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PLAY THERAPY
Play therapy groups continued during the year at Julia Engwell,
Oxlow Lane and Thames View Clinics, and at Northbury Infants School.
A total of 78 children attended the groups and benefited from playing
and forming relationships with each other under the guidance of the play
therapy staff.
Attendance at the individual groups was as follows
At Julia Bigwell we had 18 children, 4 who came from difficult
homes and 2 who were mentally backward.
At Thames View we have helped 20 children 4 who had behaviour
problems and 3 with bad speech defects.
At Oxlow Lane 19 children have attended. Quite a large
percentage of these children come from the high rise flats which
do create behaviour problems.
Northbury group had 21 children in the past year, 4 came from
difficult homes, 1 was very mentally retarded he was later transferred
to a special school and 2 had speech defects. We also had 3 immigrant
children here.
Unfortunately owing to the shortage of classrooms at the school
we had to close Northbury at the end of the year.
KINGSLEY HALL DAY ASSESSMENT CENTRE
The work of this centre, which was described in detail in my
Report for 1970 was continued during the year.
24 children were admitted during 1971, many having multiple handicaps.
Two children, both severely handicapped, suffered defects which could
be attributed to exposure ante-natally to the rubella virus. One child
of 3½ years with agenesis of the 9th and 10th cranial nerves, who had
spent most of her life in hospital was able to be discharged home. By
her attending Kingsley Hall the parents were supported and given confidence
to assume responsibility for her management.
The close association the centre enjoys with the Institute of
Child Health and the Woolf son Centre was maintained during the year.
Staff accompanied children on visits to this and other hospitals for
review etc., and children were assisted on 60 occasions in this way.
The average attendance at Kingsley Hall over the year was 13 children
per day.
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