Martin
- Author:
Alberta Gutmann and Charlotte Easby-Grave,
Clinic Teacher, University of Pennsylvania
Despite the fact that Martin was referred to me for teaching in arithmetic, before long I realized that he had no real deficiency in that line. If he wanted to, he could do sums and long division with amazing speed. In fact, he rushed through each problem with little regard for accuracy. Nevertheless, it was evident that his inaccuracy was due, not to any lack of ability, but to carelessness, hurry and lack of interest. “Let’s do something else,” he would invariably say after a few problems. It seemed to resolve itself into a question of discipline. If he were forced to work and work correctly in order to do ‘something else,’ he would. Martin was not a prepossessing child; his very thick glasses (without which he can scarcely see at all) did much to mar his appearance. In both height and weight, he was noticeably below the norm for his age; he looked more like a child of nine years than one of twelve. Though he had had few serious illnesses, he had never been robust and strong. He is alert and observant; one glance at his animated little face, always smiling, would immediately give that impression which would be thoroughly substantiated after listening a few moments to his comments on what he had seen.
Candidly, I was puzzled. He was referred to the clinic for “backwardness,” for he has been in a special class for years, yet I had found nothing to indicate retardation. In the Binet tests, he had a basal age of twelve years and an Intelligence Quotient of 100. In the performance tests, he did faitfly well?having an unusually good rate of discharge. His analytic discrimination with the Witmer Formboard, however, was poor. He grasped the idea of the cylinders quickly and solved the problem well.
Martin and I talked together a great deal. The child talks volubly and without discrimination, in a very infantile voice. His knowledge of the sciences?of biology, botany, physics, mechanics, and especially of hygiene?is no less than astounding in a child so young. This knowledge he has gained through his own initiative and observation. When he asks ‘Why?’?and he does this continually?he insists on knowing all that he can possibly find out, and has no qualms about going to limitless trouble to gain this information. In what interests him, he is persistent, but only in what interests him. I began to feel that Martin was undoubtedly a precocious child?a child with normal intelligence and an intellect far above average. Anatomy fascinates him, as does medicine, and each time he came to the clinic for teaching, he would bring a list of medical terms for me to look up for him. His intense interest, or shall I say curiosity (wholesome or unwholesome as it may be), led him once, upon finding a medical book written in Polish, to find a Polish-English dictionary and spend an entire afternoon locked in his room in an attempt to translate it.
Our subjects of conversation were varied. One thing, however, colored them all, and that was something of his mother. She, apparently, is the only person whom he regards with any degree of affection and respect. His father, he thoroughly dislikes and he admits it, and to his sisters he is utterly indifferent. His love for his mother practically amounts to a passion. When his mother dies, he is going to join a gypsy band and never come home again. He would like ever so much to be kidnapped, but his mother would worry, he says. Perhaps that was the clue. A ‘mother-fixation’ like his not only is unusual but unnatural, and a knowledge of his social background was necessary in order to make a diagnosis and recommendation.
Poor boy! how unfortunate that one who at the outset was given a peculiar make-up should have been born into a family that did not understand him nor his needs?but which gratified his every wish, acting on the false assumption that this was kindness to him. Martin’s mother is charming and interested in her boy; she is anxious to do anything to help him. She feels that all of his life she has done everything that mortal could do to make him happy. Before his birth, the family was in financial difficulty and forced to move from a home in the suburbs to the city. Because of the reduced financial condition and the resultant changed environment, she has always felt that Martin has never had a fair chance?that just before his birth, she was extremely worried, and due to that, may have brought into the world a handicapped child. After his birth, conditions were not as pleasant as they had been with her other children. From the very beginning, therefore, everything that he did was approved, and all of his errors and mistakes she condoned. She gives yet another excuse. Even as a baby, any interference with his freedom of action caused a violent outburst of temper?a knocking of his head on the floor with such force that the family would do anything to appease him. In such an environment he has grown. For four years, he has been in a special class and is given fourth year standing, yet he has a precocious mind and from the results of the tests, has been diagnosed as having normal mentality.
Why then must he be in a special class? My thought before I saw him in his classroom and before I spoke to his teacher was precisely that. He goes to the ‘’movies” incessantly and in school does practically nothing but write movie stories. ‘’ Are they good ?’one naturally asks. No one really knows, for no one can read them?they are written so poorly. When one explains to him that he should take more pains with his writing since his stories may be good, and since, when he is a man, he may pursue writing as a profession, he retorts, “0 gee! I could have a typewriter then.” He is never still, and is a constant source of worry to the other children. His teasing is not only mischievous, but malicious. He can never be allowed his recesses because he causes so much trouble, sneaking up and hurting his school mates when they are not looking, but utterly powerless to protect himself if someone turns on him. The child has no companionship, not one real playmate, for he cannot get along with children at all. As things are, Martin has really very little in common with boys and girls of his age, for his thoughts and ideas run along entirely different channels. He was sent to camp in the hope that he would gain some wholesome companionship, but instead, he associated with no one and was miserable the entire time because of his fear of swimming.
The special class is like a jail to him and he is right in the assertion that he should not be in an orthogenic backward class with children some of whom are feebleminded. Our difficulty is in finding a place for him, and as yet I fear there is no such place in the school system. It was felt some years ago that the special class had been a serious drawback?that the teacher was prejudiced against him, and since Martin had come to hate not only the class but also the school, that he should be removed and given a trial elsewhere. Acting upon that decision, he was put into the fourth grade of a private school. The class was composed of thirty-five children with a competent teacher. Here, his actions were abominable. He veritably disrupted the entire organization of the class and after four months, he was told that his influence was so demoralizing that he could not be allowed to continue. This is a most unusual occurrence in a private school. Only a few weeks ago, he was given a trial in a regular fourth grade class and again he would not measure up and this experiment proved a failure.
His reactions to any stimulus can never be predicted, but it is usually safe to predict that whatever the reaction, it will be non-conformed. If he is asked to take a note to the office, instead of walking in a normal fashion, he will try to imitate a butterfly or the like, with no qualms of conscience whatsoever because of the disturbance he is causing. He would like to go into the wilderness this summer and dig a large hole in the ground and live there. He says he would not be lonesome because he would get a lot of books and read every minute. He enjoys reading even more than he enjoys “movies,” but he is unable to secure enough books to read.
The psychologist for the Children’s Aid Society examined Martin, and she says he is a spoiled baby and needs to become more independent. The problem, then, is to find a means to make him more independent?but is that all? The child revels in the goriest stories?he likes to see blood, and delights to see suffering. It is of no avail to try to reason with him and show him he is wrong, for to him unless you have murdered someone, you are still good. That seems to be the criterion as far as he is concerned. A prognosis is difficult until it has been determined definitely whether Martin’s peculiarities may be attributed to lack of discipline or to a disorder?to the fact that he is psychopathic. The most suitable treatment would be to remove him from his home and place him in an altogether different environment, where he would receive firm discipline. The placement would be temporary; he needs only to remain until he showed distinct improvement. Undoubtedly, however, the process would be long and troublesome but well worth the while. If he does become independent, placement in a military school could then be recommended. To send him now to a military school would be an extreme, and in all probability an unwise procedure because he might easily go to pieces if cut off suddenly from his accustomed props. He has been made to feel that a military school is a virtual prison where only bad children are sent, and has made up his mind that should he be sent there, he would run away.
Martin presents an unusual case and one worthy of continued effort. His intelligence and intellect provide something substantial with which to work and if he can only be led to use his abilities in the right direction, society will be fortunate.
Disclaimer
The historical material in this project falls into one of three categories for clearances and permissions:
Material currently under copyright, made available with a Creative Commons license chosen by the publisher.
Material that is in the public domain
Material identified by the Welcome Trust as an Orphan Work, made available with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
While we are in the process of adding metadata to the articles, please check the article at its original source for specific copyrights.