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163
Pre-school children 9
Children in Unit Classes 15
Children at Ordinary School (with hearing aids) 42
Children at Ordinary School (without hearing aids) 42
Children in Residential Placement 17
Children in Day Schools for Deaf Children and
Partially Hearing Units outside the borough 17
Now that the Service has become more fully extended in the
borough the total figure should remain fairly consistent from
year to year. However, with the development of the educational
provision for hearing-impaired children within the borough the
number of children in different parts of the service will vary for
a while. The numbers of children in normal school placement
are certainly comparable with those of last year, though we are
pleased to report that more of these children are wearing hearing
aids than before. The number of pre-school children has also
risen, a reflection of the recently introduced screening carried
out on infants at the age of 6 months by the Maternal and Child
Health Section of the Health Department. Fewer children were
admitted to placements outside the borough because of the
establishment of the Unit groups within the borough. Two children
were admitted to residential placement at the nursery and
infant level owing to the severity of their handicaps and one child
attending an I.L.E.A. primary day school for the deaf transferred
to a residential school on attaining the age of 11 years.
At the beginning of the year the numbers and arrangement
of children in the Unit groups within the borough were as
follows: —
Nursery Group—7 children (3 mornings only and 4 full-time)
integrated into a nursery class of approximately 20 normally
hearing children, the hearing-impaired children being
withdrawn by the teacher of the deaf for specialist help
with auditory training, speech and language development.
Infant Group—3 children in the unit group and 2 children
integrated into the reception class of normally hearing
children and withdrawn for additional specialist help
from a teacher of the deaf.
Pre-school Group—2 children in the care of Mrs. Lee and
Mrs. Johnston, mornings only.
At the February half-term when the pre-school group was
disbanded one child was admitted to residential placement and
the other to the Nursery Group. In the autumn term the nursery
group separated from the class of hearing-impaired children and
thus became a group on its own operating for the morning session
only; the two children attending full-time joined the nursery class
in the afternoons. The Infant Group continued to remain at