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65
It is to be hoped, therefore, that more parents will
seek early on, the expert advice available to them in any
case where a child's speech appears to differ, however
slightly, from the normal for the age. Many defects are
remediable by the time the child is due to start school
and speech therapy can be begun, if necessary, from the
age of three years and six months,,
At the end of the year the division into pre-school
and school children was as follows:-
School children 84.7%
Pre-school children 15.3%
Apart from individual speech therapy, play-groups for
pre-school children have been held weekly at the Mattock
Lane and Ravenor Park Health Clinics and group therapy
has been given at a number of local schools.
All new cases are medically examined at their first
attendance and all children under treatment are medically
reviewed at six-monthly intervals, Close liaison between
the Medical Officer in charge of Speech Therapy and the
Speech Therapists has been maintained by regular case
conferences,
The Speech Class at Stanhope Infants School for children
with severe disorders of speech continues to be a
valuable part of the local speech therapy services,
Since its inception in April 1954, 30 children have
been admitted to the class and at December, 1957, 21
children had been discharged, Apart from one child who
left the class after one term to go abroad those discharged
were speaking normally or had only a slight residual
defect and were able to take proper advantage of the normal
educational facilities in the schools to which they
were transferred,
It has been found possible to discharge children from
the Speech Class after an average stay of only three terms,
This must be considered as highly satisfactory when it is
remembered that all these children were severely handicapped
by their speech defects when they were admitted
and is itself a tribute to the care and devotion shown to
these children by the teacher in charge of the class and
by the Speech Therapists,
EALING CHILD GUIDANCE CENTRE,
Dr. P. Holman, Consultant Psychiatrist, reports:-