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10 left school,
3 left the district,
13 were discharged as cured,
2 were removed from the classes,
1 was re-admitted, and
9 new cases were admitted.
Apart from the 13 discharged as cured, the majority of those attending
the classes show improvement. Two of those discharged
as cured were had stammerers and 4 bad stammerers still attending
the class show marked improvement. At the end of 1935, 12
children were still attending the classes for stammering children,
one being a child who had relapsed into a slight stammer.
In addition to providing classes for that most common and
most disturbing speech defect, i.e., stammering, it was decided to
extend the scope of the Speech Training Classes to include all
forms of speech defects, and in October, 1935, classes for this purpose
were instituted. 33 children were selected as suitable for
speech training, and in October the classes for these were formed
according to age. As there were fewer stammerers at this time, it
was found possible to deal with them in the mornings on Monday
and Thursday from 10-12 o'clock in 3 classes of 40 minutes duration.
This left the afternoons free for other speech defects, and accordingly
the 33 children were divided into two classes, that of
children aged 5-7 from 2—2.45 p.m., and that of children 8-12 from
2.45-3.30 p.m. Three older children were given individual attention
for a quarter of an hour each from 3.30-4.15 p.m. on Mondays
and Thursdays.
The commonest defects noted and dealt with was lalling
or baby speech, found mostly in young children from the Infants'
department. Other defects were due to faulty dentition, to malformation
of the mouth or to some degree of deafness.
Some cases were referred from the Special School, backward,
sluggish or slovenly speech, and it is hoped that speech training
in their cases may encourage their power of concentration and mental
attitude generally.
At the end of 1935, there were 36 children attending the
Speech Training Classes as distinct from stammerers. Progress
is naturally slow, but some improvement may be reported in the
majority of those attending the classes.
RETURN OF EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN.
On Table 3 will be found a return of all the exceptional
children in the district,