View report page

17
A trained nurse who also acts as ambulance attendant is attached to each of the Physically
Defective Schools. She treats such minor ailments as require it and supervises the personal cleanliness
and the care of the teeth and hair of the children. She arranges for the repair of surgical instruments
and boots and undertakes the massage of the children who have been ordered this treatment by their
Surgeon and who are unable to attend a Hospital for this purpose. She also gives the children the
medicines and nutritive drugs ordered by the Doctor, such as Syr. Ferri Phos. Co. Virol and Cod
Liver Oil.
Both schools are visited by the Certifying Medical Officer once a fortnight and each child is
seen every six months. The parents are notified of any defects found which require attention.
The majority of the children at these schools who are actual cripples attend periodically
either an Orthopaedic Hospital or the Orthopaedic Department of a General Hospital. In a few
cases difficulty is found in getting the parents to keep their children under the care of an Orthopaedic
Surgeon. The cost of travel and the distances to the nearest hospitals are the chief factors in
preventing this being carried out. Difficulty also arises when a case is ordered special daily treatment
which can only be carried out in an Orthopaedic Department. When the Orthopaedic Clinic to be
established in Willesden is in working order, these difficulties will disappear, and it will be practicable
for every cripple child to be kept under the care of a Specialist and also to have such treatment
as is considered necessary for the particular defect.
A new school ambulance purchased by the Education Committee was delivered at Easter,
1925. This vehicle accommodates 20 children, 1 driver and 1 attendant.
After Care.—At present the after care of the Mentally Defective Children in Willesden is
undertaken by a Voluntary Society. The names of the children leaving the Mentally Defective
School are notified to the Society and the cases are visited periodically and a record is kept of each
case visited. The Society have an Occupation Centre for Mentally Defective Children at Pember
Hall, Pember Road, Kensal Green, N.W. 10. It is open daily from 2.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. The
children in attendance are chiefly imbeciles and ineducable feeble-minded who are awaiting admission
to an Institution or whose parents wish to keep them at home. The children are taught rug-making,
basket-making and cane-chair-making. Children leaving the Mentally Defective School and in
whose case it is considered necessary that they should be placed under supervision or guardianship
are reported to the Middlesex County Council.
The number of children and adolescents under 21 years of age who have attended the MentallyDefective
School and who are still in the district is 73. 13 of these are known to be incapable of employment
by reason of their mental defect, 12 are in Institutions, 2 being there for further education
and 10 for safety or guardianship. Of the remaining 48, 23 are employed in industrial or manual
occupations, 1 in agricultural or rural occupation, 18 in domestic work, 1 in commercial work and 5
in blind alley or other precarious occupations.
The number of physically defective children and adolescents under 21 years of age who are
still in the area is 36. 2 are attending a secondary school. 2 cases are known to be incapable of work
by reason of their physical defect and 2 are in a Cripple Home or Institution.
Of the remaining 30, 18 are engaged in industrial or manual occupations, 6 in domestic employment
and 4 have obtained situations in commercial, professional or clerical work. 2 are employed
in blind alley or other precarious occupations.
Convalescence.—Convalescent homes for children attending the Physically Defective Schools is
arranged by the Invalid Children's Aid Association and by the Shaftesbury Society. The Stamford
Hill Cripples' Home has a branch at Thorpe Bay near Southend-on-Sea and this institution admits
Willesden children at a reduced rate.
The Education Committee have made arrangements with the Russell-Cotes School of Recovery,
Parkstone, near Bournemouth, for the reservation of two beds at this Institution for Willesden boys.
This home was provided by the donors as a country residence near the sea for poor town boys and
girls who are anaemic and debilitated and who are physically defective within the meaning of the
Education Act, 1921, and it is recognised by the Board of Education as a Special Residential School.
The boys are selected both from the physically defective and the ordinary elementary schools and the
duration of the stay is six weeks, except in special cases when an additional six weeks' stay can be
arranged. All the cases which have been to the Institution have shewn a distinct improvement on
their return home.
Stammering Children.—The special class for stammering children, privately conducted by
Mr. A. D. Bradfield at Percy Road Council School during 1924, was taken over by the Council with
the approval of the Board of Education on 3rd February, 1925, and has been conducted with considerable
success ever since. This class consists of 10 boys, who receive 2 1-hour lessons per week.
The following table shows the degrees of defect present and the results of treatment up to January,
1926.