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22
The Speech Therapist continues to attend once weekly. This not only serves the specific purpose
of speech training of which children like this are particularly in need, but it also gives a child the chance
of the one-to-one person relationship which is so desirable. It has been known for some time that a relationship
of this kind may be the only way to penetrate the mind of certain types of mental handicap and it
is hoped that in the future more use can be made of this fact.
The Supervisor and her staff have continued to give their customary devoted and skilled attention
to the children.
Training of staff is becoming an urgent problem. Due to general staff shortages, Assistant Supervisors
have to be appointed to this Centre who do not hold the relevant diploma. Nor has it been possible
to recruit a trainee for secondment to the course at Chiswick Polytechnic. Some Local Authorities have
been more fortunate in attracting diploma staff, almost certainly due to the fact that there a different pay
structure has been adopted, bringing the salary more or less in line with the teaching staff of education
departments.
The children had another stimulating year including two major outings: one was to the Empire Pool,
Wembley, when 34 complimentary tickets were sent with the invitation to see "Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs" in February, 1966, and the other was in response to an invitation from the Manager of the "State
Cinema" when the children saw the film "Batman" and met the star after the show. Sweets and ice-cream completed
the event which everybody enjoyed hugely. The behaviour of the children on outings of this kind is
exemplary and is a credit to the training they receive.
Adult Training Centre.
The over 16 year old mentally handicapped people of this Borough attend as before the adult training
centres of the adjacent London Boroughs of Hillingdon, Hounslow and Ealing. Parental pressure is still
as great as ever to get such an establishment within this Borough and the time is near when such a scheme
will have to be considered seriously. This is even more urgent than would have appeared at the time of the
Middlesex County Council break-up as the London Borough of Hounslow is now considering rebuilding
their adult training centre which will ultimately result in a serious loss of places for the majority of our
cases.
Social Clubs.
Two such clubs are organised in this area: one takes place each Saturday at Tylers Croft School
and is the responsibility of the Brent Society for Mentally Handicapped Children; the other is run by the
parents and is held at the Neasden Junior Training Centre. Mental Health Social Workers attend this latter
one regularly.
Summer Camps.
This year again mentally handicapped children and adults have attended summer camps. As mentioned
earlier the Assistant from the Hostel for Mentally Sub-normal Boys attended with them the adult
camp at St. Mary's Bay, Dymchurch, Kent.