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72
Child guidance
The Council, as education authority, co-operates with several voluntary organisations
providing facilities for child guidance, by placing at their disposal information
regarding school children both from the educational and medical standpoints.
Arrangements have also been made, with the consent of the Board of Education,
for the attendances of school children at certain clinics to be recognised as equivalent
to attendance at school. In one instance, viz., the London child guidance clinic, where
special circumstances obtain, a grant is made by the Council. There are at present 8
child guidance clinics " recognised " by the Council. They are the Maudsley hospital
clinic, London child guidance clinic, East London child guidance clinic, Guy's
hospital clinic, Institute of Child Psychology, Institute of Medical Psychology
(Tavistock clinic), North-Western child guidance clinic, and the West End hospital
for nervous diseases.
Maudsley
hospital
child
guidance
clinic
The following information and observations as to the work undertaken at these
clinics during the year 1937 has been supplied by them.
At the Maudsley hospital child guidance clinic, the general methods of treatment
under the direction of Dr. Mapother have been continued during the year. On
two half-days a week, selected cases are given individual treatment, and certain
special groups for coaching on account of educational retardation have been
formed. Special attention is given to playroom work and observation. Groups
of students from the occupational therapy department of the hospital and from
Goldsmith's college take part in the supervision of this work, and, besides giving
valuable assistance to the clinic, the students are able to gain some understanding
of the type of child referred for behaviour problems. A great deal of the time of
the clinic is devoted to children requiring diagnosis or opinion only. A considerable
number of the children, from the first, are not regarded as suitable for treatment,
although in every case an attempt is made to suggest suitable care in the future.
Nevertheless, while intensive treatment is not sought for every child, nor indeed
would be suitable, there still remains a large field for further exploration from the
point of view both of research and individual therapy.
The number of school children referred to the clinic during the year was 325,
of which number 203 were boys and 122 girls. The age distribution was : 4 to 8
years, 110 ; 9 to 11 years, 111 ; 12 to 14 years, 104.
The sources of reference of the cases were : hospitals, 107 ; spontaneous, 43 ;
school doctors, 42 ; care committees, 37 ; private doctors, 31 ; head teachers, 22 ;
education officer, 14 ; probation officer, 9 ; other agencies, 20. The reasons for
reference were : difficult and unmanageable, 53 ; backwardness, 43 ; nervousness,
43 ; stealing, 30 ; intelligence test, 26 ; enuresis, 18 ; nervous movements, 17 ;
temper, 13 ; night terrors and fears, 13 ; truancy and unwilling to attend school, 12 ;
speech difficulty, 10 ; fits, 8 ; other reasons, 39.
London
child
guidance
clinic
The results obtained were : satisfactorily adjusted, 14 ; partially adjusted, 44 ;
unadjusted or unsuitable, 91; psychological test only, 26 ; still under treatment, 150.
The work at the London child guidance clinic during the year 1937 has continued
under the direction of Dr. William Moodie on the usual lines, and close contact has
been maintained between the clinic and the education and school medical services
of the Council. The number of London school children dealt with during the year
was 205, of whom 134 were boys and 71 girls. The age distribution was : under
5 years, 11 ; 5 to 8 years, 74 ; 9 to 11 years, 64 ; 12 to 14 years, 50 ; over 14 years, 6.
The sources of reference were : district organisers and care c ommittees, 86
head teachers, 19; hospitals and clinics, 31 ; parents, relatives and friends, 21 ;
remand home,* 14 ; probation officers, 13 ; social agencies, 10 ; school doctors,
6 ; private physicians, 5. The reasons for reference were : stealing, 33 ; behaviour
difficulties, 27 ; enuresis, 23 ; school difficulties, 17 ; nervousness and fears, 12 ;
* Reference to the diagnostic work undertaken at the clinic in connection with children from the Council's
remand home is made in the section of thi^ report dealing With the remand home (page 65.)