London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Walthamstow 1935
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Walthamstow]
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68
Certification.—The School Medical Officer and two of the
Assistant School Medical Officers are recognised by the Board
01 Education as Certifying Officers. Dr. Clarke carries out the
assessments of intelligence quotients.
A summary of the work done under this heading during the last five year is of some interest:-
| 1935 | 1934 | 1933 | 1932 | 1931 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not Mentally Defective, or Dull and | |||||
| Backward | 56 | 29 | 70 | 49 | |
| Border-line Mentally Defective | 3 | 3 | — | 3 | 4 |
| Mentally Defective | 16 | 14 | 24 | 17 | 20 |
| Imbeciles | 10 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 10 |
| Idiots | 1 | — | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Totals | 86 | 51 | 63 | 97 | 87 |
Mentally Defective School.—Your Authority provides a
Special School with accommodation for 130 children. TheAfter-Care
Committee does excellent work in watching the
interests of the children after leaving school.
At the end of 1935, the classification, according to the latest available intelligence quotients, was as follows:—
| 1935 | 1934 | |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence Quotient 80 to 89 | 4 | 4 |
| 70 to 79 | 11 | 22 |
| „ „ 60 to 69 | 29 | 20 |
| 50 to 59 | 10 | 12 |
| 40 to 49 | 5 | |
| 30 to 39 | 1 | — |
| Not recently tested | 1 | 1 |
| 61 | 67 |
Four of the six children with intelligence quotient below 50
were transferred to the Occupation Centre at the end of the
year.
A special visit is paid to the school at the end of every
term, and all cases considered to be ineducable by the Head
Teacher are carefully reviewed and, if necessary, excluded
and notified to the County Council for supervision.
It is hoped, by this procedure, gradually to eliminate all
ineducable and low-g"rade children. Owing to the great
scarcity of institutional beds, and to the fact that, failing
institutional admission, the only alternative is attendance
at the Occupation Centre on a voluntary basis, it is often an
irksome task to certify the low-grade defectives as ineducable.