Before a large investment is made in special school housing or in remodeling, representatives of the school system would profit by visiting various schools to see how special education is provided in other communities. With this kind of experience and with a thorough knowledge of the needs of children and the resources of their own community, they will then be in a position to make wise plans and practical decisions for school buildings and classrooms.

PROVISIONS FOR CHILDREN WITH CRIPPLING

CONDITIONS

Many crippled children are able to make satisfactory adjustments in regular schools. Some, however, can only take advantage of the opportunity for education if special classes are available to them. For the crippled child, the special day school class or the special school is very often the step between the hospital on the one hand and the regular school on the other. Probably just as often it is the step between the convalescent home or home instruction and the regular class. For this reason,

the special school or class incorporates features of the hospital and convalescent home as well as features of a regular day school.

NEEDS VARY

It is somewhat difficult to describe definitely what crippled children. as a group will need in either a school program or in school housing, for their problems differ one from another. Crippling conditions result from a wide array of causes and affect children in many ways. To illustrate, one child may be crippled in arms but not in legs; another is handicapped in legs and is on crutches; one has disability in the hands and cannot write; and still another has disability in both legs and arms and is confined to a wheelchair. To complicate matters still further, some crippling conditions will be of long duration, while others will be very brief; some will be severe, while others are mild; still others will have a favorable prognosis as against an unfavorable prognosis for others.

To meet the needs, many communities have established special classes for crippled children in various ways. In the United States, these special classes are housed in (1) special buildings for crippled; (2) special buildings for children with various kinds of physical handicaps; (3) centers or units for crippled children in the regular schools; and (4) single multigrade classes for crippled. Crippled children may also be educated in hospital classes, in convalescent home classes, in sanatoria, occasionally in residence schools, or when no other plan is possible in their own homes. This section. of the bulletin deals only with day school provisions,

Crippled children need a variety of services and make the best educational progress if the school system is organized so that children can move freely from one type of class to another, depending upon the current needs of each boy or girl. To illustrate, it is possible for a single crippled child during the normal 12 years of schooling to be enrolled in a hospital class, a convalescent home class, a special school for crippled, a class for crippled children in a regular school, or home instruction. If he is cerebralpalsied, he might also spend a period of time in a residential school for diagnosis and intensive training. Wherever the child is, opportunity for education should be available to him; this means the building, as well as the instructional program, should be adjusted to his needs.

Safety and Comfort

A building or classroom for crippled children should have features which help the children develop feelings of security and encourage free physical activity with a minimum of help from attendants and teachers. Features in the physical plant which should help children attain such feelings of security are ramps, elevators, handrails, sturdy equipment, wide hallways, spacious classrooms, and adequate lighting. To be avoided are swinging doors, slippery floors, thresholds in doorways, light and easily overturned equipment, sharp corners, and uneven projections.

Types of School Organization

Quite often, a lay person or an educator will ask what is the best kind of day school organization for the crippled child. No one pattern of organization can be followed by all communities. Each community should make the plan or plans which will insure a high quality of service. to all its children. It is obvious that large special schools or large centers are possible only in the cities. Smaller school systems will think in terms of small units or classes which might form a center or even a single class which would perhaps serve one or more school districts or perhaps even a whole county.

The regular day school classes serve large numbers of crippled children, mainly those with lesser handicaps, many of whom need some form of special service. Often the regular schools could provide for larger numbers of these children if they were equipped with elevators, ramps, suitable entranceways, facilities for rest, physical therapy, and special guidance. For some children, however, day schooling is possible only in special classes. Some communities provide for these children through specialized schools such as the R. J. Delano School in Kansas City, Mo.; the Charles Boettcher School in Denver, Colo.; the Sunbeam School in Cleveland, Ohio; the A. Henry Moore School in Jersey City, N. J.; and the Sunshine School in San Francisco, Calif. Some cities provide by arranging units

or centers in regular schools, a plan that is meeting with favor in many communities; still other public-school systems meet the needs of crippled children by providing one class in a school. Throughout the United States, many small cities and county school systems make provisions. through small centers and single multigrade classes. In most of these schools and in many of the centers in regular schools, physical therapy under proper medical supervision is provided; some schools also have occupational therapy. Under an ideal plan, even in one-classroom units, there should also be at least one other room for physical therapy.

Special Features

A special school should be equipped to function in a genuinely special way. Its very existence can be justified only if constructed to accommodate the severely handicapped who cannot get the services they need in a regular class. It should include: Space for instruction, medical and health services, physical therapy (and perhaps occupational therapy), speech training, rest facilities, and equipment for noonday lunches. It should have easily accessible lavatory and toilet facilities, ramps, handrails, wide hallways, and functional entrances.

When school buildings are being planned or remodeled for crippled children, some of the general school housing features call for unusual attention. For example, most crippled children come to school in a bus, which means that arrangement should be made for the unloading of children at the building. Some schools are so constructed that the floor of the bus is flush with the floor of the building at the point of loading and unloading. Some schools are constructed so that the busses drive under a "carriage porch" such as is shown on page 2. Such covered entranceways allow children to be unloaded without exposing them to inclement weather. This feature is needed more in climates where ice and sleet make an exposed slippery floor or ramp a serious hazard.

Special schools for crippled children are quite often of singlestory design. Centers and single classes in regular school buildings are usually located on the ground floor. Whenever it is necessary for children to go from one floor to another, there should be elevators or ramps. Elevators should be large and should be equipped with handrails. They will be required to carry not only children, but also wheelchairs and perhaps carts or other cumbersome equipment. For example, the A. Harry Moore School in Jersey City is a 5-story building, but it is equipped with 3 large elevators.

Doors should be wide enough to accommodate children on crutches. in wheelchairs, wagons, and large pieces of equipment. One authority states that all doorways should be at least 6 inches wider than usual; another specifies 54-inch doorways.

To add to feelings of safety and security and encourage movement and self-help, handrails should be placed wherever the children go. Double handrails should be in hallways, around the walls or ramps, drinking fountains, entrances to stages, lavatories, and toilets. The Illinois State Department of Public Instruction suggests that the lower handrail be placed at 28 inches from the floor. One school in California which serves only cerebral-palsied children, but which includes a nursery school, recommends that handrails be placed at 18 and 30 inches from the floor. Rails should be one or one and one-half inches in diameter. Usually

they project from the wall, but some newer types are built into the walls. Handrails should be continuous or terminate by returning into the wall.

Classrooms

Classrooms should be large enough to accommodate wheelchairs, relaxation chairs, special tables, crutches, and other cumbersome but necessary equipment. A spacious room, furthermore, fosters feelings of security and freedom which in turn encourage physical activity, a very important part of the medical and health program for crippled children. The classroom for crippled children should probably be at least one and a half times as large as that for normal children even though the pupil-teacher ratio is lower. Classrooms in the California State School for Cerebral-Palsied Children are 30' x 40' except the nursery school classroom which is 30' x 50'. These dimensions do not include. storage or bathroom space.

A classroom would need to be large enough to allow for furniture such as this large cut-out table-a type of equipment often used for cerebral-palsied children.