HEALTH-STATUS OF VICTORIAN SPECIAL SCHOOL-CHILDREN

Objective: This study sought to determine the health status and health needs of a sample of students attending special schools for the intel lectually disabled in Victoria, Australia. Methodology: Two hundred an d forty-nine students not previously seen by a Community Child Health Medical Officer (CCHMO) were assessed at school. Data on student, pare nt and staff needs were obtained through personal interviews and docum ented on a standard questionnaire. Health status was documented using data obtained from parents and teachers as well as the clinical assess ment. Results: Comparison of the number of problems reported by parent s with the number confirmed at examination showed significant underrep orting of vision, hearing and general medical problems. However, behav iour problems were nearly all reported. Many students had multiple pro blems with 63% having 2-4 problems and 11% having 5-8 problems. Ninety -nine (40%) of the 249 children seen had newly detected problems; visi on (24), hearing (24) and obesity (9) were the most common. Two hundre d and forty-four (98%) had known problems and 27% of these had insuffi cient information available from parents or staff to completely ascert ain their health status. In 115 cases the primary problem was intellec tual impairment of unknown cause. Down's syndrome was the next most co mmon underlying diagnosis (30) followed by autism (24), epilepsy (21) and cerebral palsy (15). The most common secondary diagnoses were asth ma (16), congenital heart defects (12), seizures (8) and skin problems (8). Many students required referral for further management both for newly detected problems (64%) and known problems (18%). Parents requir ed counselling and/or discussion on a number of issues for both newly detected problems (66%) and known problems (39%); when counselling had taken place parent and staff concerns had reduced significantly by th e time of the follow-up assessment. Conclusions: This study demonstrat es that in those students with known intellectual impairment there wer e many with other unrecognized health problems and unmet needs. These findings have implications for health services provided to children at tending special schools.