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struction in an ordinary Elementary School." The second
point is that in the Certificate of the Certifying Medical Officer
(Schedule A), the word " proper " before benefit is omitted.
I have entered into the above detail in order that the duties
and difficulties may be clearly understood. On taking over
charge of the Queen's Road Special School for Mentally Defectives,
I found that the numbers were below what might have
been expected. Usually, a proportion of 1 per cent. of the
school population is considered to be mentally defective, but
my experience in other areas had led me to believe that the
number was slightly less. If my estimate were correct, the
numbers should have been between 50-60 children as against
the 43 on the school roll. It followed then either that Wimbledon
had an especially low ratio or that, for some reason, cases
had not been notified.
It was for this reason that I adopted a new procedure.
I sent a preliminary notice to all Head Teachers asking them to
prepare lists of all exceptional children under their charge.
Mr. Bellman, Chief Attendance Officer, also prepared a list
of abnormal children coining within his purview, to which I
asked him to add the names of brothers and sisters of pupils
already in the Special School, and children from "troublesome"
families. I then visited each school and inspected each
class separately. During the inspections I learned that no
estimate could be accurately made from the "age-average"
of the class, because in some cases the children were automatically
promoted from class to class, and in others, "because they
were too big physically for the class of their mental standard."
The names of all children two or more years backward
were noted, and the medical and family history, scholastic
progress, etc., were discussed by the Head Teacher, the Class
Teacher and myself. The "Special" lists were checked in
each school.
A second round of all the schools was then made to check
the results, to classify doubtful cases as far as possible, and to
pass definite cases into the Special School.
A third round was made in November to examine new
cases and receive progress notes.
In addition to these children I received the names of 9
others who had never attended school, but who had received
temporary exemption by Medical Certificate for "Mental
Instability" or similar reason. These children were subsequently
visited in their homes.