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(v) Preventive Aspects of Deafness and Defective Vision
in School Children.—The following are extracts from an article
contributed by Dr. M. Watkins, Deputy Borough School Medical
Officer, to a nursing periodical.
THE PREVENTIVE ASPECTS OF DEAFNESS AND
DEFECTIVE VISION IN SCHOOL CHILDREN.
Defective hearing and vision in a school child reduce his ability
to take full advantage of the educational facilities available to him,
and interfere greatly with his physical, mental, and social development.
The Education Act of 1944 requires local Education Authorities
to ascertain, among other defects, those children handicapped by
virtue of defective hearing and vision, and to make provision for
their educational treatment. Most authorities have long-established
regular clinics in charge of Aural Surgeons, and ophthalmologists,
for the care and treatment of ears and eyes.
DEAFNESS.
The number of cases of acquired deafness is more than double
that of congenital deafness. It is therefore with the former group
that we are mostly concerned in the school health work.
The commonest causes of acquired deafness are catarrhal and
suppurative otitis media, meningitis, measles, scarlet fever, other
infectious diseases, and injury.
Otitis media accounts for nearly half the number of cases in
the acquired group, and it is with this condition that preventive
work can hope to obtain most success.
The catarrhal and suppurative conditions of the middle ear
may arise from a variety of sources, e.g., colds, nasal catarrh, septic
conditions of the tonsils and adenoids, sinusitis, dental sepsis, etc.
The catarrhal condition of the ear, nose, and throat are common
in the community, but a child on entry to school is exposed, often
for the first time, to massive cross infection from other children,
and there is a consequent rapid rise of upper respiratory tract infections,
and a compensatory hyperplasia of the lymphoid tissue,
with a consequent risk of middle ear disease and deafness. This risk
is even greater amongst the more immature child of nursery schools
and day nurseries. Many other factors also influence the incidence
of infections of the ear, nose, and throat, such as the general health
of the child, his diet and environment.
All children are, therefore, examined as soon after entry into
school as possible and at very frequent intervals if at a nursery
school or a day nursery. Any conditions likely to give rise later to
deafness are further screened at minor ailment clinics where the