[Report 1954] / School Medical Officer of Health, Leeds City.

  • Leeds (England). City Council.
Date:
1954
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1954] / School Medical Officer of Health, Leeds City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    isolate these children in a special school o! this sort is to emphasise their difference li'om oilier children and this could have a had psychological effect. On the other hand it these children are sent indi\ idually to oidinaiy schools, bill with restrictions on physical activities and needing special educational methods, they may feel their position m en more keenly. A compromise is possible', however, hereby a single' ordinary school is chosen for the reception of all the suitable partially sighted children and special facilities lor then teaching are provided. Many general subjects are taught by aural methods and a partially sighted child can join normally sighted rhil(llvn 1''s own age loi many of these classes and thus receive a much more general education than is possible in one mixed age group ''lass. I'or special subjects in which visual methods play a predominant part, he could join his partially sighted fellows, For such a class a sympathetic teacher willing to give individual attention to his charges is ot course essential and‘fortunately there is a large lund ol sympathy and understanding to be found among the ranks ot our teachers. During the past year I have examined all the children at the part tally sighted school and they have been provisionally classified as follows : Cioup i. Non progressive disease such as nystagmus and macular diseases. In these cases there is no restriction on activities and no restriction on the use oi their eyes within their visual capacity. These children are perhaps particularly suitable for a plan such as outlined above. < iron]) 1 he important class of high myopes, where the myopia has started early in lite and is likely to increase quickly and where their is a bad family histoiy. These cases require to be restricted in then physical exercises for there is a danger of detachment of the retina and other complications. The general view is that visual methods ol education should be controlled and restricted in these cases and while it is by no means certain that reasonable use of the eyes does in fact aggravate the condition it is perhaps wisest to take the more conservative view. These children are often very bright and would benefit particularly from the opportunity of joining ordinary classes for s une subjects. (,nmP ■>■ < ases where other defects such as deafness and deformities would make their inclusion in such a scheme impossible. An important sub-group is that of the mentally dull and to include these would retard the progress of the class generally. I' is liroP,,s,'d that from the beginning of 11)55 the children op to the age of 11, now at Faniley, who would b.meht from this arrangement (14 in all) are to attend the Beckett Bark County