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63
THE FORMATION OF A SPEECH CLASS
IN A NORMAL INFANT SCHOOL
By I.H. Seppelt, M.A., M.B.- B.Chir., D.P.H. and
I.O. Taylor, M. A., M.R.C.S. L.R.C.P., D.P.H. Assistant
Medical Officers, Area 7, Middlesex County Council.
In recent years consideration has been given in
the Speech Therapy Department to the problem of the
infant school entrant whose speech is sufficiently
defective to interfere markedly with education. Some
years ago the formation of a Play Group amongst older
pre-school children had aimed at correcting the defect
before school age. It was apparent however that some
children were still reaching school age with the defect
uncorrected- and an account will be given of the formation
and management of a special class to cater for
their needs.
Such children on entering a normal infant class
face considerable difficulties.
First they are timid and shy and make little effort
to talk. When the effort is made they are often unable
to make the teacher understand and are thereby discouraged
from further attempts. Clearly in the large
classes of today such children are almost certain to
be neglected if only due to lack of time. Even assuming
a child is fortunate enough to find himself in a small
class encouragement of speech and the correction of
its defects is a specialised subject of which the
teacher of a normal class is unlikely to have any
particular knowledge.
Secondly these children need frequent attendance
at clinics for speech therapy which results in a sub
stantial absence from lessons- This is, of course a
problem common to all categories of handicapped pupils
who have to attend hospitals or clinics for their
defects when no provisions for this are made at school.
Thirdly careful observation and follow up by the
medical officer and speech therapist is difficult and
such surveillance is of great importance in dealing
with these children so that their management can be
varied in the light of their development.
The formation of a speech class in a normal primary
school seemed to offer a solution to these difficulties.
Here a specially experienced teacher could combine
normal school routine with speech training the speech
therapist could visit several times weekly and easy
surveillance by the medical officer would be possible.
One of the merits of the scheme was that it could be
implemented utilising existing facilities. Thus
(1) The speech therapist would devote to those
children in school the time she would normally give to
them in clinics.
(2) Although the class teacher should perhaps
theoretically be adoubly qualified person, i.e. speech
therapist/teacher, this would be unlikely to be practicable
and therefore it was decided to select a teacher
with some experience of speech training and of the
development of language and an interest in the scheme.
Accordingly, in 1954 such a class was formed. The
founder members varied between five and eight years
old. These were selected from children having speech
therapy at clinics who were making unsatisfactory
progress in normal schools, due primarily to their