View report page

The Handicapped Pupils and School Health Service Regulations, 1945, included
the new category of' maladjusted pupils' as a defect to be ascertained and for which
provision had to be made.
Maladjusted
children and
child guidance
This category is new so far as special educational provision is concerned, although
child guidance clinics had dealt with such children for many years, and there was a
permissive clause in the Education Act, 1921, by which authorities could, as part of
medical treatment, accept financial responsibility for such children in certain schools
thought to be successful in dealing with such children. London did not avail itself of this
clause of the Act.
As an organised movement, and in the particular sense that the words are now used,
'child guidance' was introduced into this country in 1927 through the generosity
of a private trust, the Commonwealth Fund of America. However, the general idea of
child guidance work was not altogether new, and had been carried out in London and
elsewhere in increasing measure during the preceding half-century. In this country,
the need for this special type of service had been felt mainly in the educational field,
where it was seen that even with the various types of special schools, there still remained
the type of problem which seemed to baffle all the available agencies.
The first attempt to treat maladjusted children in this country as a separate category
was made by the Tavistock Clinic, where the pioneer work in the treatment of adult
neurotic cases, began in 1921, was soon extended to a special department for children.
Nevertheless, as stated above, 'child guidance' as an organised movement, and in
the particular sense in which the words are now used, was not introduced into this
country until 1927. In that year, the Child Guidance Council was established in London
as the central voluntary organisation of the movement 'to encourage the provision of
skilled treatment of children showing behaviour disturbances and early symptoms of
disorder.' An immediate approach was made to the London County Council to obtain
its support to the establishment in London of a child guidance clinic of the kind widely
established in the U.S.A. and Canada. At the expense of the Commonwealth Fund, the
Council's principal organiser of children's care committees and an assistant medical
officer visited America to report on the methods followed by the child guidance clinics
there. Shortly afterwards, leave was given to four assistant organisers of care committees
to spend a year in America also at the expense of the Fund, in order to take a
course of training as psychiatric social workers.
In 1928 the Council accepted the offer of the Child Guidance Council to open a
clinic in London:—
(a) for the investigation of difficult, maladjusted or deliquent children;
(b) to treat symptoms so as to prevent further trouble; and
(c) to establish harmony between the child and his environment, home life,
school and play.
The Council appointed representatives on the Child Guidance Council and on the
provisional committee of the clinic, but decided that the matter was to be regarded as
an experiment for three years, without any cost falling on the Council. The number
of children treated was to be determined by the Council, and they were to be selected
by the School Medical Officer. The proposal received the approval of the Board of
Education.
This first clinic—the London Child Guidance Clinic—materialised in 1929 and
Dr. Wm. Moodie was appointed director. One of the assistant organisers of children's
care committees who had taken the course of training was appointed as chief psychiatric
social worker. A course in mental welfare was arranged at the London School of
Economics for the training of psychiatric social workers, the Canonbury Clinic being
used for demonstration and practice. Four of the Council's children's care organising
staff were granted one year's leave of absence to take this course. The whole expense
was bome by the Commonwealth Fund.
199