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50
Rota visits
The special schools were visited at least once a quarter, and every child present was seen at least
once during the year. During these visits the scholars were re-classified ; 273 returned on improvement
to elementary schools, 1 to a school for the deaf, 1 to a school for the blind,17 from physically defective
to mentally defective schools, 37 were excluded as imbecile, 35 were invalided on medical grounds, and
195, over 14 years of age, were excluded as no longer certifiable. In addition, 644 special examinations
were made of children already on the rolls of special schools in connection with applications for nonenforcement
of attendance at special schools, committals to industrial schools, reformatories, etc.
After careers.
After careers of children formerly attending special mentally defective schools for the year ending
31st December, 1921. (Data furnished by the London Association for the Care of the Mentally Defective)
M.
F.
Total.
1. Number of children born in or subsequent to1901, and have left special mentally
defective schools and who have been on the books of the association 2,395 1,739 4,134
2. Number who—
(a) have since died 22 9 31
(b) who are known to be incapable by reason of mental or physical defect of under
taking employment 72 97 169
(c) are in attendance at an institution for further education not known.
(d) are in other institutions 36 31 67
(e) were notified and placed under supervision 25 13 38
3. Number employed in—
(а) Industrial or manual occupations (i.e., factory work, any trade or part of a trade) 930 699 1,629
(b) Agricultural or rural occupations 9 1 10
(c) Domestic occupations (i.e., servants sleeping in or out, lift boys and approximately
10 per cent. " Helping at home ") 49 415 464
(d) Commercial (i.e., shop assistants or selling behind a counter), professional (or
Army or Navy), Clerical (office boys or girls) 192 35 227
(e) Blind Alley or other precarious occupations (i.e., van-boys, newsboys, errand
boys or girls, selling from a barrow) .. .. .. .. .. .. 406 56 462
(/) Judged to be employable but out of work owing to industrial crisis .. .. 455 257 712
4. Number whose after careers have not been traced or who have left the neighbourhood 199 126 325
Totals 2,395 1,739 4,134
5. Number of children born in or after 1904, who, having left school at an early age during
the war have not up to the present appeared on the After-Care Lists 2,948 2,164 5,112

Distribution
of intelligence
of
children in
special
schools.
During the year, enquiries were made into the distribution of the intelligence of children in the
special schools with a view to noting the degree of improvement which occurred at different ages and noting
if there were any marked difference in standard. For this purpose, Dr. F. C. Shrubsall has collected
data of attainments in terms of mental and chronological age, calculated in such a manner as to give
the results at the full age. The subjoined table indicates percentages of distribution of mental age
for each chronological age. The results shew that at the earlier ages the children, on the average, gained
at the rate of nearly ¾ of a year's intelligence—as estimated by tests—per year. This doubtless is due
to the advantage derived from the greater individual attention they receive in the smaller classes of the
special school. This figure subsequently falls off, and after the age of 13 the progress becomes very
slight; the lower mean mental age found for the age of 15 being probably due to some of the better
cases having been deemed non-certifiable at the age of 14, as they have reached a mental age of 10,
coupled with school attainments equal to Standard II., together with adequate evidence of ability to
fend harmoniously for themselves in the world.
The experience acquired from the working of the Mental Deficiency Act suggests that those
whose ultimate mental age does not exceed 7 are practically unemployable, while those whose mental
age is 10 or over are fitted for a life in the world, unless they are also temperamentally of an unstable
type. It will be noted, from the table, that the gain beyond the age of 14 is very slight, and it is
probable that a large proportion of the cases may be described as having reached their mental limit
at that age.
The table, which is based on data derived from 6,900 children admitted to schools during the
years 1918-1921 inclusive, has been compared with one obtained from individual schools, and the variations
noted fall within the normal limit of probability. From this table a regression equation has been
calculated showing that the mental age (years) = .454 X chronological age (years) + 2.08. The