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facilities for physio, hydro and speech therapy, and a special class equipped and designed to
teach children whose handicaps include deafness. These children and their progress are reviewed
three times a term by a team of consultants, including Paediatrician, Consultant in Physical
Medicine, Orthopaedic Specialist, Speech Therapist, Physiotherapist, Educational Psychologist,
Head Teacher, Senior Medical Officer for Physically Handicapped Children and the School Nurse.
The Consultant Audiologist and Ophthalmologist visit the school regularly on separate occasions
and so parents and these severely disabled children are spared frequent journeys to a clinic or
hospital outpatient department.
Social Workers are either regularly attached or available for consultation and parents
counselling. They regularly attend the Leavers'Conferences in Special Schools where they join
the Head Teacher, Educational Psychologist, School Medical Officer and Careers Officer.
Dyslexia Unit
A Dyslexia Unit was originally established in the former Borough of West Ham in 1964.
This is a special class in the charge of an interested and experienced, well-motivated teacher.
The maximum number of children admitted to this class is six. This Unit offers the opportunity
of intensive individual tuition for children of average intelligence who display specific
difficulty in writing and reading. The controversial subject of dyslexia though not theoretically
resolved is being dealt with pragmatically with very good results. The admission of children
selected for the Unit is subject to agreement by the Senior Educational Psychologist and Principal
Medical Officer. All the children attending this special class, at present situated in the
Elizabeth Fry School, attend in the morning their own respective schools and are collected after
lunch by car and brought to the Unit. They stay there all the afternoon and are taken back by
car to their own school from where they make their way home. It is regretted that these provision!]
are on a limited scale. The turnover is very slow and the average attendance at this Unit is
2-2i years.
Speech Therapy
Early in 1965, the Speech Therapy Service was reviewed in the light of the needs of the
new Borough. As a result an additional Clinic has been set up to meet the needs of pre-school
and school children. The staff establishment has been increased to six full-time Therapists
and working conditions in three special schools greatly improved by the provisions of specially
designed treatment rooms in each school.
During this period there has been a growing link between speech therapy and allied
services. In particular that with the Development Clinic has resulted in earlier observations
and assessment of young children with delayed speech and language. Also, as the outcome of
earlier screening for speech difficulties in the Child Health Clinics, more than half the
children referred for speech therapy are now under 5-years. While a close watch is kept on
subsequent development, and advice given to the parents, many of these children also attend
weekly group therapy sessions for language stimulation.
There has been a growing awareness of the need for intensive speech therapy allied to
their educational needs for school age children with severe impairment of speech and language.
To meet this need, a special Unit was established in June 1969. within a normal primary school.
Here, 12 children attend daily and are integrated into the schools group system, but their
special needs are catered for by a programme of remedial help by Teachers and Speech Therapists
backed by a team which includes the Principal Medical Officer, an Educational Psychologist,
and a Social Worker.
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