The Handicapped School-Leaver

Working Party commissioned by K | British Council Jor Rehabilitation oj the Disabled. Obtainable jrom the t ?11" Tavistock House, Tavistock Square, W.C.I, 1963, 155. ^ This Report constitutes a survey, begun in 1959, of the whole field of work for capped school-leavers?the blind and the deaf, the physically disabled and epileptic ,, educationally subnormal and the maladjusted?with the object of investigating the ne of each group and recommending ways of meeting them. ^ The task of the Working Parties in England and Scotland (under the chairma^ respectively of Dr. Elfed Thomas, Director of Education for the City of Leicester, an ^ Professor Thomas Ferguson, University of Glasgow) was a formidable one, involving ![ taking of evidence from a large number of organisations, authorities, and indiv teachers and social workers, with numerous meetings for discussion. From each Working Party, 37 recommendations were finally made. What struck ^ members of both parties was the failure of the numerous services for the handicapPe ^ co-operate in ensuring continuity of care and supervision, including a continuous ass ij ment of progress and needs. Up to the age of 18, it is recommended that the ?v jj, responsibility in this should be given to the School Health Service. In the case of the E-? \\ and maladjusted group, it is suggested that the law should be amended to enable * ^ | education authorities to provide hostel accommodation, in consultation with volun ̂ bodies. Local authorities should also be requested, as a matter of urgency, to considef^ need for increasing residential provision for all types of seriously handicapped y? people, whether or not they are capable of work or training. 0|< An Enquiry into the Employment of Physically and Mentally Handicapped . J Leavers, undertaken by the Ministry of Labour in connection with the survey, is Prl. $ in the Report in full. In this connection, it is recommended that the Ministry shou1 * asked to consider the possibility of making Remploy factories more available for Y0 ^ ' handicapped adolescents, together with other forms of sheltered employment vocational training.