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47
The Day Special Unit for Speech Disordered children at West Thornton
School was opened in January 1966. There were no difficulties concerning
the admission of the initial group of children and with the ready
assistance of Mr. Samuel and the staff and pupils of West Thornton
School, these handicapped children were quickly integrated into the
normal life of the school. Mrs, Shirley Wickerson, Senior Speech Therapist,
has reviewed the condition of aphasia and described the new Unit in an
appendix to this report (page 70). It is obviously too early to assess the
true effect of the Unit upon the progress of children suffering from severe
speech disorders, but already several of the children are spending a
significant part of the school day in the environment of an ordinary classroom.
In addition the names of four children were removed from the waiting
lists of residential schools.
During the year Mr. John Lee of Moor House School gave a lecture
at the School on the education of aphasic children and this was much
appreciated by the audience of speech therapists and teachers. There
have been many requests from outside Croydon to visit the Unit and it is
clear that this pioneer venture has attracted considerable interest in
other parts of the country.
I am grateful to Mr. R.J. Samuel (Teacher at the Unit, Miss S. Evans)
for the following report:—
UNIT FOR SPEECH DISORDERED CHILDREN
WEST THORNTON J.M. & I. SCHOOL
This Unit was opened in January 1966 to cater for the needs of a
group of children with speech and communication difficulties who might
otherwise have needed to go to residential schools outside the Borough.
Nine children were admitted at first with an age range of 5-9½ years.
One child left within a few weeks because his family unexpectedly moved
away from the district. Another has now been transferred to St.
Christopher's School, but five others have been admitted, and there have
been twelve children on roll for most of the year.
The premises consist of three rooms; a schoolroom, a speech therapy
treatment room, and a playroom. There are special mirror-like windows
and a microphone in the playroom, so that children can be observed from
the speech room by specialists and other visitors without self-consciousness
and strain. The children are seen each term by our consultant
specialist, Dr. Worster-Drought. Our medical adviser, Dr. Gibbons, also
visits regularly.
Three Speech Therapists share the sessions among them, and every
child has regular treatment. In a small group it is possible for the teacher
to give a good deal of individual help and great stress is placed on
language and reading. It is valuable for therapists and teacher to work