I thought that it would be useful to include some information on the infectious diseases of childhood. We need to start with the diseases that are common to most children - before attempting to comment on the specific diseases of the eleven plus child.
Chicken Pox
We know there is a pimply rash, headache and a fever.
The incubation period is 11 to 23 days.
Chicken Pox is infectious until two days after new spots have stopped appearing.
Mumps
Swollen glands in the neck and pain.
The incubation period is between 12 and 26 days - usually around 18 days.
Mumps is infectious from a few days before to until about one week after the onset of the swollen glands.
Wednesday
Slight headache, grumpy answers, no eye contact.
Duration Wednesdays in term time.
Wednesday is infectious unless a worthwhile family treat is suggested. By worthwhile we don’t mean Disneyland Paris - we are just talking about a takeaway or similar priced treat.
Verbal Reasoning
“Oh do I really have to do those questions. You know full well that I hate them. Anyway Dad can’t even do them.”
The incubation period lasts for a full three minutes.
Verbal reasoning is infectious only if the questions are hard.
Full Paper
Uneasiness, slight discomfort in the abdomen, a need for new glasses and a feeling of general fatigue.
The duration is usually for the four minutes preceding the paper, the fifty minutes of the paper and the dreaded minutes to do with the paper being marked and `gone over’.
A Full Paper is infectious only on a Sunday morning at around 8.30.
Parents have to be able to diagnose and treat all types of illness - be they real or psychosomatic. We all know the words: “A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.”
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