[Report 1956] / School Medical Officer of Health, Glamorgan County Council.

  • Glamorgan (Wales). County Council. nb2014013905.
Date:
1956
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1956] / School Medical Officer of Health, Glamorgan County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The New Year will see many more young children entering the school and the school has had to adjust itself in some particulars because of the many young children now in the school. An increased proportion of these young children now entering the school are well within the Braille category-. Meanwhile adjustments are being made to the training facilities offered by the school to its older pupils. Changes and adjustments are inevitable in school life and are necessary if the school is to continue serving to the best of its ability the needs of the children within its walls.” Included in the admissions to the School for the Blind at Bridgend in 1956 there were five cases of retrolental fibroplasia. This is a condition associated with premature births. These five children were born in 1951. Two have enough sight to move about unaided but have to be educated by methods not involving the use of sight—their visual acuity being less than 3/60ths. The other three have no vision. Four further cases of retrolental fibroplasia with no vision are to be admitted in January, 1957. This will bring the total number of children suffering from this defect, in the lower classes of the school, to thirteen. Physically they have caught up with their fellows and their mental ability follows the normal curve from below average to very bright. Their future progress in the school will be watched with considerable interest. I am pleased to record that one boy has passed the entrance examination to the Worcester College, using Braille. He was seen by Dr. Gwladys Evans, my Senior Medical Officer, when he was recovering from an operation in hospital and he was admitted to the school in April, 1956. To bring this boy up to the standard required at Worcester College has involved a good deal of hard work on the part of the boy and of his Braille teachers. Dr. Evans in her report on the school comments that there has been a marked improvement in the dental condition of the children since regular visits from the dentist have been arranged. (c) Deaf and Partially Deaf Children. (Deaf pupils, that is to say, pupils who have no hearing or whose hearing is so defective that they require education by methods used for deaf pupils without naturally acquired speech or language.) (Partially deaf pupils, that is to say, pupils who have some naturally acquired speech and language but whose hearing is so defective that they require for their education special arrangements or facilities though not necessarily all the educational methods used for deaf pupils.) In recent years greater interest has been shown in the education of deaf and partially deaf children. The concensus of modern opinion is that the training should start at as young an age as possible and that ever^’ effort must be made to make use of any residual hearing and to retain speech. Ascertainment of deafness at a very early age is an essential part of any scheme for the care of deaf children. Health visitors are well aware of the need to detect deafness in babies and, therefore, no child should reach school age with a marked degree of deafness which had not been previously detected. Once the deafness has been observed it is imperative that the child receives the appropriate treatment. Hearing aids can be provided for infants. Before a child can develop natural speech it must be able to listen and recognise sounds, thus it is necessary that the maximum use must be made of any residual hearing. Nurseries for deaf children can do much to assist the child in the development of its speech. At ]uesent there are six deaf Glamorgan children in residential nurseries. It is unfortunate that these nurseries arc so far away and tlic child is deprived of a normal home atmosphere, which many people believe is so imi)ortant for the young child. Day centres would be preferable, particularly if the parents co-operate in the treatment. It is to be hoped that the nursery planned in Glamorgan will soon materialise and thus minimise the separation between child and home.