ABSTRACT
Beech Tree House is a unit providing short-term education for multi-handicapped children with deviant behaviour. It is situated in the grounds of a Spastic Society school for ESN(S) children with cerebral palsy. Children are normally referred to Beech Tree from the Spastic Society’s assessment centre in London, but some parents hear about the unit through the publicity that is attendant on its research project status, and set the wheels in motion themselves to enable their child to go there. Emma Canny was one such child and her school experience is depicted here as seen through the eyes of the unit psychologist. Her mother attended a lecture given by the head of Beech Tree House, in which he mentioned the type of children the unit catered for, and she campaigned for her local education authority to make arrangements for Emma to be sent there.
