For Backward Children
It will be of special interest and encouragement to Mental Welfare workers to know that the Memorial to the Founder of the Church of England Waifs’ and Strays’ Society?the late Prebendary Rudolf?has taken the form of a Home for backward and difficult children in need of special educational and psychological treatment. The Home is in Balham, London, where a mid-Victorian house with a good garden has been acquired and adapted for the purpose.
A beginning has been made with some dozen little boys, ultimately to be increased to 30, selected from children already under the care of the Society, and the Home’s work is carried on in close contact with the London Child Guidance Clinic whose Chief Psychologist has tested all the children.
Nearly all have been found to be very backward educationally, though half are normal in intelligence as measured by mental tests; the remainder are ” dullish ” or ” dull ” and some have behaviour difficulties. Their teaching is carried on entirely in the Home itself by methods specially adapted to individual needs, ana the children are thus given every opportunity of over- coming difficulties.
The Home is not intended for children who are definitely mentally defective, but for those who, though commonly regarded as ” hopeless ” only need ” individual care and understanding treatment to enable them to take their proper place among children of their own age, and to grow up happy and useful members of society.” The provision it makes is felt by the Waifs’ and Strays’ Society to be in line with its scheme for ” giving every needv child a chance ” and to be a fitting memorial to its Founder. As the Home only started its work a few months ago it is too early yet to assess results, but already very marked changes have been noted in the children.
Boarding-Out in Italy
During a discussion on the boarding-out of mental patients at the Third European Mental Hygiene Congress held in Brussels last July, Prof. Corberi of Milan said that the method had been used in Italy since 1900. The foster- parents were mostly peasants living in the neighbourhood of a hospital, but since the War, there had been a reduction in the number of cases so dealt with, owing to the increasing recognition of the value of occupational therapy carried out under direct medical control.
At Imola a new system was being tried, consisting of the formation of little colonies of patients in the care of peasant families, under the control of a central organisation. About 10% of the mental patients from the local hospital were being cared for by this method which was thought to be capable of considerable extension.
The Need of the Retarded Child
Commenting on the increase in juvenile delinquency in the age group, *4 to 16, recorded in the Home Office Criminal Statistics for 1933, a corres- pondent to the Times Educational Supplement writes:?
” It is a common experience that many of the delinquents are or have been among the backward children at school. Usually, though not in- variably, their maladjustment to the demands of life in society is accom- panied by some measure of retardation, and it is increasingly clear that the treatment of the young delinquent must be begun early in his school life before his tendency to delinquency has brought him into conflict with the law. Probably his delinquency is the symptom of a mental and moral disorder which may be early diagnosed and treated.”
This line of thought is now exercising the minds of a number of adminis- trators. The work of the London Child Guidance Clinic is demanding notice. It is gratifying to know that the Birmingham Education Authority, after having observed for two years the work of a voluntary clinic, have now decided officially to take it under their auspices.* The Education Authority of Leicester is tackling the problem in a more comprehensive way. The whole matter of the incidence of retarded and maladjusted children is being investigated and experiment in appropriate treatment is being carried out. Other authorities are endeavouring to treat this prob- lem of backwardness by special classes in re-organised schools.” ” There is little doubt that school re-organisation, with its insistence upon better classification of the children in the schools, has helped to bring the treatment of the retarded child into clearer significance, and the next year or two may see interesting developments in this regard.”
This whole problem of the retarded child, in its educational and ad- ministrative aspects, is engaging the close attention of the C. A.M.W. Education Committee, and we hope in our January number to publish an article on the subject, by Miss Grace Rawlings, the Association’s Educational Psychologist, based on her personal contacts with teachers and education authorities.
Child Guidance for London School Children
The extensive use made of Child Guidance Clinics for London school children is referred to in the Report of the L.C.C. School Medical Officer for J934? which has been recently published.
There are now five Clinics in London recognised under Section 80 of ?f the Education Act, 1921 (i.e., where attendance is regarded as equivalent to attendance at school for registration purposes)?viz: The Maudsley Hos- pital Clinic, The London Child Guidance Clinic, The East London Clinic, The Institute of Medical Psychology, and The West End Hospital for Nervous Diseases, and 1,055 school children were dealt with at these Clinics during the year 1934.
The Council regard this work as of great importance and it is closely linked up with the school educational and medical services. Every type of *Nev Child Guidance Clinics are also being opened in Cheltenham and Cardiff, each with a psychiatric social worker loaned for the first year by the Child Guidance Council. neurotic condition and behaviour difficulty is dealt with by the Clinics and the most satisfactory results are reported as being obtained ” through the team work of the psychiatrist, the psychologist and the social worker, who, after careful observation of the child’s reactions, especially during periods of play when the child exliibits self-expression without hindrance, are able to suggest a mode of treatment best suited to the individual child and the peculiar problem.”
The Results of a Clinic
In view of the steady increase in the number of Psychiatric Clinics?we read of new ones recently opened, or about to be opened, at Leeds, under the management of the West Riding Mental Hospitals Board, and in Lanarkshire by the Lanark County Council Public Health Committee in co-operation with the Lanarkshire District Board of Control?a report proceeding from the Institute of Medical Psychology (Malct Place, London, W.C.i), on the ” After- Results of Psychotherapy in 500 Adult Cases ” is of special interest and value. The Report contains detailed statistical information about the 500 con- secutive cases concerned analysed in various ways, the principal facts emerging being that: ?
(1) On discharge from treatment, 65.6% of the patients were ” much improved ” or ” improved.” After three years’ follow-up, this figure is reduced to 55%.
(2) With regard to length of treatment, 250 cases were treated by short methods (under 20 interviews), 195 attended between 20 and 60 times, and 55 over 60 times. The results in the three groups are almost identical.
(3) The best results recorded are for cases of anxiety states and for those complaining of sexual difficulties.
The enquiry was undertaken by Dr Mary C. Luff and Dr Marjorie Garrod and the report first appeared as an article in the British Medical Journal of July 13th, 1935.
The Value of Special Schools
The Birmingham Special Schools After-Care Committee, which has recently presented another Annual Report to the Birmingham Education Committee, has now 6,112 cases of ex-Special (M.D.) School children on its books, ranging in age from 14 to 50.
Of these, 49.3% (54-5% males, and 42.7% females) are doing remunera- tive work and there has been an increase in the average earnings of 6d. a week in the case of boys, and 8d. a week in the case of girls, making the averages respectively, 26/7 and 20/-.
Almost every type of industrial occupation is represented in the list recorded in the Report. The largest number of males are to be found in unskilled factory work, in the engineering trades, and as outdoor workers, these three groups together accounting for 70% of all the males employed. A minority are engaged in skilled or semi-skilled work. In the Birmingham Special Schools, the main handicraft subjects taught to boys are carpentry and boot-repairing, and the measure of the direct practical utility of this may be seen by the fact that of the 1,170 males employed, 24 are working as carpenters, cabinet makers or in other branches of woodwork, and 18 as boot repairers, boot-makers or boot finishers. Of the 757 females employed, the large majority are in factories, or workshops, only 71 being in domestic service.
The Committee has continued its enquiries concerning the family histories of former Special School boys and girls known to have married or to have had children. The records now show that 495 of the girls and 390 of the boys have become parents, being responsible between them for 1,667 children. (This number includes 61 illegitimate children born to 53 mothers, 15 of whom have since married.) These statistics with regard to children cannot, of course, be taken as final, as practically all the parents concerned are still of child-bearing age; moreover 44 of the families have been lost sight of and their present position is not known; 2 of the fathers and 7 of the mothers are now in Institutions. It has not so far been possible to institute an enquiry with regard to the intelligence of the children born.
Dealing with some results of Special Schools training in Glasgow, the Director of Education (Dr Allardyce), reports that of the mentally defective ex-pupils of Glasgow Specials Schools, between the ages of 16 and 30, 56% of the boys and 48% of the girls are in paid employment; if girls employed in domestic work at home are included, the proportion rises to 74% of the girls and 63% in the case of boys and girls.
Wages earned vary from 8/- to 50/- a week for the men and from 6/- to 25/- a week for the women.
This information was included in a report made by Dr Allardyce to the Glasgow Education Committee in reply to Dr Ivy Mackenzie’s unfavourable criticism of the Special School system made at the Conference of the Scottish Mental Welfare Association. ” If children with mental ratios so low that they can only with difficulty reach by the age of 16 years, the standard of attainment of the normal child of 10 or 11, can yet be trained’ to use their limited powers and to conduct themselves rationally to such a degree that they can earn their own livelihood, then surely,” Dr Allardyce maintains, ” the extra expense has been justified.”
Occupation Centres
The Central Association for Mental Welfare has recently issued a pam- phlet on ” The Organisation and Administration of Occupation Centres and Home Teaching for Mental Defectives,” which can be obtained at a cost of 3d., from the offices of the Association, 24, Buckingham Palace Road, S.W.i.
The information given in the pamphlet is based chiefly on the experience gained by the C.A.M.W. in the running of Occupation Centres (now amount- ing to 8) for the Middlesex County Council and is therefore of an eminently practical nature.
The pamphlet has been sent to all Local Authorities under the Mental Deficiency Act and to all Mental Welfare Associations accompanied by a letter offering the expert services of Mrs. Anderson (who so successfully organised the Middlesex Centres and who is a trained certificated teacher with many years of experience in Occupation Centre work), to any Authority or Organisation who would welcome counsel and help for their Centre Super- visor in methods of training, schemes of work, etc., and on the general organisation of Centres, the establishment of new ones, and the employment of Home Teachers.
It is hoped that in this way that Supervisors of Centres?whose work is always difficult and frequently carried on in almost complete isolation? may receive valuable practical help and encouragement, and that the rate of establishment of further Centres, still needed in so many areas, may be speeded up.
Royal Eastern Counties Institution
An extension of this ever-developing Institution was recently opened at Colchester by the Duke of Kent.
The portion of the scheme now completed comprises 8 villas for male patients, assembly hall, kitchen and domestic staff block, lodges, and a portion of the administrative block and workshops. The complete scheme will provide for 21 villas, each for 52 patients, and 2 villas, each for 40 low-grade patients. The whole is to form a self-contained community and will be known as Turner Village.
The authorities concerned in the scheme are the County Councils of Essex, East Suffolk, West Suffolk and Cambridgeshire whose representatives on the Building Committee were joined by those of the Royal Eastern Counties Institution, but its inspirer and moving spirit is Dr Douglas Turner himself, to whom and to his family, this great institution owes its origin and its high reputation.
Royal Scottish National Institution
A new Colony, covering an area of 750 acres, for adult mental defectives has been opened by the Countess of Mar and Kellie, as an extension to the Royal Scottish National Institution, Larbert.
The extension?designed to provide permanent care for those who were admitted to the Institution as children?has been largely financed by voluntary subscriptions which were obtained to the amount of .?60,000, of this, the Council of the Scottish Women Citizens’ Association contributed ^12,000. At present, 180 patients are in residence, and another 50 or 60 will shortlv be added.
Holidays
During the holiday months, the C.A.M.W. has arranged holidays for 103 of the defectives under the care of its Guardianship Department. Of this number, 23 were sent to relatives or friends; 8 accompanied their Guardians; 7 joined Occupation Centre parties; 33 were boarded with hostesses living at the seaside or in the country; a party of 29 girls went to the holiday home at Bognor used by the C.A.M.W.; and 3 returned by special request to the Institutions from which they had come.
The great majority of those sent away were girls, most of whom are in domestic service. Only 13 boys figure in the list, not because their need is less but because the majority of the boys under Guardianship work on the land or in factories where no provision is made for holiday breaks, and the necessary arrangements are therefore very difficult to make.
This enterprise involves a great deal of detailed administrative work, as each case has to be arranged for separately; usually, too, the holiday maker has to be met and escorted from one station to another and during August, there were moments when every available member of a depleted office staff was engaged in piloting a defective across London!
The extra work entailed is, however, felt by everyone concerned, to be very much ” worth while ” for every holiday arranged has brought great happiness with it and has contributed to the general well-being of its recipient. The contribution printed on page 87 telling how the Bognor party responded to conditions of happiness and freedom, bears convincing testimony to the value of this aspect of Guardianship work.
The children attending the Middlesex Occupation Centres, run for the County Council by the C.A.M.W., and some of those being taught in that area by the Association’s Home Teachers, were also included in the holiday scheme, and 86 of them?” children ” of all ages?enjoyed the delights of Bognor or of another holiday home for boys at Seaford.
Conference on Mental Nursing
We are asked to announce that a Week-End Conference on ” Mental Nursing; its Aims and Ideals,” is to be held at High Leigh, Hoddesdon, Herts, from Friday, November 15th to Sunday, November 17th, 1935. The inclusive cost will be 22/-.
The Chairman of the Conference is Dr Noel Harris, Medical Super- intendent of Woodside Mental Hospital, Winchmore Hill, and amongst the speakers will be Sir Francis Freemantle, M.P., M.D., and Dr H. P. News- holme, Medical Officer of Health, Birmingham.
Attendance at the Conference is not limited to those actually engaged in mental nursing, but an invitation is cordially extended to all who are in- terested in the subject from any angle. Full particulars can be obtained from Miss Mabel Hankin, Overseas League, Park Place, St. James’s Street, S.W.i.
Recent C.A.M.W. Publications
Readers of Mental Welfare who were interested in the article ” Beyond Hospital Gates ” on some boarding-out systems for mental patients in Belgium and Holland, published in our last issue, will be glad to know that re-prints of the article are now available.
Another useful little pamphlet recently published by the C.A.M.W. is on the subject of Mental Health work as a career for women. It comprises articles by S. Clement Brown, M.A., Tutor, Mental Health Course, School of Economics, on ” Social Work in Mental Health by Marjorie U. Welfare, Secretary of the C.A.M.W., on ” Mental Welfare Work ” and by Grace Rawlings, B.A., Education Psychologist, C.A.M.W., on ” Teaching Mentally Defective and Retarded Children.” There is also an article by Dr Norah Hawordi, of Severalls Mental Hospital, on Occupational Therapy.
The articles form a re-print from Careers, published by the Women’s Employment Publishing Company, Ltd.
Both these pamphlets can be obtained from the Central Association for Mental Welfare, 24, Buckingham Palace Road, London, S.W.i, at the price of 2d. a copy, post free.
Mental Health Congress, London
The fourth biennial Conference on Mental Health arranged by the National Council for Mental Hygiene will be held at the Caxton Hall, West- minster, from January 23rd to 25th, and is to be opened by the Duke of Kent. The Programme includes papers and discussions on the organisations and correlation of mental health services in local areas, problems of marriage and the establishment of courts of domestic relations, and the function of the priest and the doctor in the treatment of nervous and mental disorders. The last day will be devoted to a discussion on ” Education for Living,” divided into different age-periods.
A delegate’s ticket admitting to all sessions of the Conference and the Luncheon on January 24th is ?1 is.; an inclusive ticket for all sessions of the Conference is 15/-; single session tickets are 3/6 each. Further particulars can be obtained from the Secretary of the National Council for Mental Hygiene, 78, Chandos House, Palmer Street, London, S.W.i.
International Mental Hygiene Congress, 1936
A preliminary notice has been issued announcing the Second Inter- national Mental Hygiene Congress, which is to be held in Paris in July, 1936. A programme of great variety and interest has been drawn up in which eminent psychiatrists and psychologists from many countries are to take part. The Congress will consist of Active Members and Associate Members.
Active Members have the right to present papers and to take part in the discussions and to receive the Congress papers and reports; membership fee, 125 French francs. Associate Members can attend the sessions and take part in the visits to institutions, etc., but are not entitled to contribute to the discussions or to receive papers or reports; membership fee, 75 French francs. Those who wish to take part in the discussions are requested to notify the Chairman of the Program Committee, Dr Rene Charpentier, 119, Rue Perronet, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, before January 1st, 1936. The Permanent Secretary of the Congress is Mr. Clifford W. Beers, International Committee for Mental Hygiene, 50, West 50th Street, New York City, U.S.A., from whom all particulars can be obtained.
Institute of Medical Psychology
The Institute of Medical Psychology announce an interesting programme of Lecture Courses for the 1935-6 Session.
The Programme includes a Year’s Course in the Children’s Department, for Psychological Students; a Week-End Course on Methods of Psychotherapy and Courses on ” Anxiety States and Allied Conditions ” and ” Sexual Mal- adjustments ” (all for members of the medical profession only). There are also Courses on ” Mental Health in Childhood,” ” Problems of Parenthood,” ” The Theory and Practice of Mental Testing ” and six Lectures for Clergy and Ministers.
At the beginning of the Session, Professor C. G. Jung conducted Five Seminars on Fundamental Psychological Conceptions, open to Medical Graduates and University Professors, Readers and Lecturers.
The Post-Graduate Course in Psychotherapeutic Theory and Method for medical practitioners, is already full and no further applications can be received.
For further particulars of any of the Lectures and Courses, application should be made to the Educational Secretary of the Institute, Malet Place, London, W.C.i.
Mental Treatment Act
The Board of Control, in their Report for 1934, report satisfactory pro- gress in the development of the provisions of the Mental Treatment Act. There were, at the end of the year, 134 out-patient centres in connection with public mental hospitals, and the number of voluntary admissions rose during the year from 2,961 to 4,078.
The growth in the number of temporary admissions is slow, though there are indications of improvement. Among temporary patients the death rate has been very high, owing to the gravity of many of the conditions leading to loss of volition, but that certification should be avoided in cases where death is likely to occur is felt to be of the greatest value in diminishing the suffering of relatives.
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