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SPASTIC CHILDREN
Early in the Spring of 1955, a non-resident treatment centre
(which has now been recognised as a Special School) was established
at 61, Cheyne Walk, S.W.3., under the aegis of No. 4 (Chelsea) Group
Hospital Management Committee. The Centre is possessed of the most
up-to-date equipment and is proving of considerable assistance in
connection with cases referred to it by hospitals in south-western
districts.
Although the age-group of children upon which the Centre is
concentrating is between 0 and 5 years, the London County Council
have expressed approval, in certain instances, to the continuance
of treatment until the age of seven years. Children capable of
benefiting from the facilities provided are taken on for full treatment,
and they attend daily from 9.30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Very young children,
and those with severe mental defect are accepted for physiotherapy only
as out-patients.
From experience gained it became essential to establish an
Assessment Unit to ascertain the special facilities required for
certain patients, and this unit deals with ten severely handicapped
children. Others who are both deaf and afflicted with cerebral palsy
are under the care of a teacher of the deaf, and receive individual
and group training. Such facilities are also extended to neighbouring
hospitals and general practitioners in the area.
It is hoped that during 1958 it will be possible to provide
residential accommodation for one or two mothers and their children.
Later the Hospital Management Committee intend to make available a
similar facility for some six children as weekly boarders.
During the year, 197 children were screened, and the latest
information indicates that 37 school patients were presenting themselves
daily for treatment, in addition to 17 out-patients who attended for
treatment only.