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Guardianship. There were two mentally handicapped persons under guardianship at
the end of the year. Both were females aged 49 and 21 years respectively. They were
with guardians outside West Ham and were supervised by the local health authority of the
area in which they reside. Cases under guardianship are visited at approximately sixmonthly
intervals by a member of the Health Committee and by one of the Council's medical
officers.
Temporary Accommodation. During the year arrangements were made for 6 mentally
handicapped persons to receive temporary care. Four were males, 1 aged 13 and 3 aged 6
years and two were females aged 41 and 26 years. Five were accommodated at South Ockendon
Institution by the kind permission of the Physician Superintendent and one by arrangement
with the Guardianship Society, Brighton.

At the end of the year, there were 5 mentally handicapped persons in the area
awaiting institutional accommodation. Three of these, adult males, and former poor law
patients, are in Forest Gate Hospital not under Order and are on the waiting list for
admission to South Ockendon Institution.
Home Training. No special arrangements existed for the home training of defectives.
Occupation Centre. The Supervisor reports that 1957 has been an exciting year for
the Occupation Centre, during which there have been several noteworthy developments.
Two Assistant Supervisors achieved their Teaching Diploma from the National Association
for Mental Health. These are the first under the Council's scheme to sponsor
trainees in this work. It makes a big difference to the standard of work, having fully
qualified people with the latest training. The Supervisor attended a Refresher Course
during the summer and found it of great help in her work.
A further achievement was the opening of another section with two additional staff;
a training group of boys of 12-16 years of age under a male staff. We had felt for a very
long time that boys of this age group wanted something more than just ordinary Centre
routine. The appointment of the male staff has made it possible to give emphasis to handicrafts
and bench and tool training, as well as a concentrated period each day of Sense
Training and General Knowledge with particular attention to time, money, copy writing and
identification of common words. In the few months this group has been in operation, the
results are encouraging and the boys have been remarkably responsive to their training.
The other staff (female) enabled us to open up a Group for the young and rather
difficult type of child. With much more personal attention, since opening this group,
we have achieved cleanliness quicker and a general speeding up of all social aspects.
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