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5. Waiting List
The length of the waiting list varies considerably from time
to time during each year, but preliminary interviews are usually
arranged with a psychiatric social worker and educational psycologist
within two or three weeks of referral. The waiting time
between these interviews and the first appointment with the
psychiatrist is affected by the number of cases referred directly
by the magistrates and remanded in custody pending investigation.
These cases must have absolute priority.
There is a slight tendency for the waiting list for psychiatric
interviews to be longest in the winter, but it is seldom possible
with the staff available and the heavy pressure of cases to indicate
what unavoidable delay there may be in arranging first
interviews with the psychiatrist.
6. Procedure
Before attending the Centre for interview with a psychiatrist,
each child is seen by an educational psychologist to try
to assess how well he is able to use his mind in learning situations.
During this interview the psychologist may seem to a
child to be rather like a teacher but with the difference that
the situation is an individual one and the child has the psychologist's
undivided attention. This means that the psychologist
may be able to discover how a child receives teaching and
whether special help is required. If this interview takes place
in the Centre the mother is usually interviewed by one of the
psychiatric social workers at the same time and a history of
the child's development and relationships with people is taken.
The Social History indicates the extent to which the child's
development might ever have been considered to be normal
and how far the emphasis of the problem lies within the personality
of the patient, or within an unduly difficult environment
with which the child has had to contend. It should, of
course, be borne in mind that the attitude of the parent and
others close to the child is, in this respect, of greater importance
than the material conditions or the traumatic experiences (such
as illnesses) which he may have experienced during his lifetime.
Sometimes, however, when the child is first seen in school under
the School Psychological Service, and then referred to the
Centre, the mother may be seen by the Psychiatric Social
Worker in her own home.
As soon as it can be arranged, an appointment is made for
a diagnostic interview with a psychiatrist when both parents
are also seen if it is possible. The time reserved for this is quite
long, but subsequently treatment interviews are shorter. When
a child is taken on for treatment by one of the psychiatrists
he is usually seen at fortnightly or monthly intervals and the
psychiatric social worker keeps in touch with the family meanwhile,
either by visiting the home or by seeing the mother in
the Centre.
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