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48
the proportion of school children received appropriate treatment compared
with the proportion in the West Midlands or in the Lancashire/Cheshire
conurbation.
The number of children who are recommended for special educational
treatment is a very small proportion of those who attend child guidance
clinics. Again, the number ascertained varies in different regions of the
country, the highest proportion being in the Metropolitan area with rates
between two and five times greater than in areas north and west of the
river Trent. Thus approximately 1.2/1000 school children are thought to be
in need of special educational treatment in England and Wales.
The position in Croydon does not entirely reflect these national trends.
Dr. Crosse's report (page 21) shows that only 6.2/1000 school children received
treatment at the child guidance clinic last year, and after allowing
for the different years under review, this is lower than the national figure.
Undoubtedly the relatively long waiting lists at the clinic are a factor but
by no means the only one. A national review of child guidance clinic waiting
lists by the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Education and
Science showed that the average waiting time is approximately six months,
but in some areas is as long as 18 months. Moreover, the Croydon clinic
does operate a priority system so that children with really acute problems
can be seen within a few days. There remain some children who receive
child guidance treatment from hospitals and clinics outside the area, usually
without our being informed unless the need for special educational treatment
has arisen.
In 1968 fifteen children were newly ascertained as maladjusted and
recommendations were made for their admission to residential schools. The
number of children now requiring special educational treatment in this
category in Croydon shows an increase of 25% in the last two years, but is
still less than 1/1000 school children. Not only is this less than the national
average, but it is less than half the number in the South Eastern Region and
little more than a third of that in the Metropolitan Region. It is reasonable to
enquire whether this represents some deficiency in the detection of maladjusted
children. This seems unlikely and the figures appear to reflect the
ascertainment policies in Croydon. Children are usually "ascertained" only
when the need for admission to a residential school becomes essential, and
it has been emphasised in previous reports that this decision i s more
usually made as the result of the child's behaviour upon the school than
upon the need to use residential facilities as a means of treatment of the
child's basic difficulties.
Croydon is fortunate in the steadily increasing range of day facilities
which have been developed within the Borough, and this work will receive
added impetus when the Committee's new Sir Cyril Burt School for maladjusted
children is opened. Already children can be accommodated at the
Tutorial Class when educational difficulties predominate, and admission to