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The aim of the I.C.A.A. is to encourage parents in all efforts for the good of their invalid children
and not to interfere with their responsibility. When expenditure is incurred the parents are asked to
contribute. During 1925 the Willesden Branch of the I.C.A.A. had 123 new cases referred to it, of
which 54 were referred by the medical staff of the Council. 75 children were sent to convalescent
homes, 10 to nursing homes, 2 to special hospitals and 6 were boarded out. Surgical boots and
appliances were provided in 33 cases.
(2) National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.—During 1925 this Society investigated
in the Willesden area 101 cases of alleged cruelty to children. Of these 87 were cases of
neglect, 10 of ill-treatment and 4 of other wrongs. 276 supervisions were made, affecting 272 children
and involving 143 offenders (82 male and 61 female). Two prosecutions were instituted, a conviction
being recorded in each case. Of the above cases 41 were reported to the Society by this Authority.
In 1 case so reported the Society's Medical Branch arranged for hospital treatment.
(3) Central Association for Mental Welfare—Willesden After-Care Association.—The objects
of this Association are fully set forth in my Annual Report for 1919, page 17. The Association had
140 cases on its books at the end of 1925, 18 new cases were referred during the year and 128 visits
were paid. 2 girls were placed in institutions, 1 was sent to a Mental Hospital for treatment and 2
were sent to voluntary training homes. Visits were paid to girls in service and to the homes of others
who were looking for work, and parents were advised and helped with suggestions about home training.
An Occupation Centre is held every afternoon during school term at Pember Hall, Kilburn, from
2.30 to 4.30 p.m. There are 16 children who attend regularly.
(4) The Middlesex Memorial to King Edward VII.—The object of this fund is to send necessitous
children attending Middlesex schools to the seaside for a holiday or convalescence. During 1925
35 boys and girls from Willesden were received at the Children's Hostel, Heme Bay, of whom 10 had
a fortnight's holiday and 25 a week.
(5) Willesden Open-Air Fund.—During 1925 this Fund sent away 48 children for an aggregate
period of 128 weeks. Most of these children were sent to Dover, but 8 girls went to Wrotham, in
Kent, where they stayed in cottages on a farm, and 2 or 3 went to Chorley Common.
Abnormal Children.—Under this category are included the following classes of children—
merely dull or backward, Mentally Defective (feeble-minded), Imbecile, Moral Imbecile, Idiot, Physically
Defective, Blind or Partially Blind, Deaf-mute or semi-mute or semi-deaf, and Epileptic. These
cases are reported to the Authority by Parents, Head Teachers, Health Nurses, School Attendance
Officers, Hospitals and similar Institutions, Voluntary Societies and Private Medical Practitioners.
They are submitted to a special medical examination and are placed in a Special Day or Residential
School or ordinary elementary school according to the character and degree of the abnormality.
During the year 1925, 430 special children were examined or re-examined. Of the 152 original
examinations included in the 430 examined, 32 were found to be physically defective, 36 mentally
defective, 2 idiots, 2 imbeciles, 10 blind or partially blind, 5 deaf or partially deaf, 4 epileptics, 30 dull
or backward, 20 debilitated and anaemic, and 11 normal.
The types of children most difficult to deal with are the dull and backward and those physically
defectives suffering from anaemia and debility and other diseases in an incipient stage.
Dullness and backwardness may be due to defective intelligence, but in many cases it is caused
by impaired vitality due to defective frame, improper feeding and unfavourable environment. If
these children are compelled to attend an ordinary elementary school and more particularly one
where ventilation and lighting are deficient and where the general hygienic conditions are subnormal,
their condition cannot improve and in every probability it will be aggravated. If they are kept away
from their school their education must suffer. What they require is teaching under the best possible
hygienic conditions and this can be accomplished at an open-air school, where the child will be fed
regularly and properly, given an adequate amount of play and rest and treated with sunshine, baths
and exercises in the open air.
The child who is dull or backward but whose general health is good, also requires special consideration.
He cannot receive the individual attention and particular supervision he requires in a
class of an ordinary elementary school suitable to his age, and there are many objections to older
children being taught in classes where the large majority of the children are considerably younger.
In fact these children require special classes for themselves, where the numbers are limited and where
each child can be given tuition suitable to his degree of backwardness. As a beginning it would
probably be best to institute classes for dull and backward children in particular areas and the children
could be drawn from the group of schools in each area. At one school in Willesden, namely, Lower
Place Senior Mixed School, a special class for the following types of children has been formed, (1) dull
or backward, (2) children who are too old for an Infants' Department and who have attended school
so irregularly as not to be fit from an educational point of view to be placed in a class in a Senior
Department, (3) children of awkward temper and character who have reached Standard 2 and who
are better suited in a Senior Department where the discipline is stricter. This class was instituted
a few years ago and in 1923 it was decided to restrict the numbers to about 25. The course given is
an intensive one, and certain subjects are taught by means of simple plays. The progress of the
children is reviewed at frequent intervals and those children who are considered to have made sufficient
advancement are drafted into the ordinary classes.
Physically defective children suffering from anaemia and debility and other diseases in an
incipient stage can only be satisfactorily dealt with when an open-air school is established in Willesden.
At present the more pronounced cases may be sent to a Convalescent Home or Residential Open Air
School, but unless the favourable conditions are maintained after their return from the country,
they are almost certain to drift back again to their former state of health.