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blind, deaf, defective and epileptic children.
In my Annual Report for 1930 attention was called to the
very important questions of the ascertainment of, and special
provision made for, children who are defective within the meaning
of Fart V. of the Education Act, 1921. These are known officially
as "exceptional children," and the Board of Education requires
a return of these as on the 31st of December each year under
the headings set out in Table III. at the end of this Report.
The form of this table has recently been revised by the Board
with a view to securing greater uniformity of returns.
The revised table gives a better and fuller classification of
tubercular children and omits the objectionable and meaningless
term "pre-tuberculosis." The separation of children with
severe heart disease from crippled children is also an advantage.
On the other hand, there appear to be two respects in which
the revised form of Table III. presents difficulties to the Medical
Officer desirous of making an accurate and clear-cut return, viz.,
(1) The table is essentially a statement of the number of
children in the area between the ages of 5 and 16 years who are
so defective as to be unsuitable for a place in an ordinary
elementary school. That is to say, it is a statistical statement
of the needs of the Authority for special schools for defectives
of one kind or another. But the foot notes to the table make
it clear that exception to this rule is made in four groups:
(a) children suffering from minor epilepsy, (b) certain classes
of tubercular children, (c) certain cripples, (d) some delicate
children (rheumatics).
(2) The second difficulty is the new definition of delicate
children, viz.: "All children (except those included in other
groups) whose general health renders it desirable that they
should be specially selected for admission to an Open-air
School."
This definition is not confined to diagnosis—but has farreaching
implications in treatment and policy. It commits
the School Medical Officer to the view that an Open-air School
is the correct or the best method of dealing with delicate
children. The Medical Officer who returns any considerable