The First Clue (Part 2)

The first part of the report, summarized previously, described school history, family background, and behavioral patterns; the remainder of the report, as highlighted below, details findings related to testing.

Test Performance (WISC-R)

• “Keyed-up and nervous throughout testing”
• “Keenly interested in doing well”
• “Worked hard and was very responsive to cues as to how to improve his performance”
• “Eager, but hasty and impulsive”
• “A very active mind which makes many associations with any task assigned…distractible”
• “Began to work more steadily and carefully”
• “Once he had relaxed…[he] showed a great deal of patience and persistence…began to attack performance tasks in a methodical, orderly way”
• “Scores ranged from average to the ‘gifted’ level”
• “Visual-motor organization is…significantly lower than…general intellectual development”
• “Since his motor skills are weak and he is not interested in sports, he has tended to develop his more verbal interests”
• “Verbal reasoning and general information fall at the ‘gifted’ level”
• “Social judgment and comprehension of society’s expectations are superior—at least, he knows the rules and the reasons for them.”
• “He has not mastered…the ability to behave independently and appropriately in concrete situations [though] he can verbalize about them quite well”

Projective Drawings

• “Evidence of insecurity and dependency”
• “[Drawings suggest] angry, frighteningly aggressive feelings but no tendency to act them out and no confidence in his ability to control his environment”

Conclusions

• “Very bright”
• “Abilities governed by the left…lobe of the brain”
• “Socially maladjusted in the sense that he behaves like a much younger child and has no ability to adapt to peer standards or defend himself against scapegoating”
• “Scholastic success is likely to be adversely affected because of the depression that will ensue”
• “Cannot lead a full or happy life without learning the social skills, and the confidences, which he lacks at present”

When I first read this at age 17, it helped answer a lot of questions I had had—but not entirely. I found it fascinating, but its full value would only become apparent 13 years later.