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29
Forty-five per cent. of the total number treated this year were under
7 years. The average age of the rest was 9 years 8 months. In 1947
the average age was nearer 11½ years.
Seventy-five school visits have been made and seventy-five
interviews given, also ten home visits as follow-up measures.
I have obtained the use of a Grundig Tape Recording machine
this year, and I have recorded the voices of 29 children. It is interesting
to note that whilst most children were spurred on to greater
effort by hearing their defects, one or two were so upset at what
they really sounded like, they refused to make further recordings.
I have received help and co-operation from the Child Guidance
Clinic for which I would like to thank them. The transport officer
has again, this year, as in all past years, been most co-operative.
Miss A. M. Hemmings reports:—
It will be seen from the accompanying figures that the number
and distribution of cases has changed little from last year. In
addition to those treated, seventeen were interviewed and some are
under observation.
I should like to record that a diagnosis was made of a child with
a webbed larynx. This is a most rare condition; the child is now
awaiting operative treatment.
Early in the year we were granted the use of a Grundig Tape
Recording machine. Although the technique of using a recording
machine in speech therapy is in its infancy, results already have
been most interesting.
Fifteen children have made permanent recordings; these
children having a gross defect and the possibility of only slow
improvement. I intend to record these children at intervals so that
on joining several recordings of one child, one may note the
difference. This should prove enlightening, especially in the case
of dysarthrics with fairly low I.Qs. who make very slow progress—
often insufficient to note a phonetic change.
Many children have taken part in recordings which were afterwards
erased. These recordings were often made to enable the
children to hear their mistakes; this of course is the first stage in
correction. A limited number of children who stammered, mainly
those near discharge, also used the machine.
I have found the tape reproduction of speech fairly accurate
with the exception of two types of defect, those of hyper-rhinophonia
and sigmatismus. In both instances the reproduction has
been an improvement on the original.