[Report 1966] / School Medical Officer of Health, Reading County Borough.

  • Reading (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1966
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1966] / School Medical Officer of Health, Reading County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/44 (page 14)
    Blind Pupils Pupils who have no sight or those whose sight is or is likely to become so defective that they require education by methods not involving the use of sight. There are 3 blind pupils from the borough attending residential schools. Partially Sighted Pupils Pupils who by reason of defective vision cannot follow the normal regime of ordinary school without detriment to their educational development, but can be educated by special methods involving the use of sight. There are 10 partially sighted pupils; all are attending residential school. Deaf Pupils 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 Hearing Pupils Pupils who have some naturally acquired speech and language but whose hearing is so defective that they require for the education special arrangements or facilities though not necessarily all the educational methods used for deaf pupils. It is becoming less useful to draw a distinction between deaf and partially hearing pupils and for that reason I have decided to include them in this report under one heading. It is now more apparent, for example, that those children who in the past were said to be totally deaf frequently have some degree of hearing which could be used for educational purposes. We have found that profoundly deaf and partially hearing pupils have both benefitted from the day units attached to New Town, George Palmer and Cintra Schools. However, there is a small number of children who still require residential schooling, the need being decided on a variety of medical, psychological and social factors. Mr. J. O. Wells, Organising Teacher of the Deaf reports Pre-School Children There has been a 40% increase this year in the number of children seen because of retarded speech development. Again most referrals were from the Health Visitors speech progress investigation at 2\ years, though 12 were from clinic doctors. The increase reflects a greater awareness of the import¬ ance of the problem by all concerned.