Florence Eleanor Schonell (31 October 1902 – 22 May 1962) was a Colony of Nataln-born

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n educational scientist known for her work with children affected by

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sensa ...

and

dyslexia Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...

. The daughter of Francis William de Bracey Waterman, an English-born furniture dealer, and Maud Rebecca Turner, she was born Florence Eleanor de Bracey Waterman in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

. She moved to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

and trained as a teacher in

Claremont Claremont may refer to: Places Australia *Claremont, Ipswich, a heritage-listed house in Queensland * Claremont, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart * Claremont, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth ** Claremont Football Club, West Australian Footba ...

. From 1923 to 1926, she taught

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

in Subiaco and Jolimont. She received a BA from the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

in 1925. She married

Fred Schonell Sir Fred Joyce Schonell (3 August 190022 February 1969) was an Australian educationist, and vice-chancellor of the University of Queensland from 1960 to 1969. Career Schonell graduated from the University of Western Australia in 1925, at the sam ...

in Perth the following year; the couple had two children. She travelled to England with her husband in 1928. She received a BA in 1938 and an MA in 1940 from

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. With her husband, Schonell developed standardized testing methods for measuring academic achievement in children; these were published in ''Diagnostic and Attainment Testing'' in 1950. In the same year, she received a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

from the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

. With Professor J. M. Smellie, she developed procedures for measuring intellectual and academic characteristics of children with cerebral palsy. Schonell also helped establish the Carlson House School for Spastics in 1948 and worked as a part-time educational psychologist there. She returned to Australia, where she worked with the Queensland Spastic Children's Welfare League, serving on its medical and educational house committee from 1951 to 1961. In 1956, Schonell published ''Educating Spastic Children''. She died in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

at the age of 59 from a cerebral glioma. The Eleanor Schonell Bridge was named in her honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schonell, Florence Eleanor 1902 births 1962 deaths Australian educators University of Western Australia alumni Alumni of the University of Birmingham 20th-century Australian women South African emigrants to Australia