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38
Both classes went with the juniors to New Cross Hospital in October
for new ear moulds. A similar visit will be made at regular intervals to ensure
a continuing comfortable and efficient fit.
Attendance has been very good except for one child. The children are
working very well, and showing progress too in social development. Six
children give spontaneous speech, although not necessarily intelligible.
Two children give speech when prompted but one boy has so far failed to
respond in this way, but does vocalise various "noises* spontaneously.
Since September we have had several visitors all of whom have shown
kindness and interest, and the children have enjoyed the occasions. They
specially enjoyed the Road Safety Demonstrations given in the school hall.
We are now looking forward to various Christmas activities and hope
that in 1968 progress will be maintained. Perhaps, too, parental co-operation
can be improved, especially with reference to the wearing of hearing
aids.
PARTIALLY HEARING UNIT, KINGSLEY JUNIOR SCHOOL
There are now seven pupils in this unit with an age range of eight to
eleven years. The teacher, Mr. Davies, resigned in July 1967 and has been
succeeded by Mr. H. Brozel, a fully qualified teacher of the deaf with much
experience of remedial work with normally hearing pupils.
The children are making good progress. There have been several contacts
with and visits by parents, and advantage is taken wherever possible
to urge proper and sufficient use of hearing aids outside school hours. There
is now more integration of these children with other classes in the school,
and this will gradually increase as need and opportunity dictate. The appointment
of a part-time qualified and experienced teacher to assist with this unit
and the two units in the Infants' School was very welcome not only as a means
of providing more individual attention for pupils but as a means of continuing
the work of the unit should the full-time teacher be absent
The renewing of moulds for hearing aids, hitherto the responsibility of
parents, has not always been attended to with sufficient regularity. Following
a suggestion from technicians at New Cross Hospital, the Education Department
has been able to arrange for all partially hearing children at the Kingsley
Schools to be taken as a group to the hospital at correct and regular intervals
for renewal of their moulds. The first visit in October was most satisfactory.
There have been additions to .the apparatus in use in the Junior School
Unit. The tape recorder and record player supplied this year are already
proving useful, and a modest programme of apparatus construction has begun
in order to explore certain aspects of hearing. It is hoped practical apparatus
will be developed to aid those children who, because of limited dynamic
range of hearing, have difficulty in using normal aids. The Experimental Aid
OL63 is being tested in the unit and results of speech audiometry will be
carefully considered.