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20
"There is a growing need for the establishment of a diagnostic
clinic within the school. At the present, children from our
catchment area attend the Audiology Unit which is attached to the
Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital, Gray's Inn Road.
Hearing Aid repairs, ear moulds etc., are also dealt with at the
centre and every help and encouragement has been extended to this
school by the Director and Staff. It should not be necessary
however, for parents to take children, in many cases very young
children, from all over the catchment area to this unit when such
a centre could be established locally. There is a need too for
the provision of a special observation class, for those children
whose needs regarding language development and communication
skills cannot be assessed without a period of observation.
'After Whitsun the two reception classes were transferred
to specially prepared and equipped classrooms at the Thorpe Hall
School. The children both deaf and partially hearing now have
the opportunity of mixing with hearing children at play and have
settled down very happily. I must express my appreciation to
Miss Cobbledick the Headmistress and to the Staff of the Thorpe
Hall School for the manner in which they are helping to ensure
the success of this experiment.
The number of visitors to the school has increased, and
tape recordings have been prepared which show the effects of
varying degrees of hearing loss on speech, the acquisition of
language and some of the difficulties experienced by the users
of hearing aids.
Binaural listening experiments are still in progress and
we are continuing to co operate with Post Office Engineers Depart
ment in an attempt to find the most suitable material for hearing
aid cases.
New developments in the education of children with impair
ed hearing and in the use of hearing aids and other auditory
equipment in stimulating the use of even a small amount of hearing
have made it necessary to reconsider the suitability of definit
ions of pupils with impaired hearing. In the Ministry of
Education circular of September 1962, the more positive approach
to the use of residual hearing has been emphasised by the sub
stitution of the term partially hearing" for " partially deaf'.'
In June Mr. Taylor held a dental inspection and in October
Dr. Werren conducted the medical inspection.
" I have to express my thanks to all ray colleagues for their
efforts on behalf of the children."