[Report 1913] / School Health Service, Radnorshire County Council.

  • Radnorshire (Wales). County Council. School Health Service.
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1913] / School Health Service, Radnorshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    deformity of the hand. The face in one case and the nostril in another were found to be deformed. In the 7-8 group one boy had a supernumerary thumb, and another had enlargement of the head, the result of hydrocephalus. A third had marked spinal curvature causing great deformity. In the leaver group one girl had paresis of the leg. The other cases of deformity were of a minor character due to maldevelopment of the palate of slight degree—bifid uvula. A fairly common deformity of the hard palate was found in which the palate was unduly arched. This condition is frequently associated with projec- tion of the front teeth to such an extent that the lips cannot be made tfi meet in normal fashion, and indistinctness of speech may also be present. This deformity of the hard palate has been variously ascribed to adenoids, much enlarged tonsils, and to the use of the dummy teat in infancy. There is good ground for believing that this practice is one of the commonest causes of the deformity. Ricketty conditions, which have been placed in a separate group, might well be included in the category of deformities, as in all cases there was some departure from the normal in the part of the body affected—head, chest, legs, etc. SPEECH Defective articulation was noticed in 22 children—1.4 per cent. It was equally frequent in both sexes. This condition is often the result of home training, or more correctly, the want of home training. The baby talk which is popularly supposed to be better understood by infants, is persisted in when the child should be taught to pronounce the more difficult sounds. In consequence when these children begin school their language may be practically unintelligible although the mothers profess to understand the gibberish of their children. The education of such children is hampered, as there is not sufficient opportunity in school hours to educate the children to speak properly. This should have been done before school life began, as the first stage in the education of a child begins at home. In some cases several members of the same family have this defect, and it is even considered to be the normal speech of the children so far as these families are concerned. The real reason for later chil- dren developing the habit is more likely to be imitation of an older brother or sister.
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