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16
Believe it or not, when I was a grown man this work was undertaken
by general surgeons who had a special bent towards this sort of work, but who
were not full time specialists.
"Orthopaedics" therefore may be said to be of recent growth and the general
public have not yet found an ordinary name for this sort of work. Until the public
of England find an ordinary English name for it I must perforce to continue to use
the scientific name, but this I shall be glad to discontinue at the earliest possible
moment.
Mr. A. M. A. Moore, F.R.C.S., Consultant Surgeon in Orthopaedics, holds a
clinic at the Manor School, sometimes once a month and, because the work is
increasing in Barking, sometimes visits indeed more frequently than this. He has
trained staff working with him and this staff carries out his instructions between
visits. Where hospital treatment is recommended we do our very best to see
this is provided but, as the public are no doubt well aware, hospital beds are scarce
and difficult to come by.
Actually the Consultant Surgeon visited us on 15 occasions during the year
under review, whilst the physiotherapists held 962 sessions.
SPEECH THERAPY.
Question:—Can stammering be cured ?
Answer:—The straight answer is no. People who stammer suffer definitely
from some particular stress or strain which is an hereditary quality and is not
likely to be altered any more than the colour of the eyes and the shape of the nose,
but this does not mean to say that nothing can be done for stammerers to help
them, and there are literally hundreds of people who have stammered very badly
but who, nevertheless, address large audiences.
The essence of all the various forms of treatment is relaxation. This, together
with help in speaking various sounds and, of course, confidence which comes from
improvement, all combine to work what appear to be miracles, but the unfortunate
stammerer must always be thinking of the advice which has been given, even though
it is no longer necessary actually to take lessons. This, however, is not a hardship
really as, after all, early in life you are taught to clean your teeth, but you have to go
on cleaning your teeth all your life and, in the same way, a person who is a stammerer
must go on and on and on practising relaxation and carrying out the every advice
which he has learnt from the specialist who has helped him to help himself.
Insofar as conversation is the very basis of social relationship, I look upon speech
training as one of our most important functions. Difficulty in speech is likely to
alter a person's whole outlook on life and all life means.
Speech training, of course, whilst it has a lot to do with stammering, takes in
other defects also, and during the year 1947 a total of 658 treatments were received
by children at the Speech Therapy Clinic.