
form of propaganda was not, however, a great success, and it was
found after an extended trial that the attendances did not justify
the continuance of this Clinic for Toddlers only. It was decided,
therefore, to discontinue this clinic, and to make use of the premises
in the afternoon set apart for this purpose as an ordinary infant
welfare session in order to relieve the congestion existing at the
weekly session at this Centre.
The decision reached in this matter was that the lack of support
accorded this Clinic for Toddlers was to some extent due to the
inability of the mothers to find time to bring their older children for
examination on the special clinic day. The real reason was in all
probability the absence of appreciation on the part of the mothers
that the medical supervision and other services obtainable at the
Centre are as necessary for the toddler as for the infant. The
Health Visitors were accordingly instructed to intensify their
efforts to encourage mothers to bring their toddlers to the clinics.
This form of propaganda has been supplemented by sending a