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four girls, suffering from epilepsy of a mild character, the attacks
never occurring at school or during the day, were attending public
elementary schools. One girl, suffering from mild epilepsy, was kept
at home for observation and treatment by her own medical
attendant.
Nine feeble-minded children, five girls and four boys, were
maintained at Special Residential Schools. There were 19 feebleminded
children in attendance at the public elementary schools,
and one, who was awaiting a vacancy at a Special Residential
School, was kept at home.
The education of mentally defective children constitutes one
of the most difficult problems with which the Education Committee
has to deal. It will be remembered that the question was discussed
on several occasions in recent years. In February, 1927, a report was
submitted on the desirability of establishing "Craft" classes at certain
of the elementary schools which backward and feeble-minded children
might attend. On the ultimate failure of this proposal, after a
temporary acceptance, another proposal was submitted which suggested
the establishment of a school for mentally defective children
by certain Local Education Authorities in Middlesex. This proposal
was favourably considered by a Conference representing the Authorities
concerned, but the consideration had to be adjourned pending
the issue of the Report of the Departmental Committee on Mental
Deficiency.
The policy adopted with regard to mentally defective children
has been to examine all children three or more classes behind those
of a similar age to determine their mental condition. First of all
imbeciles are diagnosed and notified to the Local Control Authority,
then the feeble-minded are classified into those requiring care
in a Residential Special School, generally speaking, those who are
troublesome at home or at school or whose home circumstances
are such as to necessitate their being placed under better care,
and into those high-grade mental defectives, who with special care
can make some progress in the ordinary school without unnecessarily
disturbing the education of others. The number in
this last group, indicated in Table III, is small owing chiefly to
the fact that there is no necessity for strictly defining those on the
borderline as mentally defective as their education or supervision
in school would not be materially altered by the classification.