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23
ST. CHRISTOPHER' S SCHOOL FOR EDUCATIONALLY
SUB-NORMAL CHILDREN
Mr. Grice has reported on a year of further improvements and
consolidation of earlier gains.
(a) Re-organisation
The re-organisation of the Curriculum on individual lines
has been extended to practical subjects. The aim is to get each
child to work independently from simple work cards, and these
have been introduced with great success.
Review of I.Qs.
There has been a great improvement in the review of I. Q. results
in the school, though there is still leeway to be made up.
lb) Speech Defects.
There is at St. Christopher's a very high incidence of
Speech Defects. The team of Speech Therapists are working extremely
hard to alleviate this - they not only treat some of the
children at the Clinic but visit the School to give Speech
Therapy each Monday morning. But in spite of their efforts,
some 20 children with marked Speech Defects are not receiving
treatment, as the Speech Therapists are not able to grant them
appointments. Speech Training Sessions for all children are
undertaken by the Teaching Staff, for speech is of paramount
importance; it is in some cases the sole means of communication
of the E. S.N. child.
(c) Social Training.
As part of the Social Training Programme, Pet Keeping has
now been introduced. The boys have converted an old hut into a
Pets' Corner, and in it are fantail pigeons, guinea pigs, a
tortoise and rabbits. The two infant classes have pet dogs,
while other classes have hamsters, tame rats, mice and budgerigars.
It is found that when handling pets, the emotional tension
of Speech Defective children is eased, and more progress is
made towards their cure, apart from the great value derived in
the field of social training.
(d) Admissions.
It is universally agreed that if a child is to profit from
Special School Education, he should not start on it too late.
Although many examples can be given of children entering E. S.N.
Schools for the first time at thirteen or fourteen, there is
nothing whatever to commend the practice. The children are old