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"In all 215 children were given individual tests either at
school or in the Child Guidance Centre. This number included six
children of pre-school age, and two children from other areas who
needed special assessment before being transferred to a local
grammar or technical school. The psychologist had discussions with
17 parents about the particular problems which their children
presented. Seven children were referred by the psychologist for
treatment at the Child Guidance Centre, and 29 were found to be
in need of special education at an E.S.N. school. Four children
were found to be both mentally and physically handicapped.
"Eighteen children were given remedial education, usually in
reading, but several needed help in arithmetic, one in spelling and
one in algebra.
"During the year the psychologist gave a course of lectures
on the developmental aspects of the Junior School curriculum, and
three lectures on adolescent problems."
(f) Paediatric Clinic.—The clinic was continued under the
clinical care of Dr. Elchon Hindon, Paediatrician to Whipps Cross
Hospital, who reports as follows:—
"There has been no material change in the work of the school
consultative clinic. As before, most of the children are referred
by the School Medical Officers; in a few cases the initiative comes
from a teacher or from the family doctor. It is noteworthy that
'malnutrition' is hardly ever a reason for referring a child
nowadays.
"Rheumatic fever used to be a major scourge of school'
children. There was a heavy death-rate in the initial attack, ranging
from 10% to 30%; and of those who did not die, up to one third
were left with damaged hearts. Those children had very little
chance of escaping a life of invalidism, with auricular fibrillation
and death in congestive failure menacing them from their thirties
onwards. At best, an attack of rheumatic heart disease meant
several months of illness and school absence, and the next few years
blighted by the fear of relapse. The treatment of the actual clinical
illness was not the responsibility of the public health authorities,
but the overall supervision of the child and his education, and
particularly the prevention of relapses, clearly was. Often special
educational methods—from home teaching to the hospital school—
were required for the disabled children.
"The post-war years have seen a great decline in the severity
of this fell disease. Attacks are milder, and hardly ever fatal;
complete recovery is the rule, and relapse is rare. It is not certain
what exactly is responsible for this. Undoubtedly, the new chemical
drugs (first the sulphonamides, and now penicillin) have had a