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49
SCHOOL FOR MENTALLY DEFECTIVE CHILDREN.
This School was opened on 9th October, 1906, and has accommodation
for 20 children. Further details relating to it will be found
in previous Annual Reports.
At the beginning of the year there were 14 children on the roll,
and during the year 10 were admitted and 7 withdrawn or discharged.
Of the new admissions, 6 belong to Penge, and 4 to Beckenham.
Of the latter, one is a re-admission.
The seven children who left the School during the year did so
in the following circumstances: —
One boy was transferred to the Elementary School as normal;
one was removed to an institution for the feeble-minded; two children
left the district to reside elsewhere; two left School on attaining
the age of 16 years, and one boy was too low grade to benefit by
the instruction provided and was discharged.
INSPECTIONS.
I have visited the School for the purpose of inspection on 8
occasions during the year. A Routine Inspection for the purpose of
discovering physical defects is held once a year, and every child
suffering from remedial defects is followed up until appropriate treatment
is provided. In addition to this physical examination, a detailed
enquiry is made at intervals into the mental condition of the
children, their attainments in mental and manual Work, and suggestions
are given as to the lines along which instruction can be
profitably directed.
Various mental tests, such as the Stanford Revision of the BinetSimon
Intelligence Scale, are used as an aid to estimating the mental
ability of the children, and as a guide to classifying them.
Defects of the Special Senses are extremely common amongst
these children, and the carrying out of efficient treatment is not so