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No. of Cases under consultation during
the year 318
Total attendances of patients to see:-
(a) The Psychiatrist 375
(b) The Psychologist 233
(c) The Psychiatric Social Worker 1,322
(d) The Psychotherapist 502
Speech Therapy
The Authority has an establishment of 5 Speech Therapists but only 4 Therapists
were in employment as it was not possible to fill the vacancy that occurred during the
latter part of last year. Sessions were undertaken within the School Health Service in
clinics and special schools and during the year a total of 497 children handicapped by
speech or language disorders received treatment and supervision.
A pre-school language group was initiated for children of 3-5 years of age who
it was thought would benefit from group therapy rather than individual treatment and I
will report further on this project when results are available.
Handicapped Pupils
The Education (Handicapped Children) Act, 1970, provided, with effect from 1st
April, for all those children who would have previously been determined unsuitable for
education at school to be brought into the educational system. Therefore more than 100
children in the Borough of all ages became subject, for the first time, to Section 34 of
the Education Act, 1944, which makes it a duty of the Local Education Authority to
ascertain what children in the area require special educational treatment and to provide
education appropriate to their handicaps.
The various categories of handicapped pupils are defined by the School Health
Service and Handicapped Pupils Regulations, 1959, as follows:-
Blind Epileptic
Partially Sighted Maladjusted
Deaf Physically Handicapped
Partially Hearing Delicate
Educationally Subnormal Children suffering from Speech Defects
The Authority maintains five special schools for handicapped children:-
Oak Lodge Day Special School for
Educationally Subnormal pupils
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