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Home bound children—Consideration was given how best to ensure that the small group
of home bound children, including those having home tuition, and their families could
have the opportunity of availing themselves of any of the medical or social services which
can help them in their problems. It was decided that, in general, social support could
most suitably be provided by an assistant organiser of children's care work, who would
act as the 'link' with the family and work in close co.operation with other field workers,
such as health visitors and care committee workers, if the family were not already receiving
the necessary support from other agencies.
Children with impaired hearing—The work done by the Council in the field of the special
educational treatment of children suffering from impaired hearing was discussed at length
in my report last year. During 1960 a fifth peripatetic teacher of the deaf was appointed
for work in audiology and auditory training centres.
Routine audiometer testing—The numbers of children given 'rapid.sweep' audiometer
tests during 1960 are as follows:
Pupils given screening tests 44,835
Pupils failing screening tests given pure tone tests 3,558
Pupils failing pure tone tests referred to otologists 1,413
Speech therapy—The year saw the completion of the 3.year programme for the provision
of magnetic.tape recording machines for speech therapy. One ' high.fidelity' static
machine is available at a central clinic and the peripatetic speech therapists have available
a total of 26 portable machines, which are carried from clinic to clinic. One of these
portable machines is a battery.operated transistor model, for use in premises without an
A.C. electricity supply.
By the end of the year 289 sessions a week were being held, 171 in 57 clinics and 118 in
special schools. During the year 1,351 pupils were ascertained as requiring speech therapy,
whilst 624 were discharged from treatment and 229 ceased to attend. The number of pupils
under treatment at the end of the year was 2,658, whilst 242 were on the waiting list.
Telescopic visual aids—Reference was made last year (page 106) to the provision of
telescopic visual aids to partially sighted pupils. Miss Irene Gregory, F.R.C.S., the Council's
consultant ophthalmologist, has made the following analysis of the eye conditions suffered
by the 43 pupils who, at the end of the year, were using these aids:
Congenital cataract 11
Albinism 7
Retrolental fibroplasia 6
Optic atrophy 5
Macular degeneration 5
Nystagmus 4
Subluxated lenses 1
Old choroiditis 1
Cerebral defect 1
Aniridia 1
Coloboma 1
Delicate pupils
During 1960 results were available* of a survey of pupils taken off the rolls of day special
schools for the delicate during 1958. The survey included 564 pupils—353 boys and 211
girls—a sample of 38 per cent. of the children on the rolls, which is sufficiently large to be
accepted as representative.
Medical reasons for admission to schools for the delicate are often expressed in terms,
such as 'delicate' debility', 'nutrition' neglectetc., which are not susceptible to
classification on such a rigorous basis as that of the International List used for the survey
* Copithorne and Palmer. A survey of pupils from schools for the delicate in London. Medical Officer 104,
pp. 323.325 (25.11.60).
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