View report page

HANDICAPPED CHILDREN
Children Under 5
There is now a complete register of all children under 5 who are handicapped
either mentally or physically. This has been compiled from health visitors' records,
information from general practitioners and hospital discharge notes; it is of course an
open register to which names are added frequently as more information becomes available.
As reported last year, most of these children are at home and present an increasing
problem of management and care to their parents as they grow older. It was in an
attempt to lighten this burden and give these children pre-school training and the necessary
intensive physiotherapy or speech therapy that a special handicapped nursery was
proposed for the area.
The proposal for such a nursery has met with immediate approval from the parents
of handicapped children, eventual approval from the committees through which it has
passed, and so far, no comment from the Ministry of Health where the proposal rested
at the end of the year. It is, however, hoped that as soon as permission is granted
Kingsley Hall Day Nursery will be modified to take up to 20 handicapped children
whose need for special training and therapy is greatest and whose parents are most in
need of relief from their constant care.
To make sure that the small number that can be admitted are those most in need,
visits have been paid during the year to the homes of these children to draw up a priority
list and also to give help and advice on the home care of the children.
School Children
The table shows the number of children with classified defects in the school and preschool
population. Children who attend normal schools but were registed as handicapped
have been seen during the year by school medical officers in minor ailment
clinics and a detailed report on each child has been submitted relating to their physical
condition and their ability to manage in the normal school.
A total of 195 children were seen at these routine follow-up examinations and the
following recommendations were made:—
(1) Doing well in normal school 169
(2) Referred for hospital check 1
(3) Referred for special schooling:—
(a) Residential -
(b) Open Air School 3
(c) Special School 1
(d) Did not attend 21
In addition, 8 special recommendations for children to see the youth employment
officer regarding employment were made.
63