§ Mr. Iremongerasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what progress is being made towards the implementation of the recommendations of the Lewis Committee on the use of finger spelling and signing in the education of the deaf; and if she will encourage the separation in school organisation teacher training of the needs of the totally preligually deaf child from the needs of the partially hearing.
§ Mrs. ThatcherMy Advisory Committee on Handicapped Children is considering what research projects may be possible in this field. Deaf and partially hearing children are normally taught in separate classes, or in separate schools. Different training for the teachers of these groups is not considered desirable as the categories overlap and they have many common learning problems.