View report page

One pressing need has been for psychological assessment
of pre-school handicapped children, particularly
partially hearing and deaf children in the nursery
classes. Many of these children (and the three partially
sighted/partially hearing children attending the
special unit at Heston School for the Deaf) are handicapped
because of maternal rubella, and research on
particular characteristics of the handicap which are
common to this group and in which they may differ
from other deaf and partially hearing children is
urgently required, not only to aid in future educational
guidance for these children, but for others who
will follow them.
Areas of research are being gradually established
and it is hoped within the next year to commence two
major pieces of research, one with Dr Fisch at the
Hearing Clinic which will use a television camera and
video-tape to explore, among other things, examinerchild
interaction and response, and another at
Martindale School using electronic equipment to help
children with visuo-motor difficulties in drawing and
writing.
Lastly, it is necessary to hand on to others the fruits
of past experience and research with handicapped and
non-handicapped children. Visits have been received
from workers in this field, both in this country and
abroad (especially the USA) and lectures have been
given to several groups. These include the South West
Surrey group of speech therapists (at West Middlesex
Hospital), the students on the two Diploma Courses
for experienced teachers at the Maria Grey College
of Education, staff and students of the Sidney Webb
College of Education, the Parent-Teacher Association
at the Old School, Bedfont, and a group of experienced
teachers at a week-end course on physically handicapped
children at the Spastics Society College at
Wallingford in Berkshire. The chair was taken at a
course for teachers (five consecutive meetings) held at
the Chiswick Polytechnic College on the subject of
The Disturbed Child.'
School Psychological Service
I am grateful to Mr B R Barnett MA for submitting
the following report—
Throughout the year there has been close cooperation
with the staff of the health department and
a number of new developments have arisen which are
outlined below.
Admissions Case Conferences
In view of the long waiting lists for admissions to
special schools, conferences have been held at The
Old School Bedfont and Townhill Park Residential
School (for educationally sub-normal pupils), and at
Busch House School (for delicate children and maladjusted
children). These conferences are attended by
the Assistant Principal Medical Officer, the Senior
Psychologist, the Head Teacher, and, where appropriate,
the Consultant Psychiatrist. All aspects of the
child's circumstances are carefully considered before
his admission. These conferences are very successful
and extremely valuable in ensuring that the most
suitable children are admitted at the appropriate time.
Multi-Disciplinary Case Conferences
A number of case conferences have also taken place
to discuss children with complex diagnostic and
treatment problems from the learning point of view.
These conferences are normally held at the Child
Guidance Centre but occasionally in the school
situation and are attended by school medical officers
and educational psychologists. It is considered
important to encourage and develop the idea of team
discussion of children with learning problems. The
decision to send a child to a special school involves
medical, educational and social diagnosis and calls for
close co-operation between head teachers, medical
officers, psychologists and parents, and also, where
appropriate, psychiatrists, psychiatric social workers
and speech therapists.
Visits to Residential Special Schools
The Senior Psychologist accompanied by the
Assistant Principal Medical Officer has visited
residential schools for maladjusted children. Although
some reports are available on these schools, it is
desirable for staff to acquire personal knowledge of
them when used regularly for the placement of
maladjusted pupils.
Summary of Work
Number of cases referred to School Psychological
Service—
Referral Sources
Head Teachers 88
Parents 24
School Medical Officers 82
58