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Dr. L. Fisch, Consultant Otologist, reports:-
"No major change occurred during the past year, he managed to keep the waiting list down and
there was some improvement.
Regular meetings with our parents of pre-school children were held throughout the year. These
meetings are very important as part of parent guidance. We tried as much as possible to place our preschool
deaf children into normal day nurseries or play groups. Excellent co-operation has been obtained
from the staff of these nurseries.
Members of the staff in our area attended a day conference on "The deaf child in a normal nursery",
which was held at Heston. Our peripatetic teachers and many matrons and other staff from various day
nurseries made an important contribution during the discussion.
We find that there is an increasing number of children who have additional difficulties, apart from
deafness. This is creating serious problems concerning placement of these children with multiple
handicaps. In several cases we had great difficulty in finding satisfactory placing.
The number of young children who require home training and parent guidance has increased. Also
the number of more difficult children, with additional problems, is increasing and we found that an
additional peripatetic teacher of the deaf was required to cover this work.
Research: he are conducting an investigation on screening tests for babies by recorded test
sounds. This investigation is supported by the Medical Research Council and the special equipment
which was built for this purpose is used by Dr. Golder during her screening clinic for infants. Good
co-operation with the School for the Deaf and the Partially Hearing Units continued, Wen a recommendation
is made for admission of a child either to a school for the deaf or one of the classes for partially
hearing children, this is discussed in detail with the Headmaster and a suitable time for admission is
arranged.
Dr. Udall continued to co-operate closely with our clinic and his contact with St. Bartholomew's
Hospital is a very useful one. Several of our patients had special X-rays (by tomography) carried out
at St. Bartholomew's Hospital and Dr. Udall is conducting an investigation into the various syndromes
connected with deafness with the help of tomography.
Our new premises which were added proved to be very useful. There are still some urgent needs
as regards additions to the building. One of the most important is an observation room, with facilities
for one-way observation. Also a larger waiting room is urgently required and a covered passage from
the clinic into the audiometry clinic."
The following is an analysis of the cases seen during 1967:Number
of cases seen:-
Age -1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16- Total
New cases in year 244 17 20 37 42 31 27 7 9 11 11 6 4 3 1 1 1 472
Cases brought
forward from
previous year 5 27 28 25 43 34 22 27 28 20 33 17 27 16 8 15 10 385
Re-examinations of
old and new cases 8 91915 22 15 9 4 5 5 7 7 5 2 —- — 1 133
Total attendances 990
Pre-school children 536
Attending Infant and Junior Schools 225
Attending Senior Schools 96
Reason for referral among New cases:-
For diagnosis 183
Known to be deaf, examination before admission
to Blanche Nevile School 15
Immigrants to Borough known to be deaf 5
Partially-hearing, advice as to placement 3
Auditory training 6
"At risk" 243
Transfer from hospital out-patients departments 11
Advice as to placement where deafness might be
the cause of backwardness 6
Total 472
66 of the above referrals were from other London Boroughs.
77