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99
the child grows. This provides the child with a secure sitting
posture and so makes his work easier, helps him to learn to steady
his trunk for standing and walking, and discourages the development
of deformity.
Collaboration with the parents has been achieved both at
medical clinics and by visits (both in term time and in the
holidays) by the Therapist, Miss Wilson, who joined the school at
the beginning of the autumn term to replace Mrs, Kinnaird who has
left to take up an appointment elsewhere,
An interesting experiment, carried out with the collaboration
of the Crowland Secondary Modern School has been the enlistment of
some 20 pupils from this school for normal children to act as
helpers and instructors for swimming for the physically handicapped
children from Vale Road School, of whom eight have been
children with cerebral palsy The experiment has been a great
success, the normal children gaining in sense of responsibility
and citizenship, -and the handicapped children in enjoyment,
enthusiasm and ability Supervision is by the Borough Swimming
Instructor and school teaching and medical staff.
During the year, two cerebral palsied children left the
school, one entering a unit for vocational assessment prior to
undergoing further training, and one entering a factory where she
is employed on equal terms with the other workers, with no concession
s
The Consultant has been called upon to give an opinion on the
capabilities of seven children not attending the school, and on
the most suitable provision to be made for them. The ages of
these children ranged from two years and four months to eleven
years, it is hoped that as the availability of this service
becomes more widely known babies and younger children may be
referred also, as it is the handling which palsied children
receive early in life which determines the difficulty of their
subsequent treatment and to a considerable extent the success with
which they are able eventually to lead a normal life".
Delicate Pupils
Thi s is an omnibus term covering children with a number of
differen t conditions but who have in common one characteristic at
least, namely a failure to thrive in their ordinary environment,
Thus a number of these children are asthmatics, others suffer from
frequent upper respiratory infection and one is a diabetic. Of