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38
During the year two children were found to be sufficiently deaf to
require special educational facilities by methods used for pupils who
have no naturally acquired speech or language, and a further 16 were
found to require admission to suitable units for the partially hearing, It
will be seen from the figures quoted above that there are in Croydon a
considerable number of partially hearing children awaiting suitable facilities
for their education. Early stimulation of speech is vitally important
to these children, and every month of delay is likely to hamper the child's
long term development. Unfortunately it was not possible to make any
provision for these children during the year. The services of a second
teacher were obtained, however, so that the Unit at Kingsley Junior
School was able to open in September, but this could provide only limited
relief for the pressure on the Infant Unit because of the relatively young
ages of all the children involved.
In October 1966 the Committee reviewed the whole position and
agreed to provide a second unit at Kingsley Infant School as soon as
possible. It was decided that the two units should be divided into a
nursery group and an infant school group, dividing at approximately five
years. These arbitrary age divisions must, however, be made extremely
flexible during the next few years if the large numbers of children in a
relatively narrow age group are to be successfully assimilated during the
whole period of primary school life. The Committee further agreed to open
a partially hearing unit as part of the accommodation in a new secondary
school which is shortly to be erected. This additional provision now enables
comprehensive facilities to be made available for all partially hearing
children in Croydon on a day basis from the age of 3 years until the
age of 16 years. The development of the service will now depend on the
recruitment of suitable staff and the immediate prospects in this direction
are encouraging.