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It cannot be too strongly stressed that the Child Guidance Service cannot "treat" children unless
the parents see that there is a problem and want help. Naturally, in the area, there are very many children
who exhibit behaviour problems, and the schools seek assistance, but the parents are unco-operative.
There is also a belief current that once a child is referred he automatically will be seen regularly
for treatment. This is far from the case. Before a child is taken on for regular help, his case is investigated
extensively to make sure that regular help will relieve the problem. Some problems are intractable.
It will be seen that 162 children attended for regular treatment over the past year, usually once a
week with one of the psychotherapists.
Type of Referral.
Of those referred to the Child Guidance Centres for a psychiatric investigation, about half came
from medical sources, and about a quarter from the schools. One in eight came from the parents themselves.
This open referral from the parents themselves is to be encouraged, since it signifies that the parents are
concerned and require help.
The reasons for referral to the Child Guidance Centres, seen in Table 3, give much the same proportions
as previous years. Almost two-thirds of those referrals are for behaviour/anti-social difficulties.
This category is, of course, a cogent reason for referring a child for psychiatric investigation, but the various
other categories mentioned, where, perhaps, the child is not presenting a problem to others, are also reasons
for referral.
The age distribution, seen in Table 4, is much the same as in previous years, except for the proportional
increase in referrals of the pre-school child (16% compared with 11% in 1965). This is to be
welcomed because it is felt that the Child Guidance team is more likely to help the young child than the older
one.
The School Psychological Service dealt with 480 cases (compared with 405 in 1965). There was
a great increase in the proportion, referred for backwardness (52% compared with 40% in 1965).
The problems that the Child Guidance Service are concerned with—behaviour and learning—are
far more prevalent amongst boys than girls and, as has been seen in the Borough during previous years, and
also in other parts of the country, twice as many boys as girls are referred.
Immigrant Children.
Very many immigrant children are referred both for learning and behaviour problems and they
present considerable posers in diagnosis and treatment.
From the learning standpoint, it is not often realised that considerable numbers of immigrant children
have low educational levels. If a child arrives in this country at the age of ten or later, with little previous
schooling, he presents a severe learning problem.
It should not be imagined that an Educational Psychologist can assess the 'real' ability of these
children by giving an intelligence test. All intelligence tests, even those of a non-verbal nature, bring in the
cultural background of the child, and it is found that many immigrant children score low on all tests. One
is then faced with the problem of deciding whether these children should be ascertained as E.S.N, for transfer
to a Special School.
Certainly, Woodfield E.S.N. School and the five Remedial Reading Centres have a higher proportion
of immigrant children than does the Borough as a whole.
From the behaviour standpoint, too, many immigrant children are referred. Many of these children
remained in their country of origin when their parents first came to Great Britain, and then joined their
parents at a later date, often many years later. This fact, combined with the complete change of environment,
often leads to behaviour disturbance. However, it is not by any means one that necessarily requires
psychiatric investigation. Many of these children need time to settle in a new environment.
Unattached Classes.
The Day Maladjusted Unit at Vernon House, the former Willesden Education Office, will be opened
during the early part of 1967 and there are many urgent cases awaiting placement there.
It is hoped to open a Language Centre where the children whose vernacular is not English can be
helped. The Mora Language Class helped 38 children during the year, but at the end of the year there
was a waiting list of over 50 children. Many of these children have made enough progress in spoken English
for them to be taken off the waiting list by the time the opportunity for them to enter the class has arrived.
The five Remedial Reading Classes helped 165 children (111 boys, 54 girls) with their reading
during the year. Once again this is a much larger problem with boys than girls. At the end of the year
there were almost 100 children waiting for admission to a Remedial Reading Class—mainly on the Willesden
side of the Borough. There is certainly a need for a further Remedial Reading Class.
Contact with other Agencies.
There is close co-operation with the Health and Education Departments. Mr. Wyeth and the
Education Office staff, and Dr. Grundy and the School Health staff offer assistance in every way possible.
School Medical Officers continue to attend a monthly conference at Kilburn, and Mental Health
Officers attend regular conferences at Kingsbury.
Members of the service are called upon to address groups in the Borough, such as Parent-Teacher
Associations, and are always ready to do this.
Brent helps in the training of professional workers. Psychologists, psychotherapists and social
workers spend continuous periods doing practical work at the Centres as part of their training, and we have
many visits from students.