National Special Schools Union
EDINBURGH CONFERENCE, JUNE, 1935
The Sixteenth Biennial Conference of the Union was held in Edinburgh on June 20th, 21st and 22nd, the delegates being officially welcomed by the Lord Provost, Magistrates and Councillors at a Civic Reception in the City Chambers.
Mr. W. W. McKechnie, Secretary to the Scottish Education Department ?speaking at the first Session presided over by the Rev. J. Rossie Brown, a member of the Edinburgh Education Committee?regretted the increase of the number of mentally and physically defective children, but said that, the children being there, everything possible must be done for them. He did not foresee a probable decrease in the number of mental defectives to be dealt with; but thought there were possibilities of a reduction in the number of physical defectives. There was an enormous and gratifying improvement in the con- ditions under which special education was carried on, and there could be none better than those enjoyed in some parts of Scotland. Mr. McKechnie begged all teachers to realise the essential advantage of thinking and watching what was happening in their class rooms and also of having the courage to go for- ward and tell Directors of Education and Education Committees.
A symposium on the subject of Special Schools and Special Classes was led off by Mr. D. Kennedy Eraser, Psychologist to the Glasgow Education Com- mittee. In replying to a charge that the Special School had been a failure,* he claimed that since only about one:third of the children leaving Special Schools required permanent control and segregation, then Special Schools could claim to be making a definite contribution to the social betterment of the feeble- minded themselves and also to be a relief to the normal members of the com- munity of a large part of an otherwise unavoidable burden. Special Schools did not claim to produce one hundred per cent, pupils who could go out and carry on in the ordinary community without support. Some sort of after-care was necessary for a certain number of them but this after-care was made really much more effective when based upon Special School training. Wherever full advantage was taken by the staff of the facilities offered by a Special School organisation, a great deal could be done to remove the spirit of defeatism from the children and their parents. They might achieve what should be the highest aim of their efforts in converting an anti-social, disappointed, hopeless child into one who realised that if he pulled his weight, no matter how small it might be, there was a niche for him in the community which he could be proud to fill. Professor Drever, Edinburgh University, spoke for the Special Class.
While testifying to the excellence of much of the work that was being done in the existing Special Schools, he contended that the present system was wrong and quite indefensible. Such segregation could not be justified from a social *See note on Conference of Scottish Association for Mental Welfare, page 68. point of view. The existing lack of definiteness regarding the basis of classifi- cation of children as suitable for the Special School was an additional serious defect. He regretted that the report of the Joint Committee on Mental De- ficiency, drawing a very important distinction between the ” retarded ” child and the ” mentally defective ” child, had not come earlier. His plea was for reconsideration of the whole situation with respect to the mentally retarded child.
That it would be a retrograde step to undo the infinite amount of good work that had already been done and was still being carried on in Special Schools, was the contention of Dr Gladys A. A. Boyd, Medical Psychologist, Edinburgh Education Committee. In towns and cities where transport was easy, Special Schools have long been established and proved satis- factory, but in country districts, there were great difficulties to be met in attempting to deal with mentally defective children in a Special School. She stressed the importance of perfecting the machinery for After-Care in con- nection with Special Schools.
” The Relationship of Mental Defect to Juvenile Delinquency ” was the subject under discussion at the third Session. Under the chairmanship of Mr. J. B. Frizell, City Education Officer, Mr. James Carson, Superintendent of Rossie Farm School, Montrose, made suggestions for the early ascertainment and closer following up of delinquents. ” It must be remembered,” he said, ” that every mentally defective child is a possible delinquent and every child below the average in intelligence ought to be carefully noted and kept under observation throughout his school life.” The best solution of this problem, he considered, was to be found in (i) early recognition, (2) socialisation through education and training in the environment best suited to the child’s needs and capacities. Mr. Carson said that he had found Scouting of enormous interest and value in the socialisation of these children, and recommended farm schools and colonies as specially suitable for them.
Mr. J. L. Hardie, Senior Principal Assistant to the City Education Officer, Edinburgh, in an interesting and instructive address, pointed out the relation- ship between the various types of misdemeanour and the levels of intelligence of the children concerned, and showed how the psychological background of behaviour disorders might be illustrated from the various forms that the acquisitive instinct assumed at various ages.
In the discussion which followed, Dr Herd, School Medical Officer, Manchester, found considerable support for his contention that mental de- ficiency as being the prime cause of delinquency was a statement that was much overdone and likely to give a wrong impression.
Other valuable addresses given by experts during the Conference were on the subjects of Rheumatism amongst School Children, Schools for Children with Defective Sight, Border Line Cases in Blind Schools, the Psychological Aspects of Stammering, the Aims and Scope of the Speech Clinic and ” Muscular Exercises for Physically Defective Children.” E.B.W.
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