Specialists giving support to the work for handicapped children include psychologists, area organisers of special classes, visiting teachers, speech therapists, and advisers in reading. The central purpose of the psychological service is to examine children on request, report on their condition and needs, and advise on measures to help them. A psychological examination precedes admission to various special classes and schools, and psychologists are members of advisory committees giving guidance to teachers. Equally, the 45 psychologists and 12 area organisers are concerned with the healthy growth of all primary and post-primary children. The visiting-teacher service began in the disturbed wartime conditions of 1944 to cope with problems which had their origin outside the school itself and were affecting the progress of children. This remains its essential purpose. The 31 visiting teachers each serve a group of primary schools and, in addition, provide a limited request service for post-primary schools. The main responsibility for speech training and correction rests with the class teacher but severe cases are referred to speech therapists who work in some 75 clinics, each attached to a central school and serving a group of neighbouring schools. In addition, cerebral palsy schools have full-time speech therapists. The clinics are administered by local education boards and admissions follow reports by headmasters, school medical officers and psychologists, with the consent of parents. For several years a clinical service in reading has been maintained in the six main centres. These clinics are concerned with a small number of children who, though not mentally backward, have unusual difficulty in learning to read. Pupils are admitted when psychological examination has shown that a reading problem is too complex to be solved within the school. The main work in reading, however, must be tackled by schools themselves. They are assisted by advisers on reading who have district responsibilities for planning reading programmes and conducting courses for teachers.