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Convalescence
Short stay convalescent holidays were arranged for 43 pupils
during the year.
Nursery Classes for Maladjusted Children
The nursery classes at Parklands and Mead Infants Schools
have continued with considerable success and there were 17 children
attending the classes at the end of the year.
Special Unit for Disturbed Children
In November 1964 an experimental unit for disturbed children
was established at Manor Primary School staffed by a teacher
in charge and a full time welfare assistant who work in close cooperation
with the staff of the Child Guidance Clinic.
Dr. J. Vicenzi, Medical Director of the Romford Child Guidance
Clinic, states:—
"This Unit, housed in an ordinary school, is able to cater
for children diagnosed as autistic and who have reached a certain
point of development with regard to toilet training and ability to
eat in association with other children.
The diagnosis of autism is a very difficult one since there is
still a great deal of discussion about which symptoms are significant
and also about the future outlook for these children. It is
therefore important that each case is considered in great detail
before admission and children should be studied carefully while
they are in the Unit in the hope that the clinic staff may eventually
he able to produce observations which will be helpful in this field."
A list of local children diagnosed by various consultants and
doctors was compiled to select suitable candidates for admission,
although several of these were found unsuitable for this type of
unit and some lived so far away that it seemed best to await
further developments before admitting them. In view of the experimental
nature of the project it was felt advisable to restrict the
number of children to two initially, but in fact only one child,
a boy of 10 years, was admitted in November. This boy has
already derived considerable benefit from attendance at the unit
and another boy of a similar type is to be admitted in January
1965.
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