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164
Midfield Primary School with the kind co-operation of Mr. R. W.
Taylor, headmaster of the school, as the building of the Darrick
Wood Unit, which was expected to be completed by the beginning
of the autumn term, had been unfortunately delayed. During the
year among the new admissions to the groups were two children
from the London Borough of Bexley.
As the peripatetic service developed arrangements were made
for certain of those pre-school children and children attending
schools for normally hearing children in the borough and under
the supervision of the teachers of the deaf to be seen weekly for
regular specialist assistance. By December, 1968, 16 children
were being seen for this purpose. A small number of children
officially classified as the responsibility of the Health and Welfare
Department also received specialist help during the year.
Future Plans
It is now anticipated that the Darrick Wood Unit will be
erected and fully equipped ready for use in September, 1969. It
is intended that the classes will remain small to begin with and
that children already attending partially-hearing units outside the
borough will not be transferred until the Unit is well established.
A more comprehensive system of special education for
hearing-impaired children of secondary age it is hoped will be
made within the near future. Two proposals are at present under
consideration: —
(1) Admission to the new secondary unit to be established
by the London Borough of Bexley in return for Bromley's
education of Bexley children of primary age in the Bromley
Unit.
(2) Establishment of a small group in one of the co-educational
secondary schools within the borough, with
specialist help for children of grammar school ability.
The less severely handicapped would continue in other
secondary schools helped by peripatetic teaching.
The Audiology Clinic
The Clinic was used on certain afternoons weekly by Mrs.
Campin for regular specialist teaching and parent guidance with
young hearing-impaired children. It was also used for appointments
by Mrs. Evans on two mornings weekly and for periodic
appointments for the Medical Officers for the deaf.
In the autumn term monthly meetings were held at the Clinic
to discuss particular cases among the various members of the
Authority's staff concerned with these cases. We were honoured
to have Dr. D. M. C. Dale, Senior Lecturer in the Education of
Deaf and Partially Hearing Children, Institute of Education,