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Ages:
Under five years 10
Five years plus 8
Six years plus 19
Seven years plus 28
Eight years plus 26
Nine years plus 18
Ten years plus 13
Eleven years plus 12
Twelve years plus 30
Thirteen years plus 11
Fourteen years plus 19
Fifteen years plus 7
Sixteen years plus 2
Intelligence:
Above average 24%
Average 45%
Below average 25%
E.S.N. 5%
In general the activities of the Child Guidance Clinic for the year 1952
followed the pattern of previous years. The only alteration in the staff was
occasioned when Dr. Elizabeth P. Easton, who had been associated with the clinic
for a number of years left in July 1952 to take an appointment elsewhere. Her loss
was felt not only by her colleagues whose confidence and esteen she enjoyed, but by
the clinic as a whole because of her special value as a female therapist. Her weekly
session was temporarily taken over by the Medical Director.
Although the case load was only a little heavier than that of the previous year,
it saturated the existing resources of the clinic, and by the year's end began to
accumulate as a growing waiting list. Another regrettable trend also apparent in the
summary of statistics for the year, was the substantial reduction in the number of young
children - 6 years and under - among the referrals. However, It is possible that this
reduction was more apparent than real and was due to the contrast with the large number
of referrals in the previous year following the drive for younger children initiated by
the clinic and dealt with in an earlier report.
Although the bulk of the children referred for investigation came at the instigation
of the Teacher or the School Medical Officer, the number of referrals made directly by the
family doctor and the parents increased considerably. This was regarded as encouraging
evidence that the service provided by the clinic was being more widely appreciated and used.
Throughout the year both the Psychiatric Social Worker and the Educational
Psychologist were extremely busy, and each in the course of her work met with special problems
meriting consideration. The Psychiatric Social Worker made a number of visits to
residential schools for maladjusted children so that she could assess the total environment
provided by each school and its suitability for particular children recommended by the
clinic for placement. In this way it was possible to select the most appropriate school for
each case. The knowledge gained by these visits and by interviewing, during the holiday
periods, children placed in residential schools for maladjusted children, afforded the Child
Guidance Clinic experience and information that, no doubt, will continue to be very useful.
in general it was easier to place children of average and above average intelligence than
dull and educationally sub-normal children. Nearly all the children who were recommended
for placement in residential schools for maladjusted children were potential or actual
delinquents or else children from social problem families.
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