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Because of the heavy and varied demands on her time, the Psychiatric Social Worker
felt that she was not able to fulfil adequately, her therapeutic role in careful and
considered interviews with parents. She was of opinion that she was compelled to work
more hurriedly than was advisable. Her best work was accomplished with parents who
desired psychotherapeutic help and were able to benefit from it. Many mothers took the
view that their responsibility to co-operate ended when they insisted on their children's
attendance at the clinic. In some of these cases the Psychiatric Social Worker was able to
generate a more whole hearted co-operation and eventually bring about a healthier parental
attitude, but in others, mercifully few, the treatment of the child was abandoned because
the parental attitude contradicted the treatment plan of the clinic so persistently as to
induce additional conflict in the child. Experience indicated that it was seldom profitable
to attempt to treat a child when the mother would not co-operate in the treatment.
The Educational Psychologist's six sessions weekly were allocated to Psychological
Testing, Remedial Coaching and School Visiting again, and of necessity according to a
system of priorities in which some preference was given to the internal demands of the
clinic. In this way the clinic was able to function at a level of maximum out put of
works but much of its total effectiveness as a service was lost by lack of Psychologist's
time for interpret tog psychological and psychiatric findings to teachers and making use of
them In remedial coaching. One particular problem of special interest to the Psychologist
during the year, merits detailed description. An increasing number of children of average
or above average intelligence were referred for backwardness in one or two subjects only
mainly reading and spelling. They were children who, owing to specific disabilities,
usually weakness of visual or auditory perception or both, were unable to spell to line
with the other children to their classes. In these cases when the specific disability was
not recognised early enough, the child was often considered dull, and slowly pushed back to
the bottom of the lowest stream where failure to compete successfully even with the dullest
was not uncommon. By the time the problem reached the Child Guidance Clinic, an overlay
of emotional frustration was added to the backwardness and the resultant problem by then,
quite complicated and resistant; a period of psychiatric treatment was often necessary
before remedial coaching could be undertaken. The severity of the disability varied in
different children. All cases required much encouragement and the learning progress was
generally very slow. As only children with the most severe degrees of disability of this
nature were taken on for remedial coaching at the clinic, coaching had to be individual and
because of the amount of Psychologist's time involved, only a small number of cases could
be treated.
Apart from those due to specific disabilities, there were of course, many cases of
retardation due to other factors notably intellectual, temperamental, emotional or just
long absences from school for various reasons. The most important thing to each case was
the correct diagnosis of the cause so that appropriate treatment could be given.
At present a long waiting list of children requiring remedial coaching is accumulating
at the clinic, but even so, this represents but a small percentage of the backward
and retarded children in the schools of the Borough. This problem needs careful consideration
so that suitable steps can be taken to prevent and treat retardation and the
maladjustment that often results from it.
In the realm of treatment although methods were unchanged, effort was directed towards
more realistic definitions of the treatment objective to each case, by taking into account
the extent to which the causative factors are in practice modifiable or removable. A new
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