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Part III
HANDICAPPED PUPILS
Special education is provided under section 34 of the Education Act 1944 for all children
ascertained in the area of a local education authority as being in need of it by virtue of handicapping
defects of mind or body. There are many ways in which this education can be provided. The regime
of an ordinary school can be varied for particular types of handicap allowing children to be integrated
into the school, thus preventing the necessity of special school provision. For certain sight and hearing
defects, a seating in a normal class can be chosen which is favourable for the child; exclusion
from or limitations of certain types of education can be arranged to safeguard the child's health and
security; or an ordinary school can be chosen which has certain advantages for the child e.g. a
single storey school or a school with a fewer number of pupils or a school situated in a favourable
position or site. Many ordinary schools have special units attached for the observation of pupils
with mental or physical problems. Sometimes part-time attendance is permitted at an ordinary
school whilst the child is attending a special school to allow a gradual resumption of normal
education. Attendance at special remedial classes is arranged whilst the child attends an ordinary
school. The possibilities in this area of education are large and the type of tuition given is tailor made
for the individual.
In association with the special variation of education given to the child, medical attention is
also frequently required at a school or clinic. Children who are, for example, physically handicapped
may need physiotherapy; or speech therapy; orthoptic treatment or psychotherapy. Close cooperation
is required between the schools through the education department and the clinics through
the school health service to ensure that maximum benefit is made of the facilities available to these
children. Teachers need to be kept well informed on the medical progress of the child through regular
(usually annual) assessment and by recommendations of the medical officers who are responsible
for the group of schools in their areas.
Where specific medical and/or mental defects are present which cannot be contained in an
ordinary school, special schools are available to provide educational facilities under the categories
laid down in the Handicapped Pupils and Special Schools Regulations 1959 of the Education Act
1944. These schools can be day or residential establishments. Certain categories of handicapped
pupils attract larger numbers than others and where the numbers are sufficient, local authorities
often provide the schools in their own areas. Such are schools for the educationally sub-normal,
physically handicapped and maladjusted pupils established in this Borough. Similarly in categories
where the number of handicapped pupils is smaller, units are set up in or adjacent to ordinary
schools; again, in Hillingdon an autistic class for seven children is provided, and also a unit for the
partially hearing child in a secondary school.
Some groups of handicapped children are small in number and the facilities provided by one
authority is shared by neighbouring education authorities to make a viable unit or school. To such
categories belong the blind and deaf children, some of whom will need residential education because
of the distances involved in travelling. Residential education may also be required for other groups of
children because of the necessity of prolonged treatment or because conditions in the home or in an
ordinary school environment are unsuitable or the residential school can supply a more beneficial
and stable background at a critical time in the child's life.
For those children who cannot attend any school because of very severe physical or mental
disability, tuition is provided in the child's own home. The benefit to the child is however, very
strictly limited; he has little contact with others of his own age and this restricts the educational
process by depriving him of the stimulation and competition upon which all youngsters can thrive.
The tuition given must be concentrated into a few hours per week in place of the developing educational
process and progress enjoyed by the majority of children. Where possible, the child receiving
home tuition is integrated as soon as medically possible into a special school or unit or into an ordinary
school.
On the handicapped pupils register in the London Borough of Hillingdon, there are 1,121
children, 675 boys and 446 girls. 244 new cases have been added in 1972. A number of children
157