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There are various causes of cerebral palsy but one group of causes is associated with
prematurity and the figures obtained merely confirm the fact that there is a far greater
proportion of prematurity amongst cerebral palsied children than among children
generally. Of those whose birth weights were known 34.6 per cent. were premature,
and even if the lower figure of 24.8 per cent. of all births, including those whose birth
weights were not known, is taken, the comparison is with an incidence of prematurity
of 7 per cent. of all births.
For determining the intelligence of children receiving education the revised Stanford
Binet Test Form L was used. There were 409 children receiving education, and of these
367 were assessed—wastage being due to removals, leaving school, and so on, and
35 were found to be untestable. Diagram B shows the distribution of intelligence
quotients of the remaining 332 children compared with a normal distribution. A valid
comparison of the intelligence of cerebral palsied children with that of the child population
as a whole cannot however be made on the basis merely of those receiving education.
When the others are added the true position is as set out in Diagram C, and the even
more markedly skew distribution of the cerebral palsied children is revealed.
The disposal of the children according to whether they were being educated or not,
and if so where, is set out in Table (vii). It will be seen that of the 188 children dealt
with under the Mental Deficiency Acts, 105 had attended school for a period before
being reported as ineducable, and 83 had never been to school. These figures are not
wholly meaningful since there is no rigid dividing line between educability and ineducability.
With the co-operation of institutions such as the Fountain Hospital, children
classed as ineducable are kept under review and some are given a further trial in special
schools. Similarly in the special schools themselves the classification of a child as
ineducable is not treated as a matter of urgency, and may be deferred for some time,
if the child is not ' inexpedient' from the point of view of the school authorities.

*One boy at special day school also receiving home tuition (not included in home tuition figure above).
Physiotherapy
Although the Council first appointed an orthopaedic consultant to the schools as long
ago as September, 1905, children were always referred to hospitals for treatment,
because in London suitable hospital and specialist services have always been readily
available for school pupils referred to them.
As a result, children at schools for the physically handicapped for whom a consultant
recommended physiotherapy, went by school bus to the hospital. Since, at any one
school, children might be under the medical supervision of several different hospitals,
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