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lessons or handwork, thus avoiding undue fatigue. The purpose of the partially-sighted
school is to overcome the handicap of defective sight which hampers the pace of learning.
Because of the risk of retinal haemorrhages and detachment of the retina, the nature
and amount of physical training has been carefully regulated in the partially-sighted
schools. Swedish exercises, excluding those in which the head is lowered below the
waist, are practised, as also are eurythmics and dancing. The use of gymnastic apparatus
which requires violent muscular action and head-down postures is excluded. Swimming
is taught to all pupils, but diving is forbidden. Outdoor ball games are encouraged under
strict supervision by a teacher ; heading the ball is not allowed.
Partially-sighted pupils are examined by an ophthalmologist twice yearly and a
number, whose sight is considered to have improved sufficiently, pass on from the
schools for the partially-sighted to normal grammar schools, technical colleges and
secondary modern schools.
Partially-sighted pupils are reviewed, shortly before they leave school, by the
ophthalmologist, who completes a certificate indicating the nature of the visual defects,
vision with glasses, the prescription of the glasses, whether the disease is progressive,
and whether lifting of weights and stooping are prejudicial. This certificate is sent to
the Youth Employment Officer to assist in the choice of suitable employment.
Children who are deaf or partially deaf, as well as being partially sighted, may be
received at the Council's school (Rayner's) at Penn.
Formerly, a doubtful case attending the ordinary school was put on ' easy treatment
which meant placing the child in the front row of the class, forbidding fine close work
such as mapping, fine sewing, and homework. If glasses were worn, a second pair was
provided against loss or breakage. The interpretation of the restrictions applied to ' easy
treatment' varied from teacher to teacher, and it was decided to abolish the term in the
London area. Such cases are termed 'care' to ensure that they come for examination
by an ophthalmologist at intervals of six months, and their progress is reviewed. No
restrictions are placed on close work or homework, but a second pair of glasses is
provided.
Deaf and
partially-deaf
children
The first orgamsed effort on public lines to educate the deaf and dumb in this country
took shape in 1792, when the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb Poor in the Old Kent
Road was founded. (It is now the Royal School for Deaf and Dumb Children, Margate.)
Other foundations followed, which also came to be known as ' asylums,' and such they
were, in the best sense of the word. The children admitted to the first asylums were
those most in need. Deaf and dumb children who could manage by self-teaching alone
through their eyes to make themselves useful and a source of income to their parents
did not often find their way into the asylums. The children who were admitted were
those who were useless to their families.
All the early institutions followed much the same pattern. The children were
isolated from the world and no means were provided whereby deaf children might
share in the life of a normal school. A feature of the early asylums was the annual
examination. The patrons had to be satisfied of the children's progress, and this was
often done by faked results. A steady income for the schools depended on passing the
whole thing off as a ' modern miracle'. Apart from donations and subscriptions there
were also the fees from private pupils. It was a problem to protect these children from
infection brought in by charity children, so that the first attempt to gain some sort of a
medical history of handicapped children was made by the charity schools.
The 1834 Poor Law Act and the Act of 1862 both empowered Boards of Guardians to
pay for deaf and blind children in asylums and in 1870 statutory authorities began their
task of educating normal children. In February, 1872, as stated above, the London School
Board passed their first resolution about blind and deaf children, instructing the
Statistical Committee to ascertain what provision existed for such children. In 1874, the
School Board's first class for the teaching of deaf children was set up. In doing this,
the Board was acting in advance of legislative action. The work was carried on with
the formal sanction of the Education Department, but no grant was received.
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