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"In the Spring term a student psychologist from the Birmingham
University, Institute of Education, came to the Child Guidance
Clinic for a month's practical experience. During the year three
Training College Students, two Assistant School Medical Officers
and a German Head Teacher of a Special school visited the
psychologist in order to see the work done.
"A course of lectures on 'The Teaching of Reading in the
Junior School' given to teachers and a course on 'Adolescence'
given to House Mothers at the request of the Home Office, were
undertaken. The psychologist has also spoken to various parentteacher
groups on educational or psychological topics."
(g) Pædiatric Clinic.—The clinic was continued under the
clinical charge of Dr. Elchon Hinden, Paediatrician to Whipps
Cross Hospital, who reports as follows:—
"The work of the clinic has continued along the same lines
as in previous years. The majority of the children seen are suffering
from abnormalities of growth and development, or from behaviour
disorders. Organic disease is rarely encountered, but the disability
and embarrassment caused by these functional derangements is
very considerable.
"Obesity is a condition which is often referred to the clinic.
In many instances the child was sent by an Orthopaedic Surgeon,
who first saw the patient because he was suffering from knock-knee.
This is almost an invariable accompaniment of obesity, and it is
very hard to cure while the child remains heavy. Unfortunately, the
weight of the child is equally difficult to control. Rarely do we
find gross glandular disturbance in these children; in the great
majority of cases, the obesity is familial. One or both of their
parents are overweight, and so are other relations too. The children
are big as well as fat, and I believe that their size is ' normal "
for their genetic constitution. It follows that to reduce their weight
is really to make them unnaturally thin, and this is nearly always
a fruitless task, unless the children are prepared to undertake really
drastic dieting. This calls for a degree of self-control that very
few children (and not many adults, either) possess. Most of the
girls reach puberty early, and thereafter their rate of growth slows
down considerably, so that soon their age catches up with their
weight, and their appearance becomes more normal. The boys
take longer to mature and the delay at times causes parental anxiety
about their poor genital development; but this nearly always rights
itself in time.
"Parents are often very concerned about the obesity, but as
a rule the children are not bothered by their excessive size, were
it not that their school-mates point the finger of scorn at them.
This can make them very self-conscious, and is responsible for a
great deal of distress. I have known a child request a change of