Alice J. Rockwell, Ph.D.
Psychologist, Baltimore Mental Hygiene Clinic
Charles, aged 12 years, was referred to the Mental Hygiene
Clinic for commitment to the State Training School for the feebleminded. He came to us in February, 1929, from the 7B class in
Junior High School. His previous school record was somewhat unusual in that he had been placed in special class from 4th grade,
and after one year there had been sent to Junior High School. His
marks in the 7th grade were very poor (which is not surprising)
ranging from 42 to 65, and the school reported that Charles was
considered definitely subnormal, a fit subject for institutionalization. He was described as the worst nuisance in school, the most
disturbing element in the classroom. It seemed impossible for him
to sit still more than a few minutes at a time; he moved restlessly
about the schoolroom. He did not concentrate on any of his work,
was constantly in mischief with other children, annoying them in
many ways, and exhibiting “silly behavior.” The mother was
called to the school almost every other day because of complaints
about Charles.
The history, taken from the mother, who was most frank and
cooperative, gives a good picture of the family setting. The family
stock is Polish on both sides, but both parents were born in Baltimore. The mother still lives in the house where she was born, which
suggests some degree of stability and family solidarity. The paternal grandfather died at the age of 70 years. He was a heavy
drinker, but a good provider, who maintained close family ties,
visiting Charles’s family daily. The paternal grandmother is still
living and has eight living children. In this group, five are living
normal, stable lives, one brother is insane, and another has not
worked for many years. This brother had spinal meningitis about
two years ago?is very cross and unpleasant. He lives at home
with his mother.
The father who is 35, had only a 4th grade education. He has
had, however, an excellent work record. He has always been a man
of quick and extreme temper, at one moment beating his wife and
the next imploring forgiveness on his knees. His anger is of the
impulsive type and his temper appears on very slight provocation.
His sexual demands have been rather excessive, but the mother is
devoted to him and this has never been a source of conflict between
them. The father has never had much affection for Charles, and
has always been particularly annoyed by the boy’s restlessness,
erratic movements, and behavior. The mother has as result tried to
protect Charles from his impatience. About two years ago the
father developed tuberculosis and was sent to a sanitarium, where
he still was at the time of the clinic’s first contact with the family.
On the maternal side, the grandfather is living, a man of good
habits and especially popular in the Polish community where he
lives. The mother is devoted to him. After his wife’s death he
remarried a young woman of 36, a situation which has caused some
criticism among his children. There are five living maternal siblings
and four step-siblings. Two maternal aunts are somewhat neurotic
and in poor health, but all are making a family normal social adjustment.
The mother, who is 32 years old, completed the 5th grade of a
Polish Catholic School and was sent to a convent school to learn
sewing. Her father was well-to-do during her girlhood. She had
a normal and happy home life and did not work before her marriage.
When she was 17 she married, and has retained her devotion to her
husband in spite of his treatment of her. She took on a good deal
of superfluous weight but was in good health until about four
years ago when she had an appendectomy. This was followed by
“acute indigestion,” and during that general period of illness her
weight dropped from 260 to 160 pounds. Throughout the period
of her contact with the clinic her health has been poor. The mother
describes herself as a very cheerful person who in spite of her share
of misfortune is known as “Smiling Kate.” Since her husband
has been in the sanitarium she has kept a small confectionery store
in the front of her house, where she admits she sells a little liquor.
There were six pregnancies, but only Charles and one brother
are living. The brother, two years younger, has never been a very
serious conduct problem in the mother’s opinion; his worst offense
has been taking money from the mother’s purse. At ten years he
is in the high 4th grade and does fairly well. There was some
friction between Charles and his brother at the time the boy first
came to the clinic.
From the family history it is apparent that there are in the
social background certain factors which might readily be interpreted
as etiological with reference to the boy’s difficulties. There has
been the obvious lack of temper control in his father, his rejection
of Charles, the mother’s protective attitude, and more recently the
economic stress occasioned by the father’s illness and removal from
the home, and the mother’s effort to keep the home going which has
involved illicit liquor selling. Two paternal siblings show definite
mental symptoms.
It is, however, the health history of the patient which is most
significant in understanding this case. He was born at term, normal delivery. The mother could not nurse him because of a breast
infection and he was a serious feeding problem in infancy. He was
sickly and frail and had a great deal of vomiting and summer complaint. He began to walk and talk at about one year. At two
years he had pneumonia and was very sick with a high fever. He
had measles and chicken pox (light case). At four years he fell out
of a window two and a half floors above the street. The doctor who
examined him at the time reported no injuries.
At seven years he became very ill and ran a high fever for
about one week. He was delirious during the period and was very
erratic and peculiar in his behavior for about six months. During
his delirious periods he seemed to be actively hallucinated and was
very restless and fidgety. He would run to the window and try to
jump out and had to be carefully watched. Circumcision was advised at this time because the boy was masturbating excessively.
The circumcision and removal of tonsils and adenoids as well were
done at a hospital. After his return from the hospital the boy’s
actions were more erratic than ever. The mother could not sleep
for weeks because she feared the boy would do himself some harm.
At night he was extremely restless and could not sleep, but walked
around the room and cried out. The circumcision wound did not
heal properly and became infected.
After about six months he made a gradual recovery from this
acute condition, and behaved in a fairly normal manner until he
was about ten years old. At that time he began acting queerly again.
The mother took him to a doctor who gave him one bottle of “medicine”?the mother does not know what?which cured him. At the
time he was referred to the clinic he was again becoming extremely
restless, and the school felt justified in assuming that he was defective. At that time the boy was sleeping all night, but talking at
times in his sleep. His appetite was excellent. He had no particular fears except that he refused to go to sleep without a light.
Nocturnal enuresis had been present all his life. He had never
shown temper-tantrums or cruelty, but was irritable and pugnacious in his contacts with other boys. Masturbation had been present since the illness at seven years, but its occurrence was less frequent than at an earlier period.
When seen at the clinic Charles was a fairly well nourished
and developed boy with rather poor posture. He was pale and had
a dull expression, with dark circles under his eyes. lie was a
mouth breather although there was no actual nasal obstruction. He
showed a moderate diminution of hearing on the right side; both
drums were dull and somewhat retracted. Teeth were in bad condition. He had been very badly circumcised so that there was
absolutely no prepuce tissue remaining, and he complained of irritation from his clothing. Secondary sex characteristics were not
established. On the neurological examination pupils reacted well,
movements were normal except that the eyes converged when patient made an effort to grimace when the facial nerve was being
tested. Tongue movements were normal; there was a questionable
right facial weakness. Superficial abdominals were definitely unequal, more active on the right side. Deep reflexes were active and
equal. There was little on the physical side to substantiate a postencephalitic diagnosis but in view of the history it was felt reasonably certain that the boy had had encephalitis, and that this was the
primary etiological factor with reference to his difficulties.
The psychological examination of this boy offered much that
was encouraging in presenting possibilities of constructive educational treatment. He was cooperative, alert, and interested, giving
excellent attention and working rapidly. On the Stanford-Binet
his I.Q. was 95. This test was interesting in that there was a wide
scatter, with two basal years, seven and ten, and an upper limit at
sixteen years. His vocabulary was poor; he showed a disability in
reversing digits, but special ability in visualization and non-language
reasoning tests. A full battery of performance tests was given. He
worked very quickly?often attempting to begin a test before the
examiner had arranged the materials. He was keenly interested
and showed excellent manual trainability. On first trials his median
age score was above fourteen years. On Healy Pictorial Completion II he also scored fourteen years. In summarizing the tests,
it is obvious that Charles is not seriously retarded intellectually
but is of non-verbal type, with intelligence above average in dealing
with concrete materials, and superior manual speed, dexterity and
trainability. Taken in conjunction with his unusual school history,
the test findings indicate that Charles should make his best educational adjustment in a school of the vocational type.
The psychiatrist noted in his first interview that the boy had
the appearance of being very dull; his mouth breathing plus a lack
of spontaneity in facial expression changes were both factors in
creating this impression. His speech was rather “thick” and he
used very bad grammar. He took his first interview very seriously.
He was quite aware that he was being examined with reference to
institutionalization, but did not appear to be badly depressed at
the prospect. He told freely of his “nervousness” which he said
was worst at night. He felt restless and “like fighting.” He mentioned his fall, many years ago, and his “operations” as possible
causes. The nervousness was worse a year ago. “I got it bad, at
night I’d get frightened and sometimes run down stairs. I’d think
something was going to fall on me or hurt me or something.’’ About
school he said that he was nervous, ‘’ I think I cannot do the work,
and get scared and all. The work is hard, I like woodwork the best.
Other boys in school fight and get me scared, my little brother especially, and another boy. They say I’m scared. I get mad and
hit them with something and they holler.” He said that other boys
blamed things on him. “When the teachers see some ‘Dirty stuff’
they always blame it on me.” Charles seemed loath to say anything
against either parent. “I get my father mad because I can’t sit
still at the table. He hits me sometimes with his hand. He has T.B.
and is away now.’’ No indication of favoritism on the part of either
parent could be elicited from him. During the physical examination
Charles had freely admitted that he masturbated several times a
day; no emission. He did not remember when he started, and
denied any mutual practises with other children. He appeared to
have a very incomplete idea of differences between the sexes. The
psychiatrist’s impression was that Charles presented an interesting
rather mixed picture. His conversation was suggestive of mental
status below average, but not of feeblemindedness. The medical
history and the restlessness and the preoccupation with fighting indicated rather clearly that the boy was suffering from the effects of
encephalitis.
At the staff conference it was decided to interpret Charles’s
condition to the parents and the school and to attempt a case-work
job on the boy in the hope of improving his adjustment. After discussing the boy’s situation with the mother it was decided to leave
him at home for tho time being and to work with her toward a
better understanding of his needs.
The case was interpreted to the school with a recommendation
that Charles be transferred to the pre-vocational school. Although
he was somewhat under the age limit for pre-vocational school, the
clinic social worker was able to arrange this transfer, and the
change was made in April, 1929. The boy made an excellent adjustment there and derived great satisfaction from his progress. One
of the teachers became especially interested and frequently took
Charles to and from school in his automobile.
An attempt was made to find a summer camp for Charles
in 1929, but this could not be managed because of the expense involved. His younger brother was sent by the Tuberculosis League
to a preventorium, but Charles was just over the age limit. He
remained at home for the summer and did not develop any serious
difficulties although the presence of two aunts in the home set up
a divided discipline which was very difficult for him. The mother
tried very hard to follow the worker’s suggestions in dealing with
the boy.
He returned to vocational school in the Fall of 1929. A psychiatric interview dated September, 1929, shows a marked diminution
in Charles’s reported nervousness. His only difficulty then was a
hand tremor at times when he draws. He was selling papers one
hour in the evenings. He said that he no longer masturbated and
slept well. His ambition at that time was to become a draftsman.
The same month the father returned to the home. Our worker
at once had a long interview with him and the mother. The father
gave the impression of being very cross and petulant, and said several times that he had to look out for himself. He showed little interest in the boy’s situation. His desire at this time was to break
up their home and move to a warmer climate, an idea which caused
the mother real unhappiness. The mother and father both seemed
desirous of placing Charles with his paternal grandmother, a plan
which the boy refused to accept. Altogether the home situation
was far from satisfactory but it was felt that possibly the best plan
was to do what we could with conditions as they existed, and provide
outlets and satisfactions outside the home. The plan of moving
away from the city did not materialize; instead the father started
a second small confectionery store.
The boy expressed a desire for an art course at the Maryland
Institute which was arranged for him by our worker. A month later
he was seen again by the psychiatrist and from all reports was doing very well. His only nervous symptom continued to be the hand
tremor, which was localized in the left hand in the second and ring
fingers. He was at home very little, at school all day and selling
newspapers in the evening. He and his brother sold newspapers
together and both liked it very much. He had already saved three
dollars in a bank of his own. He had finished his electrical course
at the pre-vocational school, and was looking forward to woodwork
which he likes very much. His enthusiasm for vocational school
was unabated.
He spontaneously reported at a later interview a change in his
relationship with his younger brother, a change which has come
about gradually. Formerly they quarreled, but now they “kid”
each other. His brother has some fear of the lark just as Charles
used to, and he “kids” the younger boy about this. They are both
interested in selling papers and do this together.
The winter of 1929-30 produced no difficulties on the part of
the patient. His work at the vocational school was satisfactory;
he attended Saturday classes in illustration at the Maryland Institute. His mark in art for the season was B plus, interpreted by
the teacher as quite satisfactory but not highly superior work.
During the summer of 1930 Charles reported for a follow-up
interview with the psychiatrist. He has improved in appearance,
although he is still a mouth breather. He looked well and was very
neatly dressed. He reported that he not only passed at vocational
school but is one of the accelerated group. He was unable to get
a job this summer, and was spending most of his time helping a
paternal aunt, whose husband is a policeman, in her confectionery
store. He was playing baseball and was much interested in professional baseball. He did complain considerably about the boys
in the neighborhood, saying that they were a rough crowd without
organized play spirit. At this time the clinic was also able to
secure medical examination for the boy’s mother, who throughout
our contact with Charles has done her best to cooperate in spite of
her domestic handicaps.
It is the hope of the clinic staff that through the utilization
of this boy’s special abilities in educational and vocational adjustment and through work with the mother, many of his difficulties may
be permanently overcome. Certainly the present picture of Charles
is a far cry from the candidate for Rosewood Training School who
appeared first at the clinic less than two years ago.
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.
See https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/about/scanning/
Social Psychiatric Treatment of a Post-Encephalitic Boy of Twelve Years
Alice J. Rockwell, Ph.D.
Psychologist, Baltimore Mental Hygiene Clinic Charles, aged 12 years, was referred to the Mental Hygiene Clinic for commitment to the State Training School for the feebleminded. He came to us in February, 1929, from the 7B class in Junior High School. His previous school record was somewhat unusual in that he had been placed in special class from 4th grade, and after one year there had been sent to Junior High School. His marks in the 7th grade were very poor (which is not surprising) ranging from 42 to 65, and the school reported that Charles was considered definitely subnormal, a fit subject for institutionalization. He was described as the worst nuisance in school, the most disturbing element in the classroom. It seemed impossible for him to sit still more than a few minutes at a time; he moved restlessly about the schoolroom. He did not concentrate on any of his work, was constantly in mischief with other children, annoying them in many ways, and exhibiting “silly behavior.” The mother was called to the school almost every other day because of complaints about Charles.
The history, taken from the mother, who was most frank and cooperative, gives a good picture of the family setting. The family stock is Polish on both sides, but both parents were born in Baltimore. The mother still lives in the house where she was born, which suggests some degree of stability and family solidarity. The paternal grandfather died at the age of 70 years. He was a heavy drinker, but a good provider, who maintained close family ties, visiting Charles’s family daily. The paternal grandmother is still living and has eight living children. In this group, five are living normal, stable lives, one brother is insane, and another has not worked for many years. This brother had spinal meningitis about two years ago?is very cross and unpleasant. He lives at home with his mother.
The father who is 35, had only a 4th grade education. He has had, however, an excellent work record. He has always been a man of quick and extreme temper, at one moment beating his wife and the next imploring forgiveness on his knees. His anger is of the impulsive type and his temper appears on very slight provocation. His sexual demands have been rather excessive, but the mother is devoted to him and this has never been a source of conflict between them. The father has never had much affection for Charles, and has always been particularly annoyed by the boy’s restlessness, erratic movements, and behavior. The mother has as result tried to protect Charles from his impatience. About two years ago the father developed tuberculosis and was sent to a sanitarium, where he still was at the time of the clinic’s first contact with the family. On the maternal side, the grandfather is living, a man of good habits and especially popular in the Polish community where he lives. The mother is devoted to him. After his wife’s death he remarried a young woman of 36, a situation which has caused some criticism among his children. There are five living maternal siblings and four step-siblings. Two maternal aunts are somewhat neurotic and in poor health, but all are making a family normal social adjustment. The mother, who is 32 years old, completed the 5th grade of a Polish Catholic School and was sent to a convent school to learn sewing. Her father was well-to-do during her girlhood. She had a normal and happy home life and did not work before her marriage. When she was 17 she married, and has retained her devotion to her husband in spite of his treatment of her. She took on a good deal of superfluous weight but was in good health until about four years ago when she had an appendectomy. This was followed by “acute indigestion,” and during that general period of illness her weight dropped from 260 to 160 pounds. Throughout the period of her contact with the clinic her health has been poor. The mother describes herself as a very cheerful person who in spite of her share of misfortune is known as “Smiling Kate.” Since her husband has been in the sanitarium she has kept a small confectionery store in the front of her house, where she admits she sells a little liquor. There were six pregnancies, but only Charles and one brother are living. The brother, two years younger, has never been a very serious conduct problem in the mother’s opinion; his worst offense has been taking money from the mother’s purse. At ten years he is in the high 4th grade and does fairly well. There was some friction between Charles and his brother at the time the boy first came to the clinic.
From the family history it is apparent that there are in the social background certain factors which might readily be interpreted as etiological with reference to the boy’s difficulties. There has been the obvious lack of temper control in his father, his rejection of Charles, the mother’s protective attitude, and more recently the economic stress occasioned by the father’s illness and removal from the home, and the mother’s effort to keep the home going which has involved illicit liquor selling. Two paternal siblings show definite mental symptoms.
It is, however, the health history of the patient which is most significant in understanding this case. He was born at term, normal delivery. The mother could not nurse him because of a breast infection and he was a serious feeding problem in infancy. He was sickly and frail and had a great deal of vomiting and summer complaint. He began to walk and talk at about one year. At two years he had pneumonia and was very sick with a high fever. He had measles and chicken pox (light case). At four years he fell out of a window two and a half floors above the street. The doctor who examined him at the time reported no injuries.
At seven years he became very ill and ran a high fever for about one week. He was delirious during the period and was very erratic and peculiar in his behavior for about six months. During his delirious periods he seemed to be actively hallucinated and was very restless and fidgety. He would run to the window and try to jump out and had to be carefully watched. Circumcision was advised at this time because the boy was masturbating excessively. The circumcision and removal of tonsils and adenoids as well were done at a hospital. After his return from the hospital the boy’s actions were more erratic than ever. The mother could not sleep for weeks because she feared the boy would do himself some harm. At night he was extremely restless and could not sleep, but walked around the room and cried out. The circumcision wound did not heal properly and became infected.
After about six months he made a gradual recovery from this acute condition, and behaved in a fairly normal manner until he was about ten years old. At that time he began acting queerly again. The mother took him to a doctor who gave him one bottle of “medicine”?the mother does not know what?which cured him. At the time he was referred to the clinic he was again becoming extremely restless, and the school felt justified in assuming that he was defective. At that time the boy was sleeping all night, but talking at times in his sleep. His appetite was excellent. He had no particular fears except that he refused to go to sleep without a light. Nocturnal enuresis had been present all his life. He had never shown temper-tantrums or cruelty, but was irritable and pugnacious in his contacts with other boys. Masturbation had been present since the illness at seven years, but its occurrence was less frequent than at an earlier period. When seen at the clinic Charles was a fairly well nourished and developed boy with rather poor posture. He was pale and had a dull expression, with dark circles under his eyes. lie was a mouth breather although there was no actual nasal obstruction. He showed a moderate diminution of hearing on the right side; both drums were dull and somewhat retracted. Teeth were in bad condition. He had been very badly circumcised so that there was absolutely no prepuce tissue remaining, and he complained of irritation from his clothing. Secondary sex characteristics were not established. On the neurological examination pupils reacted well, movements were normal except that the eyes converged when patient made an effort to grimace when the facial nerve was being tested. Tongue movements were normal; there was a questionable right facial weakness. Superficial abdominals were definitely unequal, more active on the right side. Deep reflexes were active and equal. There was little on the physical side to substantiate a postencephalitic diagnosis but in view of the history it was felt reasonably certain that the boy had had encephalitis, and that this was the primary etiological factor with reference to his difficulties.
The psychological examination of this boy offered much that was encouraging in presenting possibilities of constructive educational treatment. He was cooperative, alert, and interested, giving excellent attention and working rapidly. On the Stanford-Binet his I.Q. was 95. This test was interesting in that there was a wide scatter, with two basal years, seven and ten, and an upper limit at sixteen years. His vocabulary was poor; he showed a disability in reversing digits, but special ability in visualization and non-language reasoning tests. A full battery of performance tests was given. He worked very quickly?often attempting to begin a test before the examiner had arranged the materials. He was keenly interested and showed excellent manual trainability. On first trials his median age score was above fourteen years. On Healy Pictorial Completion II he also scored fourteen years. In summarizing the tests, it is obvious that Charles is not seriously retarded intellectually but is of non-verbal type, with intelligence above average in dealing with concrete materials, and superior manual speed, dexterity and trainability. Taken in conjunction with his unusual school history, the test findings indicate that Charles should make his best educational adjustment in a school of the vocational type. The psychiatrist noted in his first interview that the boy had the appearance of being very dull; his mouth breathing plus a lack of spontaneity in facial expression changes were both factors in creating this impression. His speech was rather “thick” and he used very bad grammar. He took his first interview very seriously. He was quite aware that he was being examined with reference to institutionalization, but did not appear to be badly depressed at the prospect. He told freely of his “nervousness” which he said was worst at night. He felt restless and “like fighting.” He mentioned his fall, many years ago, and his “operations” as possible causes. The nervousness was worse a year ago. “I got it bad, at night I’d get frightened and sometimes run down stairs. I’d think something was going to fall on me or hurt me or something.’’ About school he said that he was nervous, ‘’ I think I cannot do the work, and get scared and all. The work is hard, I like woodwork the best. Other boys in school fight and get me scared, my little brother especially, and another boy. They say I’m scared. I get mad and hit them with something and they holler.” He said that other boys blamed things on him. “When the teachers see some ‘Dirty stuff’ they always blame it on me.” Charles seemed loath to say anything against either parent. “I get my father mad because I can’t sit still at the table. He hits me sometimes with his hand. He has T.B. and is away now.’’ No indication of favoritism on the part of either parent could be elicited from him. During the physical examination Charles had freely admitted that he masturbated several times a day; no emission. He did not remember when he started, and denied any mutual practises with other children. He appeared to have a very incomplete idea of differences between the sexes. The psychiatrist’s impression was that Charles presented an interesting rather mixed picture. His conversation was suggestive of mental status below average, but not of feeblemindedness. The medical history and the restlessness and the preoccupation with fighting indicated rather clearly that the boy was suffering from the effects of encephalitis.
At the staff conference it was decided to interpret Charles’s condition to the parents and the school and to attempt a case-work job on the boy in the hope of improving his adjustment. After discussing the boy’s situation with the mother it was decided to leave him at home for tho time being and to work with her toward a better understanding of his needs.
The case was interpreted to the school with a recommendation that Charles be transferred to the pre-vocational school. Although he was somewhat under the age limit for pre-vocational school, the clinic social worker was able to arrange this transfer, and the change was made in April, 1929. The boy made an excellent adjustment there and derived great satisfaction from his progress. One of the teachers became especially interested and frequently took Charles to and from school in his automobile.
An attempt was made to find a summer camp for Charles in 1929, but this could not be managed because of the expense involved. His younger brother was sent by the Tuberculosis League to a preventorium, but Charles was just over the age limit. He remained at home for the summer and did not develop any serious difficulties although the presence of two aunts in the home set up a divided discipline which was very difficult for him. The mother tried very hard to follow the worker’s suggestions in dealing with the boy.
He returned to vocational school in the Fall of 1929. A psychiatric interview dated September, 1929, shows a marked diminution in Charles’s reported nervousness. His only difficulty then was a hand tremor at times when he draws. He was selling papers one hour in the evenings. He said that he no longer masturbated and slept well. His ambition at that time was to become a draftsman. The same month the father returned to the home. Our worker at once had a long interview with him and the mother. The father gave the impression of being very cross and petulant, and said several times that he had to look out for himself. He showed little interest in the boy’s situation. His desire at this time was to break up their home and move to a warmer climate, an idea which caused the mother real unhappiness. The mother and father both seemed desirous of placing Charles with his paternal grandmother, a plan which the boy refused to accept. Altogether the home situation was far from satisfactory but it was felt that possibly the best plan was to do what we could with conditions as they existed, and provide outlets and satisfactions outside the home. The plan of moving away from the city did not materialize; instead the father started a second small confectionery store.
The boy expressed a desire for an art course at the Maryland Institute which was arranged for him by our worker. A month later he was seen again by the psychiatrist and from all reports was doing very well. His only nervous symptom continued to be the hand tremor, which was localized in the left hand in the second and ring fingers. He was at home very little, at school all day and selling newspapers in the evening. He and his brother sold newspapers together and both liked it very much. He had already saved three dollars in a bank of his own. He had finished his electrical course at the pre-vocational school, and was looking forward to woodwork which he likes very much. His enthusiasm for vocational school was unabated.
He spontaneously reported at a later interview a change in his relationship with his younger brother, a change which has come about gradually. Formerly they quarreled, but now they “kid” each other. His brother has some fear of the lark just as Charles used to, and he “kids” the younger boy about this. They are both interested in selling papers and do this together. The winter of 1929-30 produced no difficulties on the part of the patient. His work at the vocational school was satisfactory; he attended Saturday classes in illustration at the Maryland Institute. His mark in art for the season was B plus, interpreted by the teacher as quite satisfactory but not highly superior work. During the summer of 1930 Charles reported for a follow-up interview with the psychiatrist. He has improved in appearance, although he is still a mouth breather. He looked well and was very neatly dressed. He reported that he not only passed at vocational school but is one of the accelerated group. He was unable to get a job this summer, and was spending most of his time helping a paternal aunt, whose husband is a policeman, in her confectionery store. He was playing baseball and was much interested in professional baseball. He did complain considerably about the boys in the neighborhood, saying that they were a rough crowd without organized play spirit. At this time the clinic was also able to secure medical examination for the boy’s mother, who throughout our contact with Charles has done her best to cooperate in spite of her domestic handicaps.
It is the hope of the clinic staff that through the utilization of this boy’s special abilities in educational and vocational adjustment and through work with the mother, many of his difficulties may be permanently overcome. Certainly the present picture of Charles is a far cry from the candidate for Rosewood Training School who appeared first at the clinic less than two years ago.
Disclaimer
The historical material in this project falls into one of three categories for clearances and permissions:
While we are in the process of adding metadata to the articles, please check the article at its original source for specific copyrights.
See https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/about/scanning/