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At the first meeting a common problem did arise and all present
seemed to be agreed that the type of emotionally disturbed child who
causes most difficulty in the class-room is the aggressive, demanding,
attention seeking child, as he is a source of distraction to his classmates
as well as commanding a disproportionate amount of the
teacher's attention, time and energy.
In all the discussions, the parents were mentioned as important
in connection with the children's problems and because of the
interest in this, we invited the psychiatric social workers to attend
the last meeting, to describe the aims of their work with parents.
As the group varied in composition at each meeting, different
people attending each time and only a few coming to all or most
meetings, we really had to start the discussion afresh each time for
there was little chance to achieve continuity of discussion.
We hope to hold further such meetings in the future. We have
learnt from the meetings we have already had, that we need to be
more specific in our subjects for discussion and we may, for example,
ask people to present for discussion more detailed accounts of
problems arising with individual children.
During the past year the waiting list for the Special Remedial
Classes has grown enormously and children are now having to wait
about a year from the time their names are placed on the waiting
list to the time of admission. The long wait is unfortunate, but at
the same time it is encouraging to note that very few of the children
on the waiting list are of Secondary School age, so it seems that a
greater number of children are being referred at a young age. We are
lucky to have such excellent remedial facilities, but the length of
the waiting list suggests that we need to increase the number of the
special classes, when this is possible.
One of the three teachers at the day maladjusted classes, Mr.
Horton, left at the beginning of the year to take a similar job with
the L.C.C. We were fortunate to get Mr. Westlake who had been
working at the remedial classes and had had experience there with
one or two children who later went to residential schools for maladjusted
children, to transfer to the maladjusted classes to replace
Mr. Horton.
At the end of the year, we lost Mrs. Pym who started the
classes going and with special training, combined with skill and
insight into the children's problems and full liaison with the staff