www.psychspace.com心理学空间网 Case 9
Charles N. was brought by his mother on February 2, 1943, at 4½ years of age, with the chief complaint, “The thing that upsets me most is that I can’t reach my baby.” She introduced her report by saying: “I am trying hard not to govern my remarks by professional knowledge which has intruded in my own way of thinking by now.”
As a baby, he was inactive, “slow and phlegmatic.”He would lie in the crib, just staring. He would act almost as if hypnotized .He seemed to concentrate on doing one thing at a time. Hypothyroidism was suspected, and he was given thyroid extrct, without any change of the general condition.
His enjoyment and appreciation of music encouraged me to play records, When he was 1½ years old, he could discriminate between eighteen symphonies. He recognized the composer as soon as the first movement started. He would say “Beethoven.” At about the same age, he began to spin toys and lids of bottles and jars by the hour. He had a lot of manual dexterity in ability to spin cylinders. He would watch it and get severely excited and jump up and down in ecstasy. Now he is interested in reflecting light from mirrors and catching reflections. When he is interested in a thing, you cannot change it. He would pay no attention to me and show no recognition of me if I entered the room..."
The most impressive thing is his detachment and his inaccessibilitiry. He walks as if he is in a shadow, lives in a world of his own where he cannot be reached. No sense of relationship to persons. He went through a period of quoting another person; never offers anything himself. His entire conversation is a replica of whatever has been said to him. He used to speak of himself in the second person; now he uses the third person at times; he would say, “He wants”-never “I want.”
He is destructive; the furniture in his room looks like it has hunks out of it. He will break a purple crayon into two parts and say, “You had a beautiful purple crayon and now it’s two pieces. Look what you did.”
He developed an obsession about feces, would hide it anywhere ( for instance, in drawers), would tease me if I walked into the room: “You soiled your pants, now you can’t have your crayons!”
As a result, he is still not toilet trained. He never soils himself in the nursery school, always does it when he comes home. the same is true of wetting. He proud of wetting, jumps up and down with ecstasy, says, “Look at the big puddle he made”
When he is with other people, he doesn’t look up at them. Last July, we had a group of people. When Charles came in it was just like a foal who’d been let out an enclosure. He did not pay attention to them but their presence was felt. He will mimic a voice and he sings and some people would not notice any abnormality in the child. At school, he never envelops himself in a group, he is detached from the rest of the children, except when he is in the assembly; if there is music, he will go to the front row and sing.
He has a wonderful memory for words. Vocabulary is good, except for pronouns. He never initiates conversation, and conversation is limited, extensive only as far as objects go.
Charles N. was brought by his mother on February 2, 1943, at 4½ years of age, with the chief complaint, “The thing that upsets me most is that I can’t reach my baby.” She introduced her report by saying: “I am trying hard not to govern my remarks by professional knowledge which has intruded in my own way of thinking by now.”
As a baby, he was inactive, “slow and phlegmatic.”He would lie in the crib, just staring. He would act almost as if hypnotized .He seemed to concentrate on doing one thing at a time. Hypothyroidism was suspected, and he was given thyroid extrct, without any change of the general condition.
His enjoyment and appreciation of music encouraged me to play records, When he was 1½ years old, he could discriminate between eighteen symphonies. He recognized the composer as soon as the first movement started. He would say “Beethoven.” At about the same age, he began to spin toys and lids of bottles and jars by the hour. He had a lot of manual dexterity in ability to spin cylinders. He would watch it and get severely excited and jump up and down in ecstasy. Now he is interested in reflecting light from mirrors and catching reflections. When he is interested in a thing, you cannot change it. He would pay no attention to me and show no recognition of me if I entered the room..."
The most impressive thing is his detachment and his inaccessibilitiry. He walks as if he is in a shadow, lives in a world of his own where he cannot be reached. No sense of relationship to persons. He went through a period of quoting another person; never offers anything himself. His entire conversation is a replica of whatever has been said to him. He used to speak of himself in the second person; now he uses the third person at times; he would say, “He wants”-never “I want.”
He is destructive; the furniture in his room looks like it has hunks out of it. He will break a purple crayon into two parts and say, “You had a beautiful purple crayon and now it’s two pieces. Look what you did.”
He developed an obsession about feces, would hide it anywhere ( for instance, in drawers), would tease me if I walked into the room: “You soiled your pants, now you can’t have your crayons!”
As a result, he is still not toilet trained. He never soils himself in the nursery school, always does it when he comes home. the same is true of wetting. He proud of wetting, jumps up and down with ecstasy, says, “Look at the big puddle he made”
When he is with other people, he doesn’t look up at them. Last July, we had a group of people. When Charles came in it was just like a foal who’d been let out an enclosure. He did not pay attention to them but their presence was felt. He will mimic a voice and he sings and some people would not notice any abnormality in the child. At school, he never envelops himself in a group, he is detached from the rest of the children, except when he is in the assembly; if there is music, he will go to the front row and sing.
He has a wonderful memory for words. Vocabulary is good, except for pronouns. He never initiates conversation, and conversation is limited, extensive only as far as objects go.