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The term 'speech therapists' was first used in the School Medical Officer's reports in 1937.
The therapists employed by the Council had started monthly meetings in 1934 and had
continued them regularly. In 1937, therapists living and working out of London were
invited to attend these meetings which were held on Saturday afternoons. They were well
attended and therapists were in this way helped to keep in touch with their colleagues.
The 13 centres continued to operate through 1938; over 500 children attended, 403 from
elementary schools, 51 from secondary schools and 48 from residential homes. One
therapist noted the following in 100 consecutive cases of stammering:

In five cases the child was one of twins.
War and contraction of field of work—The mass evacuation in September, 1939 so
scattered the school population that school medical work in clinics in London was brought
to an end. All the speech clinics were closed and later the therapists visited the reception
areas. Where it was possible they continued treatment. Despite the number moved from
London many children remained or returned and by December some clinical services were
restarted and part-time school commenced. The story in 1940 was of more evacuation,
the estimated number of children in London was then 85,000; this increased in 1941 as
people began to drift back and by December reached 150,000. It was not until the autumn
of 1942 that five centres for speech therapy, which could accommodate 144 children, were
reopened. The drift back to London continued and by the end of 1943 there were 250,000
in the schools and two more centres had been opened, giving places for 180 children.
Progress continued in 1944: two more centres, now nine in all, were operating, despite
the number of school children beginning to fall as evacuation became more intense.
Records show that 439 children attended speech therapy in 1944.
The Education Act, 1944 recognised children suffering from speech disorders as being
in need of special educational treatment and it became necessary for a legal process of
ascertainment by the Chairman of the Education Committee to be completed before
treatment could be commenced.
The nine centres continued in 1945 and had places for 260 children. All that year the
number of children in schools in London continued to increase, so that in December it
reached 277,359 and a total of 361 children were treated in the year. The number of school
children continued to increase in 1946 to 334,784 by December and the speech clinics were
increased to twelve. All the centres were staffed by part-time therapists who worked under
the general supervision of a principal assistant medical officer.
Second period of development—The second period of growth commenced in 1947 when
the school population had grown to 352,570. The 12 centres had 536 attendances. It had
become plain that expansion of the speech therapy services was necessary and in 1948
the number of clinics was increased to 16, with 645 attendances. Two more centres were
opened in 1949 and 670 children attended. It was in 1950 that two advances were made;
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