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89
BLIND, DEAF, DEFECTIVE, AND EPILEPTIC
CHILDREN.
Children who come under any of the above headings are brought
to the notice of the School Medical Officer either by parents, School
Attendance Officers, the School Nurse, or Head Teachers. If the
defect is gross and obvious they are sent at once to the School
Clinic, and are then dealt with according to the degree of defect
found.
Cases of feeble minded children, where the defect is not very
pronounced, are usually discovered by the School Medical Officer
among the lists of dull and backward children furnished by the Head
Teachers. These lists are 'made out once a year, and the Teacher
sets out the number of years the child's education is retarded with
comments, such as "prolonged absence due to illness," "cannot
concentrate,'' etc. Th,e School Medical Officer examines all these
children during the Routine Inspections at the school and investigates
the mental condition and the cause of backwardness. Sometimes
it is necessary to refer the child to the School Clinic for
further examination.
Blind and Deaf.—With regard to the numbers of Blind and Deaf,
there is one girl attending a certified school for the Blind at Upper
Norwood and one girl attending a certified school for the Deaf at
Margate, these are the only cases known to me belonging to the
District.
Mentally Defective.—Particulars relating to the feeble minded
children will be found under the report on the Special School,
page 91. During the year one feeble minded child was notified to
the Local Control Authority on leaving the Special School.
Three other mentally defective children were notified 10 ths
same Authority during the year, viz., two imbeciles- one boy and
one girl—and one idiot girl.
Of the 19 feeble minded children referred to as in attendance at
the Special School, 13 belong to Beckenham and 0 to Penge.