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(m) Child Guidance Clinic.
"The Clinic's aim during the year has been to alleviate the emotional
difficulties which are experienced either by the children themselves or by their
parents, teachers and others in relation to them.
"Some children present problems to the environment by being disorderly
in their behaviour, becoming delinquent or aggressive, whilst others experience
difficulties within themselves, expressed in such symptoms as nervousness,
fears, headaches, pains, or the more obvious physical symptoms of enuresis,
asthma, paralysis or fits. Therefore the main burden of the difficulty is
carried mainly either by the environment (i.e., parents, school teachers and,
in special cases, probation and welfare officers) or by the child himself.
"The Clinic procedure is as follows : Each case is investigated in its
setting and a diagnosis is made. The cases are arranged in order of their
severity and it is decided whether superficial or radical assistance is required.
"The problems which are handled vary in complexity, the most difficult
ones are dealt with by the Psychiatrist, Dr. Michael Fordham, whilst those
of a less serious nature, are handled by the Educational Psychologist, Miss
Isabel Best. The parents' problems belong to the realm of the Psychiatric
Social Worker, Miss Newcombe.
"Purely educational problems cannot be dealt with in the Clinic, firstly,
because of the pressure of cases needing psycho-therapy and secondly, because
the numbers of children requiring remedial teaching are too great.
"The Clinic has operated as a team and, consequently, it has not been
thought necessary to differentiate between the work of each of its members
in the statistics.
" The Clinic provides a place where parents and children can come
and get help in solving their difficulties. The children come for this purpose
and so do their parents. There is no 'magical' solution offered ; instead considerable
demands are made upon the patient's powers of co-operation, without
which nothing can be done. Whether the treatment be long or short, its
efficiency depends not only on the therapist, but also on the patient.
" Out of 64 cases seen, it is found that 40 require intensive treatment.
It has only been possible to handle 18 of these and there is, therefore, a
waiting list of 22. 24 cases have required shorter treatment. Thus, 42
cases have come under treatment and, in addition 32 were carried over from
the previous year, making a total of 74.
"Though the interviews are divided into two categories, namely,
diagnostic and treatment, in reality every interview involves treatment. Even
if the child and his parent, or parents, are seen only once, the aim is to give
advice, encouragement, criticism, or to hold out a hope for the future in the
form of further assistance. Therefore, the diagnostic interviews must be
regarded as part of the treatment procedure as well.
"The small number of cases given intensive treatment is due partly
to inadequate number of staff and partly to the fact that the children's
abnormality is thoroughly ingrained in their personalities that much time
has to be given to the case if we are to help. About one third of the total
cases referred have presented serious difficulties from birth ; another third
started to have serious difficulties before the age of 7 years. It therefore
seems that we should aim at lowering the age of referral so as to start treatment
before the disorder has had time to become fixed.
"In seven cases the homes were so abnormal that it was judged impossible
to do anything to help unless circumstances were radically changed. These
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