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TYLNEY HALL SCHOOL
Tylney Hall School caters for mildly maladjusted and mildly delicate boys whose handicap is such
that they do not require psychiatric support or medical treatment. In other words, so far as maladjusted boys
are concerned this is not a school for those who are seriously disturbed but for those whose maladjustment
is so mild that often the change in environment in itself provides most beneficial results.
Provided there is room the school may also accommodate some ordinary boarders.
The school is housed in a late nineteenth century family mansion (formerly belonging to the Rotherwick
family) standing in some 100 acres of pleasant Hampshire countryside. It is about seven miles from
Basingstoke, twelve miles from Reading and forty-five miles from London. There are extensive playing
fields, tennis courts and a swimming pool. The normal classrooms and craft rooms are supplemented by a
library, a hall (the original ballroom), a gymnasium and recreation rooms for leisure time activities.
The non-teaching staff includes full-times supervisors who, in conjunction with the teachers, are responsible
for the welfare of the boys out of school hours. Catering is dealt with by a superintendent who, with
matron and other staff, is also responsible for the boys' general welfare.
In broad terms the curriculum followed is designed to meet the needs of boys in secondary modern
schools. Since the classes are small a good deal of individual and group work is possible. Every advantage
is taken of the rural surroundings and craft-work, rural studies, gardening, etc., play an important part in the
school programme. The boys as appropriate take the normal C.S.E. and/or R.S.A. Examinations.
The after-school activities include such things as The Young Farmers' Club, Scouts, a cycling club,
craft clubs, Judo, and week-end camping during the summer. Visits are made to such places as Winchester,
Southampton and Reading.
The boys sleep in small dormitories, varying from three to twelve beds in size. Meals are served in
the large dining hall on small tables and are supervised by members of the staff. Special attention is paid to
the needs of delicate children. There is a resident school nurse and the school doctor is always available. The
boys attend local churches according to their denomination and clergy visit the school regularly.
There are normally two or three visiting days a term and parents are informed of the arrangements
directly by the school. The usual school holidays are taken at home including long half-term holidays.
The maximum number of boys to be accommodated is 130.
NEASDEN AUDIOLOGY UNIT
During 1969 Neasden Audiology Unit continued to provide a diagnostic, follow-up and supervisory
service for children with hearing difficulties in the Boroughs of Brent, Harrow and part of Barnet. The number
of referrals to the Unit has continued to rise and during the year 1969, 450 children were seen and of these
165 were new patients. Of the new children seen 71 were pre-school age and a common cause of their referral
was failure to develop speech.
This delay in speech development was not often found to be due to a hearing defect but was found
commonly in association with a child's poor environment, lacking stimulation and deprived of adequate
maternal care. These children often showed slow development in spheres other than speech. With both parents
working long hours many of the children had suffered frequent changes of child minder with consequent damage
to their emotional, social and on occasion, their physical development.
For both the hearing handicapped and the disadvantaged child, as described above, nursery placement
is vital and these children have, where possible, been placed in Brent Day Nurseries so that they may
have the skilled and understanding care given by staff there. This has resulted in a general all-round improvement
in many of the children.
Immigrant children found to be deaf or partially hearing whose language is not English have presented
a considerable problem. Some of school age on arrival in this country have had little schooling in
their own countries and no early auditory training and they are faced with the tasks of adjusting themselves
to the use of their new hearing aid and of learning English, while at the same time hearing another
language at home. The problem is equally difficult for the newly diagnosed very young child who is just
commencing to use words and whose mother can only speak one language and whose teacher of the deaf
must give auditory training in English. These mothers are encouraged to learn English but this is not always
very easy for them.
Because of the lengthening waiting list for consultations at the Audiology Clinic, special screening
sessions were arranged again in 1969 enabling a preliminary estimate to be made of the child's difficulties
and treatment started, a further appointment being given for a later date when fuller investigations were made.
At the moment it is only possible for two sessions to be held at the Audiology Unit, one by the Consultant
Otologist Dr. Fisch and one by the Senior Medical Officer. The majority of referrals require follow-up at
varying intervals from six weeks to a year and the work that has accumulated over the six years since the
Unit's establishment is considerable.
During the year the work of supervision of children with hearing aids and those with a more moderate
loss in ordinary schools, together with the auditory training of pre-school children in their homes or in
the day nurseries has increased and the caseload carried by our two peripatetic teachers of the deaf became
much too large. An increase in the establishment was granted and a further peripatetic teacher of the deaf is
being sought.
Brent children who are deaf and partially hearing and who require special schooling attend schoi Is
in Heston and Tottenham. We are looking forward to the commencement of the partially hearing unit in
Brent when our partially hearing children will not have to travel such long distances to school.
During the year a one-way observation window was installed in the Audiology Clinic together with
an inter-communication system allowing the small room adjacent to the consulting room to be used by visitors.
This has been in constant use and we are very pleased to have visitors to the Unit who are working with
children who mav have hearing difficulties.