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modation at the Lingfield Epileptic Colony, and other London children were sent to
the Chalfont St. Peter Colony. Roman Catholic children were sent to the Much Hadham
School. When the Hackney Branch Home at Brentwood and the Edmonton Colony
were transferred to the Council there was a small number of educable epileptic children
being maintained in each of these institutions. The school at Edmonton was discontinued
in August, 1932.
There are a number of epileptic children in different types of schools and it is hoped,
in the course of time, that the occurrence of fits will provoke less comment. In London
and other big towns the presence of day schools for physically handicapped or educationally
sub-normal children helps greatly, for the children can be transported by bus
and the staffs are accustomed to such problems. It is impossible and unnecessary to
consider special boarding school education for all children who have had fits at one time
or another. If a child is incapable of deriving benefit from the education provided because
of the frequency or severity of fits, the head of the school may ask at any time for him
to be considered with a view to admission to a special school for epileptics.
It was agreed in 1950, in consultation with the Ministry of Education, that all
epileptic children considered for special educational treatment should be examined
by the same medical officer, who would make contact with the schools, hospitals and
family doctors to ensure care. The purpose of seeing these children at the County Hall
is that they may be treated according to their individual needs.
Figures concerning epileptic children cannot be taken as accurate because many
children attend ordinary schools who suffer from mild epilepsy, whose parents have not
revealed the fact to the head master, school nurse or doctor. The truth emerges only
when the child happens to have an attack in school.
A large number of epileptics are educationally sub-normal, and some are found to
be ineducable. The average I.Qs. of epileptics range around 70-75, though there are a
few with high I.Qs. who are of grammar school or even University standard.
Deterioration of mental condition takes place in some cases, especially in children
suffering from mild forms of fit lasting only a second or so: the I.Q. may tend to
become lower as time passes, and some children may even become ineducable.
Epilepsy is a long-term illness. Medicines need time, patience and care to produce
good results. The exact dosage and even the time of day at which they are taken is of
importance, and the doctor's orders must be carefully carried out. Further, they have
to be continued for long after the fits have ceased. It is because of the long term treatment
that hospitals find it so difficult to treat epileptics. They cannot spare beds for the
necessarily long period of observation.
The Lingfield Epileptic Colony maintains the policy of giving the London County
Council each suitable vacancy that arises for a school child, irrespective of the length
of time that the child has been on the waiting list. It is rare for a London child to be on
the Lingfield waiting list for more than two months. The special school at Lingfield
(which is recognised by the Ministry of Education) is the largest special school for
epileptics in the country, and uses special methods of approach for children in the
lower I.Q. groups. The pupils are from five to sixteen years of age. The colony (which
also caters for adult epileptics) has grown from a single building purchased by the
Christian Service Union in 1895, and it first received epileptics of school age in 1899.
Lingfield reports that up to 40 per cent. of their patients are discharged either with
their fits arrested or so infrequent that they are considered fit to attend ordinary school
or to take up employment.
Other boarding establishments to which London children may be admitted are
St. Faith's Hospital School, Colthurst House School, St. Elizabeth's (R.C.) School,
Much Hadham, and Chalfont St. Peter Colony.
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