Disadvantaged Children. Health, Nutrition and School Failure

Abstract

This book reports a study made in 1965, by the St. Mary's Paediatric Unit, of the social and medical circum- stances of 100 West Indian children and their families living in Paddington.The major part of the field work was done by a paediatrician and a social worker.The methods and results are described carefully and accur- ately, but also commendably clearly and briefly.The essential parts can be read in less than an hour, and they provide a most interesting and valuable picture of the West Indian family life in London.West Indian families are rather larger than English families living in the same district.They maintain strong links with the West Indies, many having older children living there; three-quarters of the families were sending money home, despite their low income here.The mothers are likely to go out to work and to have their 1-year-old minded during the day.The home is usually a flat or single room in an old, decaying house with inadequate toilet and cooking facilities.However, the room itself will be kept bright and clean.There may be little encouragement, in the way of materials or stimulation, for the child to play, and he will perhaps be talked to less than an English child.He will probably walk earlier.He will make good use of the health services, and be a regular attender at the Infant Welfare Clinic, but he may be somewhat more prone to minor, especially respiratory, illness, than his English counterpart.From the point of view of these children's future development, the most worrying thing in this study is their apparent lack of stimulation to talk and play.It is good to know that a follow-up study is planned; the children will now be starting at their infant school, and it will be most valuable to hear how they integrate into school life, and how well they learn.It is easy for middle-class English doctors and social workers, consciously or subconsciously, to apply to all families with whom they deal the same basic assumptions that would be appropriate to a middle-class surburban English family.When these assumptions are not fulfilled, they may feel that the family is irrational, stupid, or irresponsible, rather than that they were looking at it in the wrong way in the first place.Many of us, including the reviewer, have made this mistake.Every- one in the medical or social services who meets West Indian children and their families should read this warm-hearted and highly informative book; it will enable him to help them with greater understanding, enjoyment, and effectiveness.