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37
PART III HANDICAPPED PUPILS
There are some 716 children in Croydon who are sufficiently handicapped
to warrant admission to a special school. This number shows a
slight increase (3.8%) compared with each of the two preceding years.
This increase has occurred mainly in the number of children requiring admission
to schools for the educationally subnormal, representing increased
ascertainment in anticipation of additional special school provision in
1970. The category of educational subnormality accounts for exactly half
the total number of children requiring special educational treatment who
were known to the School Health Service. An analysis of handicapped
children by year of birth shows a significant increase in the number of
young children who are recognised to require special educational treatment,
and this trend is most marked in the category of physical handicap. In
addition to the increase in total numbers, reference is made (page 51 ) to
the changing character of the handicap, so that much more severely disabled
children are now being brought forward for admission to St. Giles' School.
This increase in the number of handicapped children suggests that some
of the children with less disability must remain within ordinary schools. The
decision by the Department of Education and Science to conduct an enquiry
into the care of physically handicapped children in ordinary schools was
timely, and should reveal much useful information. The Service does
not keep clinical records about all such children at the present time, but
Croydon Head Teachers were most helpful in notifying handicapped children
who were attending their schools, enabling further enquiries to be made.
Problems of definition inevitably arose, and it was clear that some children
were regarded as handicapped when the medical justification for such a
view was limited. In some cases children were being accommodated in an
ordinary school in deference to the wishes of their parents, although the
detrimental effect of some arrangements upon the child's educational progress
was clearly recognised by the teaching staff. Of necessity such
children are not able to receive the intensive support which would be
available from medical and other professional staff at a sDecial school.
These initial investigations have again shown the extent to which
teachers in Croydon are willing to vary normal arrangements in order
to allow the majority of children with a handicap to attend ordinary
schools.
In 1969 a total of 130 pupils were newly ascertained by the Education
Committee as requiring special educational facilities in special schools or
special units (Table 10). Unfortunately in many instances these new cases
merely resulted in an extension of waiting lists, but the commencement of
building operations at the sites of two new special schools during the year
raised hopes of early improvement in this situation. In all cases the
medical recommendations were straightforward, and the Consultant Panel
did not meet during the year.