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68
was curtailed. In May, Miss Sacks resigned her post to be married
and although a temporary therapist worked (our sessions
per week from June till October, children referred to Valentines
Clinic were being placed on a Waiting List; Manford Way
Clinic was unavoidably closed for three months of the year;
and the session at the Junior Training Centre was discontinued.
The vacancy for a full-time therapist, although advertised, was
not filled until January 1967.
However, this staff shortage did not prevent the establishment
of a speech clinic in an area where one has been sorely
needed. In April, the smaller medical room at the Public Health
Offices in Clements Road, was made available to us for one
session per week. The session was quickly filled with children
who had previously had to make awkward and lengthy journeys
either to Valentines or Mayesbrook Clinic. In addition, when
the Observation Unit was expanded and rehoused in Chigwell
and an Autistic Unit established, we were able to provide a
therapist to visit the Unit one session per week. We feel that
children placed in special education units should receive
speech therapy on the premises wherever there is a sufficient
number of children to justify it, and the necessary staff
available. It was lack of this staff that caused the part session
at the Becontree Remedial Education Unit to be withdrawn in
the Autumn, though fortunately it was restored within the terra.
We are grateful for the very good co-operation we continue
to receive from head teachers and from all other clinic staff.
The number of children of pre-school age referred to the speech
clinics is increasing; something welcomed by all the Redbridge
Speech Therapists. In fact the Waiting List at Mayesbrook
Clinic is composed mostly of pre-school referrals. The appeals
made consistently in previous reports are now bearing fruit.
School Dental
Service
Mr. E. V. Haigh, Principal School Dental Officer reports
as follows:—
The school dental services in the Redbridge area continued
on similar lines to last year. The policy of the service was to
inspect as many school children as staffing permitted during
the year either at schools or in the clinics and to treat all that
wished treatment to be carried out.
During 1966 the Dental staff position remained almost the
same as during 1965 and also the amount of work carried out
on patients was almost identical.