[Report 1948] / School Medical Officer of Health, Buckinghamshire County Council.

  • Buckinghamshire (England). County Council. n 50052973.
Date:
1948
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1948] / School Medical Officer of Health, Buckinghamshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Epileptic Pupils. As with dialietics, cliildren do not automatically come to need special educational treatment because they have epilepsy. But if the fits occur in the day-time and are of sufficient severity to interfere with the schooling' either of the child or his fellow-pupils, then special provision must he made, usually in a residential school. Many of the milder epileptics become useful citizens on leaving school,^ but of the more severe cases a high proportion become progressively' inferior mentally. Mailadjusted Pupils. These are children “ who show evidence of emotional instability or psychological disturbance and require special educational treatment in order to effect their personal, social or educational readjustment.” They may be children of subnomial, normal, or superior ability, and thus are entirely distinct from the “ educationally sub-normal ” pupils referred to above; though of course a child who' is educationally sub-normal may also be maladjusted, just as a deaf child may alsoi be blind. The behaviour disturbances shown by these children vary tremen- dously ; the common manifestations include tempep-tantrums, abnormal aggressiveness, abnormal fears or timidity, enuresis, truanting, pilfering, and abnormal sex behaviour. These children therefore show to an excessive degree, or for an abnormally long period, or at an unusually late age, characteristics of behaviour which appear as transient phenomena in the normal child; and they are regarded as “handicapped pupils ” only w'hen the behaviour disturbance is such as to interfere with their education or that of other pupils; and usually only when attend- ance at a Child Guidance Clinia has failed to produce material improvement or is not expected to do so. A broken or disturbed home life is believed to be the major cause of “ maladjustment ” and the increase in these cases in recent years is generall}’' attributed to the disintegrating influence of the war upon family life. The “ treatment ” given at the Child Guidance Clinics is for the most part advisory and is in fact directed to the parents as well as to the child; in some cases “ special educational treatment ” (in other woi'ds careful individual handling) in school is advised. In a small proportion of cases it is considered, that the best chance of restoring the child to normal behaviour and making a useful citizen of him is to send him for a period to a residential special school, where he can be taught and handled according to his special temperamental difficulties, away from the adverse influence of his home; or alternatively he may live for a period in a hostel -while attending an ordinary school. As stated elsewfliere in this report, no Child Guidance Service w-as provided in Bucks during 1948 though much thought was given to making this much-needed provision. Arrangements were in force for children to attend Clinics in neighbouring counties, but this usually involved extensive and time-consuming travel, wfliich minimised the use of the service for diagnostic purposes and made it almost useless for treatment. Physically Handicapped Pupils. These are diseased or crippled children (other than those with defects solely of sight or hearing) who need special education otherwise than 'in an ordinary school because of their defect. In general these children's handicap is permanent, or at least of very long duration; this is one respect In wfliich they differ from “ delicate pupils,” whose handi- cap is usually temporary, or at least intermittent. Tlie other important difference is that in general a delicate pupil needs a modified and “softened” curriculum, and a carefully regulated regime; whereas a crippled child, e.g., a child unable to walk owdng to infantile paralysis, niay be able to stand a full and energetic life and curriculum (and may 1.S