Course for the Secretaries of Voluntary Associations
News and Notes.
In the last issue it was announced that arrangements were being- made for this Course to be held in London in December. It has now been postponed and will probably take place at the end of January or the beginning- of February, 1928.
Board of Control. Thirteenth Annual Report.
The attention of our readers is called to the above Report, reviewed in this issue. Part I is published separately this year at 2s.
Middlesex County Council.
At the request of the Middlesex County Council, the Central Association has organised Occupation Centres at Tottenham, Edmonton and Ealing.
The Tottenham Occupation Centre has been open for about two months at St. Andrew’s Hall, Clarence Road, and there has been an average attendance of 12. The parents in the district seem most anxious to co-operate, and evidence of the need of such a Centre is very apparent.
At Edmonton a Centre was opened on September 13th at The Hut, Haselbury Road. The Urban District Council have most generously allowed the use of an Army hut, adequately heated, with plenty of space for singing games and all other activities of the Centre. There is a large field attached to the hut, and it is hoped that in the Spring and Summer months the children will be able to make use of this, and permission has been given for them to have their own gardens. The Council have also kindly allowed the use of their ambulance for taking the children to and from the Centre.
On October 13th a Centre is being opened at St. Mary’s Schoolroom, The Green, Ealing.
Agnes Western Occupation Centre Summer Camp.
The camp was held this year for a fortnight in July at Waddon, near Croydon, a pretty district with good walks and plenty of open spaces. Accommodation was rented in a large house used as a nursing home, the suite of rooms consisting of four dormitories, bathroom, lavatory, dining room and playroom. There was a large garden with a big lawn for a playing ground, and adjoining this a big field which the children were also allowed to use. Twenty boys and girls, their ages varying from 5 to 22 years, were taken to camp. There were three helpers. The weather during the whole fortnight was very disappointing. There was rain every day, but the children were able to have some of their meals out of doors, and in spite of the weather they went daily for a long walk in the sur- rounding country. Two or three of the older children were taken every day to shop, and they purchased most of the foodstuffs for camp requirements. They enjoyed the shopping expeditions very much. Despite the rather trying weather conditions, the children behaved very well and all seem to have benefited by the change of air and environment. Some of the mothers visited them on Sunday and expressed their gratitude for all that was being done to make the holiday a success.
The total cost of the camp, including railway fares, hiring of blankets and beds, food, and a charabanc drive which cost ?2, amounted to ?2i 15s. Of this amount the parents contributed ^10 towards the cost, and the rest was raised by voluntary subscriptions.
Brentry Institution.
A new building- to accommodate 60 patients, the latest addition to Brentry Certified Institution, Westbury-on-Trym, was opened last July. The building was put up at the exceptionally low cost of approximately ^?,100 a bed. We understand that certain local conditions contributed to this satisfactory result, but we feel that the Committee and the Architect are to be congratulated upon planning so admirable a building at such a moderate charge. Forty of the beds are to be reserved for Gloucestershire cases.
Brighton Summer School of Psychology.
From July 29th to August 12th, |a very successful Summer School of Psychology was held at the Municipal Training College, Brighton, under the auspices of the Local Education Authority. The School was fortunate in being under the able direction of Prof. C. Spearman, Ph.D., F.R.S., of University College, London. He also undertook two of the Courses which dealt with Educational Psychology and Mental Abilities. These constituted the main part of the School.
An excellent innovation in this year’s programme was the introduction of a number of separate lectures given by specialists on their own subjects. Other Courses included a series of lectures by Prof. C. Valentine (Professor of Educa- tion, University of Birmingham), mainly upon the topics of the ” Psychology of the Unconscious and its Bearing upon the Problems of Discipline ” and ” Psy- chology of Adolescence a brief practical course in Mental Testing, by Mr. S. Philpott, B.Sc. (Lecturer in Psychology, University of London); and an interesting set of lectures by Dr F. Aveling (Reader in Psychology, University of London) on the ” Will and Character Formation.” Under the auspices of the Modern Languages Society, a special Course on Language Teaching was run in con- nection with the School.
National Special Schools’ Union.
The 12th Biennial Conference of the National Special Schools’ Union will be held in November at the King George’s Hall, Great Russell Street, Tottenham Court Road, London, W.C.I.
The objects of this Union are to educate national opinion in the matter of defective children and to secure for them the best possible care and training. In addition to the series of addresses mentioned in the programme (see page 118), visits have been arranged to London County Council Special Schools and Institutions. There will be an Exhibition of work done by the children in these schools.
It is hoped that 1,200 delegates, consisting of Directors of Education, Medical Officers, Poor Law Authorities, Heads of Hospitals and Institutions, School Managers, Teachers, and others known to be interested in the work with defective children, will attend the Conference.
Encephalitis Lethargica.
An interesting Conference on Encephalitis Lethargica was held in London in June last, under the presidency of the Secretary to the Ministry of Health. Great interest was aroused by the methods of dealing with the late manifestation of the disease by the Bristol Health Committee. By an arrangement between the Medical Officers of the Health and Education Committees and the Board of Guardians, patients have been admitted to the Southmead Poor Law Hospital for long periods. The successful results arising from the open-air treatment at Southmead have led the Bristol Health Committee to conclude that the majority of patients suffering from late effects benefit more from an out-of-door life than from treatment under the Mental Deficiency Act. At present there is ample provision for such patients at Southmead.
We understand that there is to be a Conference at Sheffield on October 14th, to discuss methods of dealing with this problem.
Weekly Notifications (reproduced from the Lancet) :? Week ending” Week ending- Week ending July 2 38 Aug. 6 21 Sept. 3 35 ? 9 25 ? 13 31 ,, 10 30 ,, 1G 27 ? 20 31 ? 17 23 ,, 23 35 ? 27 23 ? 24 12 ,, 30 23 148 106 100 Total 354
Meetings of the British Association and Emish Medical Associations. At the meetings of the British Medical Association and the British Association this year, several sections dealt with subjects which are closely connected with the work of this Association.
At a joint meeting of the British Medical Association and the Royal Medico-Psychological Association, a subject under discussion was ” Chronic Sepsis as a Cause of Mental Disorder.” Dr William Hunter (London) gave an account of some striking cases in which ” septic psychosis ” was the cause of mental disorder. Examples were also given by Dr Graves (Birmingham), Dr Cotton (U.S.A.), and others.
Considerable discussion took place on the much-debated subject of certifica- tion and the present Lunacy Laws. It is argued that it is unfair for the Medical Practitioner to be exposed to the risk of litigation when carrying out this necessary duty. Professor George Robertson (President of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh) proposed some alterations in the Provisional Treatment Order recommended by the Royal Commission.
The Presidential Address to the section of Psychology of the British Association was given by Dr William Brown on ” Mental Unity and Mental Dissociation.” Speaking of pathological mental dissociation and its removal in cases of hysteria, he mentioned the results he had experienced with shell- shock cases during the War.
Under the combined Psychological and Educational section, papers were read describing investigations that have been carried out in certain schools with regard to the teaching of backward children and the methods of coping with their disabilities in Arithmetic, Reading and Speech.
A New Psychological Clinic.
We have received from the Jewish Health Organisation particulars of their Psychological Clinic which they hope to open in November. We understand that the Director of the Clinic will be a Medical Practitioner and that the appointment will be part-time (as indicated by the advertisement on the cover of this Magazine). The Jewish Health Organisation have sent us full particulars of the scheme. The aim of the Clinic is the prevention or reduction of juvenile delinquency. The hours of consultation are at present from 5.30?7 p.m., two or three times weekly, at the Jews’ Free School, Bell Lane, E.l. It will be noted that the sessions are not within school hours. We hope that the parents and teachers of the children will do their best to overcome difficulties in the way of attendance, though it is, of course, true, that until
psychological clinics become part of the School Medical Service, and attendance at such clinics can rank as school attendance, it is scarcely possible that full advantage will be taken of the treatment by all the children who require it. The Clinic is entirely dependent on voluntary contributions. The services of Honorary Consultants are to be available and a Psychologist is to be appointed. We are glad to see that the Clinic offers facilities for vocational guidance where ” unsuitable or uncongenial occupation shows degenerating effects on the moral or mental health of the patients.”
To those of our readers who are interested in the Child Guidance Council, it will be of special interest to note that a social worker, with psychological knowledge, is to assist during Clinic hours to ” visit homes of the patients and make systematic reports on home conditions from a psychological as well as an economic standpoint.” The Council of Management hope to work in very close co-operation with the Hospitals, Education Authorities, Societies and Children’s Courts.
We sincerely wish the Jewish Health Organisation every success in their new venture.
World Population Conference, Geneva, August 31st to September 3rd, 1927. The Conference was attended by about 300 delegates. As Sir Bernard Malet, the President, pointed out, the serious attention of biological experts was being turned toward the population question. Among the papers read were Professor Carr-Saunders’ ” Effects on Race of Differential Birthrate,” Professor Fairchild’s ” Optimum Population,” and Mr. E. J. Lidbetter’s ” Heredity, Disease and Pauperism,” and several papers, such as Mr. Albert Thomas’ on Migration problems. We have no space to produce here any quotations from the papers, but it is possible to purchase a full account of the Conference Proceedings from the Secretary, 10, Rue de la Bourse, Geneva.
Locarno World Conference on New Education.
The New Education Fellowship held their Fourth International Conference at Locarno in August last. An English Report of this Conference will be ready early in October. The general theme, The True Meaning of Freedom in Educa- tion, is reported in sections. We think that those interested in Mental Defect would find some useful information in this Report. It can be obtained from the Secretary, 11, Tavistock Square, London, W.C.I., price 2/2. Birmingham Special Schools After-Care Sub-Committee.
The Birmingham Special Schools After-Care Sub-Committee has recently issued its Report which contains several interesting statistics regarding the work of the children who have been trained in Special Schools. The Committee are continuing their enquiries, which they began in 1925, into the ” family histories of ex-pupils of the Special Schools who were known to have married.” The evidence at present accumulated seems to show that ” where the deficiency of the parent emerges in the children it does so with more frequency in children of the opposite sex.” As the Committee say, further investigations will be available in a few years, when many of the children will then be over seven years of age.
An incident is given of a married ex-Special School pupil, aged 38. Her eldest child is at Monyhull, two boys are at a Special School, and one has been excluded as being ineducable. Already the community has paid ^450 in respect of this family.
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