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36
be forgotten ; they will be re-examined again in six months or
possibly a year when the progress they have made will be taken into
consideration with the general educational knowledge they possess.
The point I would stress is that in each one of these cases the parents
have been interviewed, and the steps taken in the care of their
children have been taken in co-operation with them. Few realise
the sad plight of the mother of an only child, whose only child is an
imbecile. I have repeated the words "only child" twice because
all too frequently parents are apt to consider that all cases of
imbecility are hereditary, and for this reason refrain from having
further children. The hereditary factor only applies in a small
proportion of cases, and I have found it possible to dispel the fears
of many parents in this respect. I have reason to believe that as
a result, some of them have had other children, perfectly normal
healthy children who will bring them that affection and pride which
they have a right to expect as a return for the lavish care they have
bestowed upon them. I have seen many good parents literally
devoting their lives to the care of imbecile children with little hope
of anything in return—parents who might have other healthy
children without any fear of a repetition of their previous misfortune.
In addition I have seen one hundred and sixteen children
suffering from other defects. I would inform the Committee of one
of these special cases—a small undersized child of about ten years,
suffering from a severe form of congenital heart disease. This child
had never been to school and neither I nor the Director of Education
would have been prepared to enforce such attendance, and take the
responsibility of the consequences on our own shoulders, without
the willing co-operation of the parents. On interviewing the parents
I gained the impression that they were loathe to " worry the child
with learning " when the prospects for the future were so doubtful
and limited. It had not occurred to them that, in that the child
was debarred from the natural physical pleasures and recreations
of the normal child, its life would be made doubly hard if it were
unable to occupy and amuse itself either by reading or writing.
After some weeks of consideration the parents asked me to arrange
for the child to attend school in the mornings only, and this was
effected. A year later I received a request that the child should
attend all day, and it is now doing so. There has been no detriment
to health ; on the other hand, the child has improved in physique,
is looking better, and is now considerably happier.
There are other cases I could quote to the Committee where
the School Medical Service has' achieved similar happy results; it
is my desire to stress that the School Medical Service exists, not to
secure healthy robots and robust amazons, but to look after the
weak and faulting, and to provide them with as happy an outlook on