The South Australian Institution for the Blind, Deaf and Dumb

In 1874 The South Australian Institution for the Blind, Deaf and Dumb was established to provide a refuge, education and boarding facilities. The Grace Darling Building and surrounding land, located in Brighton was leased and bought two years later. A larger building was needed and in 1878 Townsend House was built. It was a two storey stone building in the Victorian Gothic style and cost £ 4,289. After completion twenty four children were admitted. The education provided was described as “of an ordinary school type”. Children could board as either fee or non-fee paying pupils. However, by 1880 all borders were without means and unable to pay fees. By 1894 Townsend House catered for a total of one hundred and forty six children.

The Industrial School for the Blind

In 1884 The Industrial School for the Blind was established in North Adelaide for adults who were blind. Nine pupils were transferred from Townsend House to the new school. The establishment of the school was a reflection of changing community attitudes. The belief was that an institution should be less of an asylum, and instead, provide education and training to its pupils. The new school provided training in trades such as brush and basket making.

The Institution

As it was now considered beneficial to educate pupils in a trade, boot making was taught to boys at the Institution in 1892. Two years later woodwork was introduced. Girls were taught laundry work, needle work, knitting and table waiting. In 1915 the government passed legislation making it compulsory to educate blind, deaf, and mentally defective children between the ages of six and sixteen. Parents had to comply with this legislation otherwise they were fined for non-compliance. The Institution was proud that it hadn’t excluded or refused any pupil due to a parent’s inability to pay fees. School fees were charged but a means test allowed pupils from poor families an education. The Institution employed official collectors to solicit donations from the public. By 1925, two hundred and eighty nine deaf and one hundred and twenty nine blind children had been admitted to the Institution. The majority of them, by the time they became adults, were able to maintain themselves in the community.

Mainstream education

In 1929 two boys who were deaf attended Goodwood Central School to learn woodwork and metalwork. It was the first integration of children who were deaf into mainstream education. In 1932 the number increased to six. In 1945/46 the Institution established a new Oral Kindergarten for children who were deaf at Gilberton. In 1946 the school changed its name to Townsend House Schools for Deaf and Blind Children. The trend toward integration picked up momentum and in 1952 two more oral classes at Kilkenny Primary School were opened up. This was followed by a unit for the partially deaf at Woodville Primary School and another unit at North Adelaide. The Canon Report of 1953 recommended that the Institution’s School for the Deaf should become a special public school under the Minister of Education. It took 10 years to implement the recommendation. From 1945-1955 the total intake to the Schools for Deaf and Blind Children was forty six and in 1967 there were seventy one children who were deaf and thirty who were blind.

In 1961 the Minister of Education commissioned the Howard Report to investigate the financial situation of the Institution. The report highlighted its deteriorating financial position. A deputation form the Board of Townsend House went to the Minister and requested that the government take over the responsibility of educating the children. The government assumed responsibility and the Education Department took over control of the School. There were major changes in the approach towards educating the Deaf between 1963 and 1976 with an emphasis toward mainstream education. A new school complex was built by Townsend House at a cost of $1.1 million, with assistance from government grants. The School had three independent schools:

• The South Australian School for Blind Children
• The South Australian School for Deaf Children
• Pre-School for Hearing and Hearing Impaired Children

Community Services

In 1985 Townsend House took its first step into Community Services with the introduction of the Early Childhood Support Services – Blind and Vision Impaired. The Time for Carers Program was introduced in 1987 and supported families of children who lived at home and not in an institution. Townsend House developed a community based program for children (0-12 years) who were Deaf or hearing impaired and gained funding from State Government Disability Services. They provided a range of therapeutic, training and recreational programs that lead to independent living. Over the years their Community Services have grown and developed, providing programs for children with a sensory impairment and their families. Townsend House has become involved with blind sporting bodies and affiliated organisations who support people who are deaf and hearing impaired.

On December 7th 2001, the Minister for Ageing and Disabilities launched The CanDo4Kids Townsend House Foundation.

Reference

Can do 4 kids: Townsend House. 2006. [online]. [Accessed 12 April 2007]. Available from World Wide Web: <http://www.townsendhouse.com.au/AboutUs/History/tabid/99/Default.aspx>

Townsend House and Minda Home
In the latter part of the nineteenth century two schools were established in South Australia for children with specific disabilities. These schools were operated by charitable institutions.

The earliest South Australian school for children with disabilities was established in 1874 for children who were deaf or blind. The South Australian Institution for the Blind, Deaf and Dumb (Townsend House) provided education which was described as ‘of an ordinary school type’.

In 1961 a deputation from the Board of Townsend House went to the Minister of Education and requested that the government take over the responsibility of educating the children due to its deteriorating financial position. The government assumed responsibility and the Education Department took over control of the School. There were major changes in the approach towards educating the Deaf between 1963 and 1976 with an emphasis toward mainstream education.

In 1898 the first school for children with an intellectual disability was established at Minda Home. The home had accommodation for 22 pupils. It opened with 10 children but soon filled to capacity. The children were cared for by Matron Elizabeth Barker and educated by Miss Edna Fox. In 1962, at the request of Minda’s Board, the Education Department took over the school.

Dr. Constance Davey
The South Australian Education Department first established a service for children with special needs in 1924, when it appointed Constance Davey as a psychologist. She examined children who were considered ‘retarded’ educationally by testing them and observing their home conditions. She provided vocational and educational guidance and was often consulted by Minda and the Blind, Deaf and Dumb School, the Children’s Court, and the Children’s Welfare Department.

Dr. Davey worked hard to improve conditions for ‘retarded’ children and established Opportunity Classes in schools.

In 1925 the State’s first ‘opportunity class’ for problem cases and slow learners was established in which twenty children could learn at their own rate, based on Davey’s testing of their intelligence.
Australian Dictionary of Biography – Online Edition

At the end of 1926 there were four Opportunity Classes, one each in Alberton and Norwood and two in Port Adelaide. On 1st October 1935, The News praised Dr. Davey for the ‘wonderful’ work she was doing for ‘backward children’. At the time there were 21 Opportunity Classes in South Australian schools.

The first Opportunity Class teachers were volunteer teachers without any training in special education. As the number of Opportunity classes grew it became apparent that the teachers needed extra training. Dr. Davey devised a six week, full time course to train teachers to work with children with an intellectual disability. The Education Department offered the course in 1931 but it had been reduced to four weeks. It was called the ‘Training course for teachers of retarded and subnormal children’. The course was open to women with three years teaching experience. Nineteen teachers attended the first course. In 1947 the name of the course was changed to ‘the ‘Training course for teachers of backward and difficult children’. The course continued until 1973.

Dr. Davey believed many children in the Opportunity Classes were inappropriately placed. In an Annual Report of the Chief Psychologist in 1925 she stated:

In our Opportunity Class rolls at present there are 286 children…Of this number 158 are subnormal and need the training that can be given most effectively and economically in a Special School for such children. There are eight low grade uneducable children who will always need special care and supervision. These children are incapable of school work and the Opportunity Class is not the proper place for them.
Wicks 2000 p139

As Chief Psychologist Dr. Davey continued her campaign for the establishment of a Special School but the government was satisfied with the success of the Opportunity Classes and was unwilling to do any more.

Post-War Australia
After the end of World War II parents of children with disabilities in Australia wanted their children to get an adequate education in state schools.

[I]n the immediate post-war period, the major efforts of state education departments were concentrated upon children with mild intellectual disabilities. In consequence, voluntary organisations were formed to provide special schooling for children with moderate and severe levels of intellectual disability and for children with physical disabilities…It is clear…that the rise of…voluntary organisations represented a mobilisation of concerned citizens faced with enormous problems in the absence of any government effort.
Elkins 1985 p164-5

The Crippled Children’s Association of South Australia (Novita)
The Crippled Children’s Association of South Australia (Novita) was incorporated in 1939 and Somerton Home was established for children with poliomyelitis (polio), where they were cared for and received an education. By 1951 Somerton Home was providing services to children with disabilities other than polio.

In 1946 The Crippled Children’s Association started a school for children with cerebral palsy in a room in the Outpatient’s department of the Adelaide Children’s Hospital. They employed Daphne Gum, a trained primary school teacher to be the director of the Spastic Centre at the Adelaide Children’s Hospital and later at Ashford House.

In 1952 they purchased Ashford House on Anzac Highway and used it as a school and therapy centre for children with cerebral palsy. In 1976 the children were transferred from Somerton Home and Ashford House School to the newly built Regency Park Centre for Physically Handicapped Children.

Today, Regency Park School and Ashford Special School are operated by the Department of Education and Children’s Services (DECS) and support students with physical (Regency) and intellectual (Ashford) disabilities.

South Australian Oral School
In the mid 1940’s a group of parents with children who were deaf or hard of hearing formed the South Australian Oral School. The school taught lip reading and speech skills providing an oral education rather than sign language which was the only form of education for the deaf in Adelaide at that time. Mrs Cora Barclay became the Principal in 1950, a position she held until her retirement in 1989. The school closed in 1989 and became a therapy centre training parents to teach their children to listen and speak using the auditory approach. The school was re-named The Cora Barclay Centre.

South Australian Spastic Paralysis Welfare Association Inc.
In 1948 a group of parents and friends established the SA Spastic Paralysis Welfare Association Inc. to provide care for spastic children. The Miss Australia Wing was built in 1959 for treatment and education and by 1971 was used solely as a special school. A new complex, including the James A Nelson School was opened in 1978. The organisation changed its name to the Spastic Centres of South Australia (SCOSA) in 1983. The James A Nelson school was closed in 1993 and the children were transferred to other schools.

Changes in Education
Changes in attitudes towards education for children with disabilities began around the 1960s. In 1964, the Australian Council for Rehabilitation of Disabled (ACROD) recommended that children with disabilities should be integrated into regular schools rather than attend special schools.

The South Australian government introduced the Education Act 1972 making it compulsory for all children between the ages of six and fifteen, including those with a disability – even a severe disability to attend school to get an education. Peter Duncan was the Minister of Education at the time and was responsible for the legislation. As a consequence of the Act the Education Department had to take on responsibility for educating all children.

By 1974 there were eight Junior Special Schools and one Senior Special in the metropolitan area, as well as Special Schools within the institutions of Minda and Strathmont [Centre]. The Education Department employed approximately 150 special education teachers, who taught approximately 1,400 children.
Wicks 2000 p166

Justice C Bright
During the 1970’s the State government set up the Committee on Rights of Persons with Handicaps and Justice C Bright was the Chairperson. The Committee produced a report called The Law and Persons with Handicaps in 1978. It made a number of recommendations in a number of areas including education. They acknowledged that education for disabled children in South Australia occurred in various settings ranging from residential institutions at one extreme to the ordinary classroom in the local school at the other extreme. The report believed,

It is preferable that whenever possible, handicapped children should be placed in the least restrictive environment, i.e. the ordinary classroom…if a special class is necessary, it seems desirable that it should be conducted within the walls of normal school
The Law and Persons with Handicaps 1978 p125

Schools for all project
In 1989 the Ministerial Advisory Committee: Students with Disabilities (formerly the Special Education Consultative Committee) was established to develop policy advice for the Minister for Education in the area of children and students with disabilities. In 1992, the Federal Minister of Employment, Education and Training, Kim Beazley provided funding to the Committee with the challenge to put into practice the policy of integrating children with a disability into neighbourhood schools. The result was the Schools for all project.

This project presented a unique opportunity for research to be undertaken in neighbourhood schools to identify practical solutions to the implementation of the policy in ways that have value and meaning for students, service providers, parents and educators
Schools for all Winter, P 1993 (i)

Education Today
In South Australia, children and students with a disability have a range of educational options. These include:
• mainstream care sites, preschools and schools
• special education classes and special units in mainstream schools
• special educational settings for preschool children
• special schools

There are three education sectors i.e. State, Catholic and Independent. All have developed policies and guidelines regarding the enrolment and education of children and students with a disability. This ensures they are provided with appropriate services and support.

References
Australian Dictionary of biography – Online Edition. 2006. [online]. [Accessed 15 June 2007]. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080239b.htm

Australian Women Biographical Entry. 2005. [online].
[Accessed 16 July 2007]. Available from World Wide Web:
http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/IMP0206b.htm

Can do 4 kids: Townsend House. 2006. [online]. [Accessed 12 April 2007]. Available from World Wide Web: <http://www.townsendhouse.com.au/AboutUs/History/tabid/99/Default.aspx>

Committee on rights of persons with handicaps. 1978. The law and person’s with handicaps. Adelaide: Committee on rights of persons with handicaps

Cora Barclay Centre. 2007. [online]. [Accessed 17 July 2007].
Available from World Wide Web:
http://www.corabarclay.com.au/about.html

Elkins, John. 1985. ‘Disability and disadvantage: Special education in Australia, Past, present and future’ in Melbourne studies in education. ed. Palmer, Imelda. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, pp164-5.

Find your way home: with SA Link-up. 2005. [online].[Accessed on 30th April 2007]. Available from the World Wide Web: <http://salinkup.com.au/media/pdf/9_miscellaneous.pdf>

Life to live. 2007. [online]. [Accessed 15th May 2007]. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.dsa.org.au/life_site/text/education/index.html

Linn, Rob 1994. Perserverance: the story of Spastic Centres of South Australia. Woodville, South Australia: Spastic Centres of South Australia

Novita Children’s Services. 2007. [online]. [Accessed 12 June 2007]. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.novita.org.au/Content.aspx?p=29

Special Education Consultative Committee 1993. Schools for all project. Adelaide: Department of Employment, Education and Training

Support for children and students with a disability in South Australia. 2006 [online]. [Accessed 21 June 2007]. Available from World Wide Web:
http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/docs/files/communities/docman/1/RESOURCE_TEXT_final.pdf

Turnbull, T. 1998. A social history of disability services in South Australia and a review of previous, current and future policy directions. Adelaide: University of Adelaide

Wicks, Keren. 2000. Teaching the art of living: the development of special education services in South Australia, 1915 – 1975. Adelaide: University of Adelaide