"GORDON"?A CLINIC PICTURE By Madella
Rigby, Recorder, The Psychological Clinic, University of Pennsylvania
When the examination of Gordon began on January 17, 1929, far more interested in comparing his responses with those of his previous examination in July, 1928, than in observing the I
was
boy is
himself.
none too
This attitude may be explained by the fact that he a youngster either in appearance or in per-
attractive
sonality. Even a first impression of that protruding jaw and those thick shapeless lips is unconsciously repellant. In some mental sub-stratum you realize that you are happier when he is busy answering questions than you would be if he turned his energies to work to impress you. However that may be, I did not feel inclined to give the boy the full encouragement of my undivided attention. The examination was progressing quietly but rapidly, so I felt free to leave the
in the pursuance of other duties. It was not many minutes later that I returned to find Gordon, having risen from his chair, standing with both feet on the floor room
body extended across the table in total disregard of the records and testing materials which were lying there. His
and his case
elbows
were on
the
table,
his chin
was
in his hands and he
was
up into the face of the somewhat perturbed examiner. Even as I walked across the room, I was amazed to see that his
looking
began kicking violently in the several directions possible to feet, and he had wriggled on to the table by means of the wellupholstered abdominal areas of his anatomy. In the abandon of the moment, Gordon was wholly unconscious of anyone's approach. The examiner, in a state of impassive calm, was endeavoring to continue the testing, to which Gordon replied that he was tired and did not want to go on. His tone of voice was slightly whining, and he was wearing a diabolical grin. In spite of the fatigue of which he complained, there was a light in his pale blue eyes that did not bespeak weariness. feet
It was at this moment that two other members of the staff reached the spot. Gordon was taken in hand and placed on his The examiner continued with the questions but Gordon chair. could not be cajoled into compliance. He was threatened with a ruler.
The effect
was
not
particularly
successful.
clared in full voice that he would not try to
answer
Gordon dethe
questions.
266
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC
He wriggled and swung his body from side to side in an effort to free himself from his captors. The examiner, still seated and still
calm, was holding the boy's legs, while three others holding him in his chair,?one for each arm and one for his
head.
The noise
came
was so
in to
great that what
a
fourth member of the staff
were
Fearing that a scandal from the tumult that Gordon was causing, she brought cold water and threw it in his face. This stopped the noise and the struggling at once, and even before the sobbing had completely subsided, the examiner was again pelting the boy with questions.
running might arise
see
was
happening.
An informal interview with Gordon's mother of the violence committed be
accustomed to
quite
met the incident with
She is talks in
by and upon such proceedings.
her
as a
son
consequence
showed her to
The mother
certainly
perfect confidence in the Clinic methods.
extremely high-strung, excitable person herself. She deep masculine voice and her speech is staccato, her movements restless and jumpy. She has the same protruding lower lip that her son has, although in Gordon, the pugilistic contour is an a
marked.
more
During where
shop the was
new
this
respite the perfect rapport
examiner had taken Gordon into the was re-established with the help of
electric music-box that
willing
was
being
tried out.
Now Gordon
to continue with the examination.
At the time of his second examination Gordon
was seven years,
eleven months of age. On the Stanford Revision of the BinetSimon tests Gordon's mental age was eight years, six months. His Basal
Upper Limit was twelve. At vocabulary test (for his score of this test was but 8) and he failed the 3rd degree comprehension. (It is interesting to notice that to the question, "What's the thing to do when a playmate hits you without meaning to do it?" he replied, "Hit him back.") At year IX he failed to give the date, to arrange the weights correctly and to make change. (In this last test, he subtracted on his fingers but even that method did not yield him a correct answer.) At year X, he was able to answer correctly only the test of reading and report, and the test Year
Age
VIII
he
was
seven
failed
and the
the
of 60 words in three minutes.
His memories
giving words was to name occasionally to resort to rhymes. He
method of
were
achieved
room
and
Intelligence Quo10% superior to 50% an
tient of 107 which places him in a group of 40% of boys at the Six Year Level.
and inferior to
nine and his
the contents of the
GORDON?A CLINIC PICTURE the Binet-Simon Scale form with those of the previous summer.
These tests
on
an
267
interesting
com-
parison Chronological Age was 7-4 and he achieved a with a resulting Intelligence Quotient of 110.
At that time his Mental Age of 8-1 His Basal Age was 6 and the Upper Limit 10. At year VII he failed to give the differences and only received half credit for tying the bow-knot. At year VIII he failed to evolve even an inferior plan in the ball and field problem; he failed to give similarities and his vocabulary score was
minus.
At year IX he gave tlie date and
was
able to
give
rhymes satisfactorily. There is no striking
variation in Gordon's scores on the PerHe showed good coformance Tests at the two examinations. the problems. Someof ordination, planfulness and comprehension times he would try to force blocks into wrong holes but he showed a fair amount of analytic discrimination ^in searching for the block to fit into each
particular recess. Memory Span shows slight variation. At the first examination the visual span was 6, auditory 6 and reverse 3. At the second examination the visual was 7, auditory 5, and reverse 4. A physical examination of this case showed mixed signs of thyroid imbalance. He has the hands, eyes, head, walk, and temper tantrums of a high grade Mongolian, and his protruding His
abdomen suggests Cretinism. His tongue was normal but curious in its changes of color and shape. Only one testicle had descended and that
was
very much undersize.
evidence of sexual interest
During
the examination there
excitement. At play Gordon is very destructive. He tears his toys apart, and is quarrelsome with other children. At the age of four he choked two kittens to death. According to his mother, however, he likes animals now and since that cruelty has not been seen to was no
or
He often fights with other children and will even pit strength against people older and stronger than himself. He feels that he can fight anyone and shows little discrimination in choosing an opponent. Yet his mother insists he is affectionate. harm them.
his
At school Gordon is in the 2B Grade and his teacher believes that capable of learning but his conduct interferes with his own progress as well as the progress of every one of his classmates. In he is
fact he declared his ambition to be a prize-fighter like Dempsey (not Tunney), and he said he keeps in practice at school. It is only too easy to believe him a bully and a disciplinary problem.
During
the conference between his mother and Dr.
Witmer,
the
boy
268
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC the show-off.
Even at the age of 7 he shows the physique the temperament and desire admirable in a pugilist. The remarkable factor in this case is the high intellectual level.
played as
well
as
This alert mind and intellectual
capacity combined with moral imof feeblemindedness that is exceedingly danbecility type to From the case as gerous society. reported, it is evident that Gordon's standards of conduct are not those of the law-abiding make
citizen of
according
a
today. to his
The abilities which he possesses will be perfected lights. He has already demonstrated that his
orientation is not that
accepted as desirable in the eyes of our present day social organization. Gordon has good motor control but his idea in regard to its exercise is definitely frowned on by our society. There is no place for a fighting man in our everyday life. It is no longer necessary to beat the wolf from the door by sheer brute force. Social standards have so changed that cunning even in a physical weakling is more successful than are bodily strength and an instinct to fight in an individual of mental and intellectual qualifications. So it is that Gordon must come to be restrained lest he commit
an
act of violence that will seem mere
play point of view. Therefore, in spite high Intelligence Quotient, the diagnosis in this case reads: Feebleminded on the moral scale, Socially non compos mentis, Intellectually competent, Type: non-sexual. child's
of the
to his distorted