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no time during the year was the clinic fully staffed.
I am grateful to Dr G Levinson for submitting the
following information—
Children are referred by school medical officers,
educational psychologists, general practitioners,
courts and other social agencies and occasionally by
direct application from parents. In addition to
attendances made for assessment and guidance by
educational psychologists, parents and children made
1,546 attendances in connection with diagnosis and
treatment.

Throughout the year efforts have been made to
secure a closer liaison with probation officers and
child care officers. Facilities have been provided for
doctors studying for the Diploma in Child Health at
West Middlesex Hospital to see something of the work
of a child guidance clinic.
The psychiatrist is responsible for the selection of
children who require special educational treatment
for maladjustment and for the general supervision of
such children in attendance at Busch House School.
The educational psychologists share their time
between the school psychological service and the child
guidance clinic so a close linkage is maintained
between these two services.
There are special difficulties in assessing the
educational potential of handicapped children and
to assist in this Dr M Tyson BA BSc(Econ) PhD
has been appointed Senior Educational Psychologist
for Special Schools and Special Units in the
Borough.
I am grateful to Dr Tyson for submitting the
following report—
'The position of Senior Educational Psychologist
for Special Schools and Special Units in the London
Borough of Hounslow was created in order to provide
special psychological help to handicapped children in
the two medical units catering for handicapped
children (the Hearing Clinic at Heston and the
Medical Advisory Unit at Martindale School) and in
Martindale School for Physically Handicapped
Children ; The Old School, Bedfont (educationally
sub-normal children); Heston School for the Deaf
with the six Partially Hearing Units in ordinary
schools and the Partially Sighted / Partially Hearing
Unit; the two Junior Training Schools and the two
Adult Training Centres (for mentally handicapped
children and adults respectively). Since 1st September
1965, when this appointment took effect, the pattern
of work in these units and schools has gradually
developed and diversified as experience brings a
clearer understanding of requirements.
The first need in the schools and units has been for
assessment and diagnosis. This is of particular
importance in the Hearing Clinic and the Medical
Advisory Unit, where information about the child's
intelligence and any specific difficulties with possible
accompanying learning problems is frequently
necessary. In these units, the psychologist works as a
member of the unit team, contributing towards
diagnosis and management.
Assessment and diagnosis are just as necessary in
the schools but advice as to how the child's learning
problems could be tackled in the classroom situation
is equally required. The practice here is not only to
see specific children who have been referred, but to
get to know all the children and to aim at preventive
work. With the younger children particularly,
knowledge of areas of possible strengths and
weaknesses can help to formulate a programme of
educational guidance which seeks to prevent rather
than remedy educational failure. This involves close
liaison with teachers and others concerned more
directly with the management of the child (including,
whenever necessary or possible, the child's parents).
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