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Mentally Defective.
The school for mentally defective children at Queen's
ltoad has been practically full during the whole year, the
average number 011 the books being 43'1, and the number of
admissions 22.
During the year several cases have been dealt with, some
of which have given considerable trouble. One boy, whom
I had deferred for six months as a doubtful imbecile, was
afterwards admitted to the Special School to see if it was
possible to do anything with him. He played truant, and
without my knowledge was brought before the Court and was
taken to an Industrial School, where it was found that he
was quite unsuited for the discipline of such a place. I
examined the boy again at the Industrial School, and was
of the opinion that he was one of those cases of doubtful
imbecility. In view of this I took the boy to St. Thomas's
Hospital, where he was seen by Dr. Percy Smith, the mental
specialist, who, after a prolonged investigation of the case,
passed the boy as a high-grade imbecile rather than a lowgrade
mentally defective, as a result of which it was arranged
that the boy should be sent back to Wimbledon, and that I
should strike him oft the books as ineducable. In the meantime,
Dr. Branthwaite, medical adviser to the Chief Inspector
of Reformatory and Industrial Schools, examined the boy on
behalf of the Home Office, and thought that he might with
advantage be removed to Sandwell Hall or Stoke Park, and,
as a result of this, the boy was removed to Sandwell Hall.
Another case which has given considerable trouble was
that of a girl aged 12½ years, who came from the London
County Council, where she had been attending a Deaf School.
The girl had a certain amount of hearing, but I certified her,
after examination, as a proper case for a Deaf School. The
girl had learned a large amount of lip-reading at the Deaf
School, and was in many ways an intelligent girl. The
mother, however, who was a widow, and the brother, who was
acting in loco parentis, were of the opinion that the girl had
fair hearing, and objected to the idea of a Deaf School, and
by order of the School Attendance Sub-Committee the child
was admitted to the Queen's Road Special School, but made
little progress, and as a result of the Head Teacher's Report
in November, 1912, the child was admitted to Standard 0
in the Infants' Department of the Queen's Road School.
The Head Teacher of the Infants' Department of the
Queen's Road School found that the girl was unsuitable for
the school, and as a result of a report from her the Managers
of the School recommended 011 May 5th that "she should be
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