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24
There are no Children's Care Committees, the additional
duties which are usually carried out by such voluntary bodies,
being carried out as far as possible by appropriate Sub-Committees,
of the Education Authority.
An After-care Committee has been formed in connection with
children attending the special school.
(17) BLIND, DEAF, DEFECTIVE AND EPILEPTIC
CHILDREN.
(a) Children subjects of the above defects are ascertained
through routine medical inspection or in more severe cases necessitating
school absence through the activities of attendance
officers, the information so acquired being passed to the school
medical officer, when any subsequent arrangements necessarv for
the child's disposal are made.
Arrangements exist whereby exceptional children may, if
necessary, attend non-residential certified schools or classes outside
the district, and 7 deaf and dumb children so attended at Frederick
Road Centre, Custom House, during the year.
The number of blind and deaf children maintained at residential
institutions during the year was 3. The number of blind
and deaf children in this district is insufficient to justify the provision
of special classes for these defects locally.
The number of known epileptics of all grades is 18. Unless
the defect is of quite a minor character (when the child may attend
an ordinary elementary school), epileptic children can only
satisfactorily educated in special residential schools or colonics.
Where epilepsy is combined with mental defect, the disposal of
such cases is difficult, since few institutions throughout the country
are prepared to receive them. One epileptic child was examined
during the year. The child also suffered from spastic hemiplegin
of the left leg and was recommended as unsuitable for any school
The question of mentally sub-normal and mentally and
physically defective children was considered at length in my
Report for 1924.