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74
TYLNEY HALL RESIDENTIAL SPECIAL SCHOOL
This Residential Special School, situated deep in the country near Basingstoke, Hampshire, and
geared to secondary modern standards, caters for up to 130 mildly maladjusted and/or mildly delicate boys,
whose handicap is such that they do not require psychiatric support or medical treatment. So far as maladjusted
boys are concerned, this is not a school for those who are severely disturbed or delinquent, but rather
one for those whose maladjustment is so slight that often the change of environment in itself produces most
beneficial results.
Some ordinary boarders are also taken if there is room after all the handicapped boys have been
accommodated. There is a resident school nurse and a local doctor visits regularly and is always on call.
Dental inspection and treatment is carried out at the School by a dental officer of the Authority.
NEASDEN AUDIOLOGY UNIT
The work of the Audiology Unit continued to increase during the year. The number of new
referrals was 30% higher than in the previous year and a high proportion of these were in the younger age
groups and reflects awareness of the importance of early diagnosis of this handicap. The total number of
cases seen during this year was 453 as compared with 310 last year, and the new cases seen numbered 197
as compared with 113 last year.
Two sessions a week are held at the Audiology Unit, one by the Consultant Otologist and one by
a Medical Officer in the Department. Because of the increasing number of cases referred, two special screening
sessions were arranged to prevent the waiting list becoming too long. It is most important that a preliminary
assessment of each case is made as soon as possible. Priority cases are seen within two or three weeks.
Children are referred from the London Boroughs of Brent, Harrow and Barnet and mainly by the
Medical Officers in Department from the Infant Welfare Clinics and the School Clinics in these areas. However,
an increasing number of children are being referred by Consultants in hospitals and by General
Practitioners. Brent children are referred from Consultants in Audiology Departments of the London hospitals
for supervision at Neasden.
Hearing loss is an educational problem and the supervision of school children in school is a most
important aspect of the work. The majority of children with a hearing defect can manage in school but
special arrangements must be made for these children to sit in a favourable position in the class-room and
their progress with work observed. The two peripatetic teachers for the deaf carry out this important work
of supervision and discuss with the teacher problems which may arise in the school and refer these, if
necessary, to the Consultant Otologist at the next Audiology Session. This very important task of liaison
between the teacher in the class-room and the Audiology Unit ensures that the deaf child's difficulties are
dealt with as soon as possible. Children whose hearing loss requires a hearing-aid are taught by the peripatetic
teachers at home if under five, or at school if over five, in the use of the aid and are helped with their
work.
The association of deaf and partially hearing children under five with normally hearing and speaking
children is of considerable importance in the development of speech and these children are admitted either
full time or part time to the Day Nursery.
The majority of Brent children who are ascertained as partially hearing or deaf and are unable
to attend ordinary school are placed at Heston and Tottenham either in the Deaf Schools or in the Partially
Hearing Units attached to ordinary schools. Their hearing is supervised there by Dr. Fisch. There are
12 deaf and 12 partially hearing children in Day Schools and 4 deaf and 3 partially hearing children in
Residential Schools.
During the year two sessions were held at the Audiology Unit when Medical Officers in the Department
attended for discussion of the problems associated with the diagnosis and supervision of deafness.
Dr. Fisch emphasised the importance of early diagnosis and discussed some of the difficulties met with
in testing babies and small children.
It was hoped that the new Physically Handicapped School at Grove Park would have opened during
the latter part of the year, but a delay in the building has postponed this event. Two special classes are
planned in the school, one as an Assessment Unit to determine the degree of deafness and other handicaps
in a young age group, and the other class is for older children who have a hearing handicap as well as a
physical one.
SCHOOL DENTAL SERVICE
The School Dental Service continues to provide for the varying dental needs of the school population
and due to a slight improvement in the ratio of school children per dentist can offer more frequent
treatment.
It still remains, however, a matter of grave concern to those interested in the dental health of
their children to see the better teeth in other areas where the fluoridation of domestic water supplies has been
implemented.
One of the primary duties of a Local Authority Health Service is the prevention of illhealth, medical
and dental, but this most valuable weapon in reducing dental decay is still withheld from the children for
whose health the Authority is responsible.
The figures in the tables in this report give details of the vast amount of work completed by the
dental staff but account for only a small proportion of the work required.