Notes and News
C.A.M.W. Conference on Mental Deficiency. —————————————-The Conference of the C.A.M.W. held in London in July (notice of which was given in our last issue) was generally accorded to be a great success, and we feel that it cannot but have stimulated an extended and intensified interest in the problem of Mental Deficiency.
The numbers attending were of course small as compared with Conferences in previous years owing to the very restricted extent to which public bodies can now pay delegates’ expenses, but it is a matter of congratulation, we think, that in spite of this, 517 applications for tickets were received from the following sources:
Mental Deficiency Act Committees 93 Local Education Authorities
87
Boards of Guardians 98 Voluntary Associations 53 Homes and Institutions 36 Teachers 35 Social and Educational Societies 36 Magistrates 11 Government Departments 15 Prison Officials 6 Private Persons 47
The press notices of the Conference were exceptionally good, sixteen important daily and weekly papers giving full accounts in their columns, while between twenty and thirty others reported it more briefly.
A complete official Report of the whole proceedings is now in course of preparation and will be on sale shortly at the price of 3s. a copy. The Report will contain all the papers presented to the Conference, viz.:?”Mental Deficiency in Relation to Crime’’’’?papers by Sir Bryan Donkin, Member of Prisons Board and late H.M. Commissioner of Prisons; Dr Norwood East, Medical Officer of H.M. Prison, Brixton; Stuart Deacon, Esq., Stipendiary Magistrate of Liverpool, and Mrs. Patrick Green, J .P., Colchester. ‘ ‘Economic Difficulties which Prohibit the Development of Special Schools”?paper by Dr Brackenbury, Chairman of the Education Committee of the C.A.M.W. “Occupation Centres”?papers by Mrs. Anderson, Case Secretary of the C.A.M.W., Miss Elfrida Rathbone (London),
Miss I. M. Brayn (Portsmouth) and Mrs. J. Cooke-Hurle (Somerset). “Working Hostels and other Non-Institutional Methods of Dealing with Defectives”? paper by Miss Ruth Darwin, Commissioner of the Board of Control. The discussions following the papers, with the speech of the Solicitor General and that of the President of the Board of Education are also reported. We have no hesitation in recodirectly or indirectly with the sphere of work with which it deals and we invite orders to be addressed at once to the Hon. Secretary, C.A.M.W., 24, Buckingham Palace Road, S .W .1.
Sir Leslie Scott’s Speech at Glasgow. ————————————The speech of Sir Leslie Scott, Solicitor-General and Chairman of the C.A.W.M., which was read at the inaugural meeting of the new Scottish Association of Care Committees, reported in our last issue, has been published in pamphlet form, and copies can be had on application to the C.A.M.W. offices, 24, Buckingham Palace Road, S.W.I.
The speech comprises a consideration of the ‘ ‘limitations and complications of the Acts relating to Mental Defectives” with the consequent necessity for suppletentary voluntary action; an account of the work of the C.A.M.W. in its various branches with the principles underlying it; and a description of the work and organisation of Voluntary Associations with special reference to Occupation Centres and Handicraft Classes, work for criminal defectives and After-Care, and the wide survey of the whole problem which it gives should make it particularly useful for purposes of propaganda. We are therefore very glad indeed to welcome its appearance in print.
As the number of copies at our disposal is limited early application is desirable.
Mental Deficiency in Scotland. —————————–In the Eighth Annual Report of the General Board of Control for Scotland recently issued, the Commissioners, referring to the economic difficulties which in Scotland as in England prohibit the development of the Mental Deficiency Act, state that instructions have been issued from the Treasury prohibiting any increase in the accommodation for 2,112 patients that present exists.
That this is quite inadequate is shown by the fact that there are 316 cases, admittedly “urgent,” awaiting admission to Certified Institutions and the Parish Councils of Glasgow and Edinburgh, have undertaken an obligation that if they are allowed to deal with urgent cases of mental defectives, in addition to the numbers already licensed, they will forego participation in the Imperial Grant for all excess of cases.
A return furnished to the Scottish Education Department has revealed the fact that on 30th April, 1921, 4749* children between 5 and 16 years of age were ascertained by Local Education Authorities to be mentally defective including 1013 notified under the Mental Deficiency Act as either “ineducable” or ‘ ‘about to leave a Special School.’’ 457 cases had been tfigure which the Commissioners state may be taken approximately as the minimum occurring annual number of mental defectives in Scotland.
The Board have during the year under review been seriously concerned by the difficulty in carrying out the provisions of the Mental Deficiency and Lunacy ?Excluding six counties for which figures were not available.
(Scotland) Act, 1913, with regard to the safeguarding from criminal assault of the 284 female adult defectives “boarded out” under the Act. The number of such assaults reported to the Board (including those taking place before certification) has always been less than 1 % of the total number of defectives boarded out, but in order to reduce this number still further a circular is being issued for the use of Guardians, embodying a copy of the legal provisions bearing on the matter with suggestions as to methods of safeguarding and precautions that should be taken.
Three Voluntary Aid Societies, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Paisley, were at “work during the year and in receipt of grants from the Board. They have been found of special service in regard to the care of defectives over 16 who have not been dealt with officially under the Act. The main body of the Report is concerned with lunacy, exhaustive statistics on the subject being given.
Special School Accommodation?Recent Statistics. ———————————————-In the Report of the Board of Education for the year 1920-1921, recently issued, the following figures are given with regard to Special Schools (Day and Residential) for the Mentally Defective in England and Wales.
Year. Number of Schools. Accommodation. 1919-20 197 15,551 1920-21 202 16,328
In a Supplementary List of Alterations in Special Schools which have taken place during the year subsequent to the report (i.e., ending March 31st, 1922*) it is stated that two new schools (at Luton and Tynemouth) have been opened, but two old ones (Hearnville Road, London, S.W., and Leamington Spa) have been closed.
The figures given in the Report therefore are not substantially altered and may be taken as representing the present position.
“Shell Shock” and Mental Deficiency. ———————————-In the Report of the War Office Committee of Enquiry into “Shell Shock”f several references are made to mental deficiency in its bearings on the problem. One witness (A. F. Hurst, Esq., M .D., F .R .C .P., Phys. for Nervous Diseases Guy ‘s Hospital, late Oflicer-in-Charge, Special Neurology Hospital, Seale Havne) classifying the cases met with in his experience, indicated the distinguishing characteristics of “those defective in respect of intelligence” as being:? (a) Incapacity to feel “endurable patriotism” or to attach themselves to any abstract ideal of the kind.
(b) The very general suffering from the contempt shown them by others, debarring them from the inspiration and support of comradeship. The result was frequently a “psychosis with delusions of persecution.”!
Another witness (who served as a Regimental Medical Officer) stated that, although high-grade defectivduring a period of peace, their liability to break down in war is greater than is that of any other class, and the best service an officer can perform towards them is to ask for their discharge. They should therefore, together with the “nervously unstable” and those who have had one or more attacks of insanity, be exempted from H .M. Stationery Office, Board of Education List 42 (Supplementary). Price 3d. net. tPublished by His Majesty’s Stationery Office. Price 6/-. JP. 27. all forms of service except “controlled labour that allowed them to live at home.’ ‘ Mental deficiency, often accompanied by a family history of insanity, epilepsy alcoholism, or tuberculosis, is thus included in the Report amongst the “predisposing causes” of shell shock?specially the emotional and hysterical forms of it. It is interesting to note, however, that the Committee whilst fully concurring in the importance of more careful methods of selecting recruits, do not recommend the adoption of the American system of applying specific mental testing in this connection. One witness expressed scepticism as to its results in minimising shellshock in the American Army, whilst another declared dogmatically that “A Binet Test is worthless in the hands of those who would use it and unnecessary to the few who can use it intelligently.”
Amongst those who gave evidence before the Committee as to the psychological mechanism involved in the condition known as 4 ‘Shell Shock”? a term which, it should be noted, was generally repudiated by reason of its scientific inaccuracy ?are Dr Bernard Hart, the late Professor Rivers, Dr Henry Head, and Dr. Stanford Read, and the Report is therefore of considerable interest to the student of abnormal psychology.
The Mentally Defective Blind. —————————-In the Third Annual Report of the Advisory Committee on the Welfare of the Blindf presented recently to the Minister of Health, special attention is drawn to the question of Mental Deficiency.
A table is given showing that there are 1383 mentally defective blind persons of all ages and that of the 1149 over 16 only 107 are employed; 36 are under training; 261 are receiving or have received no training, 35 are unemployed and 710 are unemployable.
These figures, which are equivalent to 40 per 1000 of the blind population, have impressed the Committee with the urgency of the problem with which they state there has as yet been no organised attempt to deal, largely the result of the restrictions placed by the Board of Control upon Local Authoritise under the Mental Deficiency Act as well as of the Voluntary Institutions’ lack of funds.
They state that its solution would seem to be along two lines, (1) provision for those blind defectives who are “educable” and (2) provision for those who are “untrainable,” but they are not prepared to make any specific recommendations until they have obtained more detailed particulars as to the number of persons coming under each of these categories.
Defectives as “Guides” and “Scouts.” The possibility of initiating defectives into the joys of “Scouting” and “Guiding” has been referred to in a former issue of this journal in which we printed a report of the work being done in connection with the Special Class at Cambridge.
We now have pleasure in recording other experiments in this direction, the first two in connection with Institutions, the third in connection with a Special School. The Clerk to the Asylums and Mental Deficiency Committee of the L.C.C. has kindly sent us the following account of what is being done in two of their Institu tions:? ‘ ‘Troops of boy scouts and companies of girl guides have been formed at the *P. 60.
tPublished by H.M. Stationery Office. Price 6d. net. institutions for the mentally defective established by the London County Council, i.e., at Brunswick House, Mistley, Essex, for boys, at the South Side Home, Streatham, for girls, and at the Manor, Epsom, for defectives of both sexes. The Scout Master or Captain at each institution is a member of the staff. The experiment has given very satisfactory results, and it is found that the movement is having an encouraging effect on the characters and training of the patients, and is doing much to assist the development of a moral habit and to help to overcome the somewhat inhibiting effects of institution life on individual character.
The following particulars of the arrangements made for girl guides at the South Side Home may be of interest:
The 10th Streatham Company of girl guides is composed of sixteen patients of the South Side Home and is divided into two patrols, the ‘ ‘Forget-me-not” and the ‘ ‘Nightingale.’’ Each patrol has a leader and a second. The guide meetings are held twice a week from 5 p .m. to 6-45 p .m., the earlier part of the evening being devoted to drill, badgework-work and the training of new recruits (if any). The last half hour is given up to games. Thirteen of the Guides have passed their tenderfoot test and have won their brooch badge; twelve of them are desirous of entering for their second class badge for which they have to drill, run or skip, have knowledge of the flag, knots, bed making, etc. To encourage good behaviour a mark board is kept, and stars are affixed weekly. A gold star signifies good conduct and a white star with a black cross denotes bad conduct. On occasional Saturday afternoons the Guides go out tracking. Last summer the girls gathered wild flowers, which they pressed and pasted in books provided for that purpose. This proved a source of great delight. All the girls are very keen about the guide work and hope to succeed in obtaining the various badges. They have been taught a little first aid and stretcher drill. Guide work provides them with great interest, their behaviour has improved considerably, and they are anxious to assist in any way they can.’ ‘ From Miss Rathbone, formerly Secretary of the Lilian Greg Occupation Centre, comes the following:?
During the winter of 1920-21 a “happy evening” class was held at the Bath Street Special School one afternoon a week after school hours. About 8 to 10 boys attended, and played games or looked at books. It was found almost impossible to get them to take any interest in team games, and even in simple games such as loto it was difficult to keep their attention for more than a few minutes. In the autumn of 1921, a small club room was secured by the Lilian Greg Committee in a very poor court off Old Street, and it was decided to form the boys of the “happy evening” class into a Wolf Cub Pack. As the new club room was at some distance from their homes, the boys were told to bring food for their tea, and a cup of tea would be given to each boy on arrival.
The first meeting was difficult and disheartening. Eight boys rushed in at the appointed time, rough, noisy and dirty. They ate their tea standing, each boy trying to shout the other down. They were quiet, but frankly bored during the ten minutes devoted to a first ‘ ‘cubbing’’ lesson?and there were disconcerting interruptions such as ‘ ‘MayIn three months a complete transformation had taken place, and a stranger who had been present on the first day and again on the day of the first investiture, would have found it hard to believe they were the same boys. Many were not the same, as numbers had doubled, and it was now necessary to restrict the number of recruits.
On arrival each boy hurried to the sink and began a vigorous washing of face, hands and arms: “Scented soap, Miss! Lovely!” Then old ragged jerseys were discarded and new uniforms donned, and 18 still noisy, but happy and well behaved little boys gathered round the tea table. Tea over, cups were cleared away, tables and chairs pushed back, and in a twinkling all cubs were in their places, keen and alert. It seems incredible that in so short a time such a good spirit of discipline and esprit de corps could be created, and it was obvious that they had gained enormously in self-respect.
In three months, they had learnt, not only their Cub promises, dances and howl, but could line up and play several good team games with evident pleasure and keenness, We commend both these reports to the notice of our readers and we shall be very glad indeed to receive information as to similar experiments being carried on in other places.
A Summer School in Psychology. —————————-The Summer School in Psychology recently held for teachers at the Brighton Training College Hostel is the first of its kind outside Oxford and Cambridge, and its success has been such that preliminary arrangements for its continuance and extension next year have been made.
The Director was Professor T. H. Pear, of Manchester University, and the subjects dealt with included Experimental Psychology, General Psychology, and a Course of “Mental Measurements” conducted by Professor Thomson for which children of the local elementary schools attended voluntarily?during their holidays?to act as subjects for tests.
It is hoped that next year an advanced section for students attending a second time as weil as an elementary one for new students may be arranged and that the school may be bigger and so better able to launch out.
Enquiries and applications for admission to the next course should be addressed to Professor Pear, The University, Manchester, or to the Hon. Secretary, Mr. A. Lea, 12, Harrington Road, Brighton. Flag Day for Mental Defectives.
We have received from Leeds the following account of their recent splendid effort, and feel sure our readers will join with us in congratulating Mr. Wormald and his helpers on the success they achieved:?
The Leeds Voluntary Committee for the Care of the Mentally Defective have decided to establish a Workshop and Occupation Centre in Leeds for the training and employment of feeble-minded youths on leaving Special Schools and for young men who are out of employment and owing to their mental limitations are unable to compete for a living with the normal worker. The necessity for a Workshop has become more acute owing to the fact that the operation of the Mental Deficiency Acts so far as securing Institution treatment for this class unless they become criminal or vicious, has been stultified by reason of the restrictions on public expenditure and of the unwillingness of the Judicial Authority to make Orders except in cases of pronounced neglect.
The Voluntary Care Committee have, therefore, felt that under the changed conditions there is a distinct need for an intermediate establishment between the defective’s home on the one hand and the Institution on the other hand, where many of this class who are unoccupied and running the streets can be usefully employed and their labour utilized to remunerative advantage.
The initial problem which the Voluntary Care Committee had to face was that of raising the necessary funds to found the Workshop. The Committee, however, decided to hold a “Flag Day” on Saturday the 23rd September, to raise ?1,000. Committees were formed in every Ward in Leeds and Members of the City Council, Magistrates, and other public Citizens took part in the organization either as Chairmen, Treasurers or Secretaries. One interesting feature was an Exhibit and Sale of articles made by patients in the Meanwood Park and Farfield Institutions, held in City Square, which realized a sum of over ?23. The “Flag Day” has been one of the most successful that has been held in Leeds since the War and a sum of about ?900 has been contributed towards the objects in view.
Apart from the financial results, the “Flag Day” has proved a great stimulating and educational force in Leeds and it has focussed public opinion on the need for care and pi-otection of the mentally deficient classes.
Mr. S. Wormald the Secretary of the Voluntary Care Committee acted as the Organizing Secretary of the ‘ ‘Flag Day’’ Committee.
Association of Secretaries to Local Voluntary Associations.
The Hon. Secretary of the Association of Secretaries to Local Voluntary Associations {Miss Nevile, 79, Coleman Street, London, E.C.2) has sent us the following account of the last meeting, which we have pleasure in recording:? A well attended meeting of the Association of Secretaries took place on Wednesday, July 26th last, at the offices of the Women’s Freedom League, High Holborn, E.C., with Miss Blake in the Chair.
The Association has collected and has scheduled information in regard to the salaries and conditions of workers in mental deficiency. The statement has already been forwarded to the Board of Control and to the C .A .M .W. and it was decided at the meeting that copies should now be sent to all members of the Secretaries ‘ Association.
Discussion took place on the proper procedure to be followed by Secretaries of Voluntary Associations in regard to defectives requiring institution care who enter a workhouse in a district other than their own settlement. In such circumstances it is found that the Guardians of that workhouse are not prepared to take steps under Section 30 (ii) of the Mental Deficiency Act on the ground that the defective is not chargeable to them. In the meantime and while an order of removal is being obtained the defective may discharge herself (no power of detention being obtainable) and get into trouble. A letter has now been received from the Board of Control from which it is clear that it is the Union to which the defective is chargeable who should refer the case under the Provisional Regulations. Thus presumably Secretaries interested in a particular case will approach the Guardians of the defectives’ settlement with duplicate reports.
The members considered the need of an intelligence bureau in order that they may be kept continuously informed of legislative and other developments connected with the work. On being approached Miss Fox has been good enough to establish the necessary machinery at the offices of the C.A.M.W. and has undertaken to circularise members of the Association. She asks that workers cooperate by letting her know of local items of information which will be of interest to secretaries.
Miss Vickers, Secretary of the Mental After Care Association gave the meeting an address on the scope and nature of her work, which was listened to with great interest and appreciation.
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