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57
gratitude and relief for the expert help available and for the
assurance that the child will not be barred from entering the
Infants' School at the normal age of 5.
The 4 children where deafness is thought to be the major
handicap became the responsibility of the School Health Service.
The fact that only 2 children were admitted to subnormality
hospital for long-term care reflects the modern trend towards home
care and also the scarcity of hospital accommodation.
The number of deaths—6 in a group of 150 children—is not
excessive if one considers the very severe defect present and
remembers that not long ago some of these children would not
have survived the neo-natal period. There was no case of mongolism
among the deaths.
Play Groups
Two well established Play Groups have continued successfully
during 1966.
ST. PAULS CRAY, MICKLEHAM ROAD CLINIC, run by
the Bromley Society for Mentally Handicapped Children, operates
once a week on the Clinic premises which the Council provides
free of charge. A Health Visitor is available for advice if required.
ST. MARY'S CENTRE, HAYES, run by the Trustees of the
Hayes Parish Church on the Kindergarten lines three times a week,
employs qualified staff. This Play Group has assimilated children
with varying degrees of mental handicap and its activities proved
beneficial to every child without exception. The fees are met by
the parents and in necessitous cases by the Bromley Society for
Mentally Handicapped Children. The Council reimburse the deficit
incurred in the running of the Centre by a per capita grant to the
Trustees (60% from the Education Committee, 40% from the
Health and Welfare Committee).
A third Play Group in Beckenham, organised by the British
Red Cross Society, will start early in 1967.
Research into Subnormality
On the clinical side research has always been and likely to
remain the prerogative of hospital service. The need for such
research is very great indeed. Early in 1966, the Medical Officer
of Health was approached by Professor Elek, Head of the Department
of Bacteriology at St. George's Hospital Medical School,
with a request for co-operation in the project he was working on,
in conjunction with his Senior Lecturer in Virology, Dr. Harold
Stern. The project set out to test the hypothesis that infections
other than rubella and toxoplasmosis occurring in utero or early
infancy play a part in producing subnormality. Professor Elek