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The Council makes a grant to the Friends of the Centre for Spastic Children of 90 per cent
of the net annual cost of maintaining a special care unit for subnormal, multi-handicapped
spastic children at the centre in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. The unit, which was opened at
the end of 1962 and considerably enlarged in 1963, provides accommodation for up to
30 of these severely handicapped children between the ages of two and seven years.
Training of children—Training for mentally subnormal children between the ages of
five and sixteen is provided in the nine junior training centres. These are open during
ordinary school hours and are run as closely as possible on the lines of schools, the aim
being to make the children socially acceptable and to enable them to make the fullest
use of their limited potentialities.
Pending the opening of new and larger centres, lack of places has precluded any general
lowering of the age of admission to junior centres below five years, although it has been
possible to accommodate a number of four-year-olds in the centres serving west and
south west London and children of this age are admitted to other centres in special circumstances.
Following the publication of the report of the Ministry of Health Sub-Committee on
the training of staff of training centres for the mentally subnormal (of which Dr. J. A.
Scott, the Council's former Medical Officer of Health, was Chairman), which drew attention
to the need for further educational psychological research into mental subnormality,
arrangements were made for educational psychologists employed in the Council's
Education department to visit all the junior training centres to investigate the training
potentialities of the children and to advise on training methods generally and, at the
request of supervisors, on individual children.
As an experiment, Montessori training has been introduced with most encouraging
results at two junior centres, whose supervisors have taken a special course of training
in this method of teaching. It is planned to extend the experiment to other centres as
soon as the supervisory staff have completed the appropriate training.
Speech therapy is provided for those children who need it and the whole range of school
medical services is available to them. Midday meals are provided by the school meals
service at a charge of sixpence and coach transport is provided for all juniors as well as
trainees attending centres for older girls and women.
Special units in day nurseries—In furtherance of the Council's intention to provide
training for subnormal children from an early age, it has been possible to open special
units for these children in nine of the Council's day nurseries. A total of 63 places is
provided, the children being admitted on the recommendation of the medical officers
conducting the special advisory clinics.
In addition, the Council approved grants representing 90 per cent of approved maintenance
costs of nursery units run by three local branches of the National Society for
Mentally Handicapped Children. A grant to a fourth local society for a similar purpose
is under consideration. The Council is represented on the management committee of
these units.
Play centres—Following the Council's proposal to afford additional relief to the parents
of children attending junior training centres, a small number of centres have been kept open
as play centres each year for four weeks of the centres' summer holiday period. Attendances
at the play centres have been rather disappointing, but this additional service has been
appreciated by the parents of those children who attended the centres.
Training of adults—Adult centres provide accommodation for persons normally from
the age of 16, the social training given in the junior centres being continued with more
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