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99
No. of children treated at the clinic 58
No. of children discharged as cured 10
No. of children who ceased to attend 20
No. of children attending December, 1935 28
Of the 20 who have ceased to attend 3 left the district,
3 were transferred to secondary schools, greatly improved,
and 2 left with almost normal speech at the age of 14 on
leaving school. The remaining 12 made attendances which
were so irregular as to be valueless.
The 28 children under treatment in December, 1935, can
be divided into the follow ing categories
Markedly improved 10
Improved 27
Not improved (a mentally defective child) 1
The total number of attendances for treatment was 1,214.
In addition to the two sessions per week which were held
at the Central Hendon Health Centre, 22 sessions were devoted
to visiting the schools and homes of the children.
A report of the progress made was submitted to the Council
in November, 1935, and it was decided that the results were
sufficiently encouraging to warrant the establishing of a second
speech clinic at the Watling Estate Health Centre, the instructress
to attend there also on two sessions per week.
The treatment of speech defects is of its nature tedious and
requires the co-operation of the parent, child and the teacher, but
the benefits to those children who do respond to treatment are
of great value removing, or at least mitigating, a defect which
is liable to be a severe hindrance in the industrial world, moreover
nearly all stammering children are nervous children, the
underlying reason for the defect in most cases being a psychological
one, and there again the course of instruction is of marked benefit
to the child in the elimination of the underlying neurosis.
NOSE AND THROAT DEFECTS.
The number of children suffering from defects of the nose and
throat is shown on Table IV., Group 3 at the end of this report.