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phenomenon as is noticeable, for example, in teaching the profoundly deaf; but in addition the
autistic child has an added difficulty, the non-comprehension of language. In an endeavour to
overcome these disabilities other experts need to be recruited to the task and include educational
psychologists, psychotherapists and speech therapists.
These resources are scarce and the unit has had its problems intensified by difficulty in
recruiting specialist staff. Not least among these, is the speech therapist who must also be
experienced in dealing with autistic children.
The unit is fortunate in being placed in a normal school area which allows a certain amount
of integration of its members with other normal school children. This must help the autistic child
to be able to respond to and become part of the play activities of their more fortunate fellows
eventually and perhaps to be absorbed into a normal teaching environment at some future date.
Acute Dyslexia
The problem of the child who is backward in reading is a universal one; the remedies applied
depend upon the particular difficulty each child presents and usually are a matter for teacher and
educational psychologist to consult together to provide. It has been stated that some 14% of
school children exhibit some difficulty in reading and in this age of technological skills which
depend upon rapid and accurate communication, the lack of reading ability, which includes
comprehension of the written word, can be a crippling handicap. The majority of this group acquire
a certain competency when given the encouragement of expert remedial teaching. This is done in
normal schools and in the five special remedial classes set up in the Borough. It is agreed, however,
by many nowadays that a small proportion of this group have very great difficulty in reading
despite average or high average intelligence; and despite having no emotional disturbance nor
brain damage nor having an inhibiting environment.
This small group of children appears to present peculiar difficulties which affect the ability
to read. They may be slow in their acquisition and understanding of speech and this language
defect will reflect in their ability to learn to read; this may also be accompanied by poor memory
for words. Some may have difficulty in the visual memory of letters or words, and may persist in
reversing letters (p and q, b and d) and words; indeed the letters in a word may be haphazardly
written down.
The term dyslexia has no universally accepted definition and no agreement has been reached
on the use of it. Sometimes "specific reading disability" or word blindness has been used to
describe a child handicapped by severe reading disability but whatever title is assumed for the
condition the remedy must lie in the provision of special small groups where the expert help of
psychologists, specialist teachers and other professional workers can be brought together in the
elucidation and treatment of this puzzling phenomenon.
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