[Report 1932] / School Medical Officer, Somerset County Council.

  • Somerset Council
Date:
1932
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1932] / School Medical Officer, Somerset County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    35/52 (page 33)
    I\ogarding Enlarged Tliyroid or (loitre in growing girls, it is often difficult to assess the degree and type of tliyroid enlargc’.'ient, bat an appreciable enlargement of this gland is found relatively more frecpiently in cbildren from certain parts of the County, e.g., the Erome and Bridgwater areas. This type of enlargement is the result of an iodine debciency in the body and it can be remedied by taking iodine in some form. The giving of iodised salt at borne instead of the common table salt is generally advised in these cases. EXCEPTIONAL OR DEFECTIVE CHILDREN. Table III at the end of this report summarises and classifies all the cbildren suffering from one defect only who were on the Special liegisters of the School Medical Department at the end of 1932. A separate list is also kept of children who are suffering from the following types of Multiple Defect, i.e., any combin¬ ation of Total Blindness, Total Deafness, Mental Defect, Epilepsy, active Tuber¬ culosis, Crippling or Heart Disease. This list comprises a total of 37 cbildren (22 boys and 15 girls). Of these, 10 are epileptic and mental; 8 are crippled and mental; 7 are suffering from active tuberculosis ;ind mental defect; and the remainder are mental and either blind or deaf. For the purpose of calculating the incidence of defectives per 1,000 of the school children, the number of scholars on the elementary school registers last year is estimated at 42,709. The incidence calculated in this way is not strictly accurate, as normal children leave school at 14 years, while most of the defective children are retained on the Special Eegisters until 16 years of age. Blind Children. All children found or rei)orted to be suffering from defective eyesight are referred to the County Oculist for examination, and any found to be “blind” or “partially blind” are certiffed accordingly. The 19 “blind” children recorded in Table III. represent an incidence of 0.4 per 1,000; and the 47 “partially blind” cliildren an incidence of 1.1 per 1,000 of the school population. There are six boys and eight girls now being trained at certified Schools for the Blind. Admission to Blind Schools or Institutions is offered to all “blind” children, if tliey are of suitable age and mentally and physically fit for special education. Institutional cases on attaining the age of 16 years are offered, if suitable, further training. Special Day Classes for “partially blind” children (and the same ap])lies to “partially deaf” children) are desirable, l)ut their ])rovision in a. large county with scattered schools is impossil)le in jn-acticc. Bad-sighfed or myopic children must remain in the elementary schools, but the Head Teachers are directed how to give them oral and such other instruction as is possible without detriment to their eyesight.