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special care and an ophthalmic surgeon visits
Martindale School for the physically handicapped
approximately once a month during term time
Some of these pupils also need special training
to make the best use of their vision and the
services of an orthoptist are also available
Second pairs of glasses are provided for
those children whose vision is considered by
the opthalmic surgeon likely to suffer damage
if they had to be without glasses for any period.
Orthopaedic Clinics
These clinics are staffed jointly by the Regional
Hospital Board who provide the orthopaedic
surgeons and the local authority who employ
the physiotherapists Two clinics are held in
the borough one at Brentford Health Centre
where Mr J A Cholmeley attends fortnightly
and the other at Hounslow Health Centre where
Mr F Godsalve Ward attends monthly Mr
Cholmeley is associated with the Royal National
Orthopaedic Hospital and Mr Ward with Ashford
and Hounslow Hospitals
Four hundred and seventy children were seen
by the orthopaedic surgeons dueing the year and
149 chi Idren required treatment by physiothera
pists at council clinics In addition to attendances
made at the Brentford and Hounslow
clinics a physiotherapist attends Busch House
School daily to provide treatment for children
suffering from asthma bronchitis cystic
fibrosis and other conditions
A physiotherapist also attends twice weekly
at the Marjory Kinnon School for educationally
subnormal pupils because of the increasing
number of children with additional physical
disabilities who are admitted to this school
Speech therapy
During the first six months of the year 1968 the
staff shortage continued increased by the loss
of one full-time therapist who left the district
It was not possible to fill the vacant posts
until the late summer This serious shortage of
staff meant that treatment of many children had
to be suspended for six months whilst waiting
lists grew However the policy of increased
co-operation with the speech therapy training
schools was rewarded by a considerable number
of applications from students qualifying in June
1968 and two full-time and one part-time
therapists entered the borough s service during
late August During the latter part of the year the
position was steadily reversed many groups being
formed to treat a greater number of children
The aims laid down in the Annual Report 1967
are reviewed as follows
Monthly staff meetings
Regular staff meetings are affording considerable
communication between therapists and allowing a
uniform method of assessment to be used New case
history forms have been created and are currently
being tested.
Special schools and units
There are now 19 sessions per week at the Martindale
Medical Advisory Unit. 4 sessions per week at the
Marjory Kinnon School and 2 sessions per week at
each of the two Junior Training Schools
At Martindale the speech therapists are present
each day and are therefore fully absorbed into the
team of staff They are also able to work together
where it is advantageous on assessment or when
taking group therapy. The relevant figures for speech
therapy are included in the raport on the unit on
page 5l.
The proportion of children at the E.S.N, school
who have speech defects remains high Many of
these have retarded speech and language which
directly affects their ability to benefit from school
At present the time allowed and the general working
conditions at the school are not conducive to
satisfactory progress despite the excellent co
operation from the headmaster and his staff If is
hoped that suitable provision for the auxiliary medical
services will be provided in the new school and
that it will then be possible to allocate further speech
therapy sessions
At the junior training schools it has been the
policy to see every child in the school to assess
their level of speech and language development in
relation to their general level of ability Where the
speech development is lower than the general level
the children are seen individually or in groups If
the speech development is on a par with other
aspects then the child is merely kept under observa
tion Parents frequently press for speech therapy
since lack of speech is such an obvious social
disadvantage so home visits are made wherever
possible to explain why speech therapy has not been
recommended then to give advice on the natural
development of speech and how the parents can best
help There is excellent co-operation from the staff
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