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Of the 11 children treated for delinquent behaviour - pilfering and stealing - 9 came
from broken homes and/or had been separated from parents for a long period during their
early years. With regard to result of treatment, it is gratifying to record that, despite
the burden of low I.Q. children among those given treatment, either in form of Individual
Therapy, Group Therapy or Coaching, and despite the lack of facilities for provision of
special educational treatment in the school, some 70% of treatment cases showed satisfactory
improvement.
It is inevitable that a certain number of children will fail to respond to the
treatment measures available at the clinic. Low intelligence, an unalterable and persistently
unfavourable home environment and lack of special classes in schools, appear to be
the main contributory factors to failure. Residential care and treatment is necessary in
many of their cases. In this connection there is usually difficulty in placing maladjusted
children in Residential Schools and Hostels because of lack of vacancies at these
places. Some cases who require residential treatment in a school for maladjusted children
are maintained on the clinic's treatment list as a second best line of treatment because
of the practical impossibility of obtaining residential treatment for them. A small Hostel
for maladjusted children is sorely needed in West Ham. Such a unit would be invaluable in
providing facilities for closer observation of children in whose case a foster home seems
to be the treatment of choice. It would also provide suitable treatment for children
awaiting admission to a residential school for maladjusted children. Used in combination
with a special class for maladjusted children, it would provide adequate residential
treatment for some cases.
From the above figures and comments, it is clear that the effectiveness of this
Child Guidance service can be improved in many ways. As a treatment centre it needs
facilities such as special classes in schools and a hostel for maladjusted children through
which specific treatment recommendations may be implemented. As a centre for the promotion
of mental health and the prevention of mental illness, it has a vital contribution
to make to Public Health work. At present its activities in this sphere have been limited
by pressure of diagnostic and therapeutic work and lack of Educational Psychologist and
Psychiatric Social Worker's time.
Future development of this clinic should take into consideration the importance of
preventive work. Treatment of the child is preventive work in the sense that it helps
to prevent mental breakdown in adult life, but the most valuable preventive work is done
by the Educational Psychologist in schools and by the Psychiatric Social Worker through
association with social agencies of the community. It is essential that these two
members of the Child Guidance team should be able to devote a more substantial proportion
of their time than is at present possible to preventive work if the Child Guidance
service is to be used economically and with greatest benefit to the community.
HANDICAPPED CHILDREN.
ASCERTAINMENT. The arrangements for ascertainment remained unchanged during the
year.
BLIND AND PARTIALLY SIGHTED CHILDREN. A blind child is defined as one" who has no
sight, or whose sight is or is likely to become so defective that it requires education
by methods not involving the use of sight. A partially sighted child is one who, by
reason of defective vision, cannot follow the ordinary curriculum without detriment to
its sight or to its educational development, but can be educated by special methods involving
the use of sight. The Authority has made no direct arrangement for the education
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