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The function of the Mother-Toddler Group is to study the normal development of the toddler from 14 months to 3 years. This once-weekly group of eight mothers and toddlers affords the first-year students an opportunity of direct observation and experience in handling toddlers in the presence of their mothers in a group. In recent years the two staff members have helped some of the parents to change their handling of their toddlers to foster progressive development. The toddlers are usually referred from the Well-Baby Clinic.
Although we were not equipped to deal with specific handicaps, we were persuaded to include a toddler with a hearing defect in the group. We had to consider how disruptive this would be for the group; what the feelings and reactions of the mothers might be; the interaction with other toddlers; and our own anxiety about handling such a child.
Joel remained in the Toddler Group for seventeen months. When he was 2 years 9 months the Nursery School teacher agreed to take him into her group of thirteen children. The Nursery School includes children from many different backgrounds and nationalities and had a particularly international flavour the year Joel entered. Generally, children are recommended by health visitors or social workers as requiring nursery placement for some special reason, e.g. inadequate housing and no place to play; working parents where the child would need a more suitable daytime alternative; a single parent with financial difficulty. To provide a balance a few children with no such problems are also included.
Joel was born severely deaf but this was only diagnosed when he was 8 months old. We first met him at 13 months when the mother and child were referred by a Clinic colleague. The parents, a professional couple, had come from abroad. The mother came from an analytic milieu. Though she had sought out and accepted all the available medical specialist help, she felt extremely isolated and in need of a setting w