Devon is a calm, cooperative child who gave his best efforts to all of the test activities. It was noted that he spelled his name, Devin, substituting i for o. No reversals in the letters were observed.

He used to play at transforming. The only game he ever wanted to pretend with the other boys and girls was of turning into something else.

Devon’s first grade teacher indicated that, as a result of a positive reinforcement program, Devon has shown improvement in getting his work completed. She suggested that the next goal should be to take away the “rocket” and see if Devon can maintain his good work habits. Paying attention and following through right away when directions are given is a much needed next area of focus, she felt.

He and one other would hide behind bushes together on the farthest corner of the playground and writhe around, pretending to reform slowly into snakes or horses or wolves or bugs. He would try to feel the internal as well as the external shifting; He would desperately strive for a tail and a set of instincts, the spirit of the animal.

Health and Developmental History

Of the childhood illnesses, Devon has had only chicken pox at age four. Devon’s mother mentioned that he enjoys a good variety of foods. He does not often try new things nor like many uncooked vegetables. Devon has always been somewhat afraid of trying new things, his mother has observed. He has shown no evidence of nervousness or timidity, however.

No knowing where the game came from. The device varied— a special technological pod, an ingested drug, magic.

His drawing of the person was the smallest and least detailed of all drawings perhaps indicating some sense of personal insecurity. The most elaborated and largest drawing was of the house which he identified as his home. As he drew he talked about his family and home in a manner suggesting that it was a very important source of nurture for him. The right side of the drawing had more spatial distortions which may reflect some differences in visual spatial information processing.

The first girl was the eagle-girl. They made a nest on the far-off schoolyard hillside and cared for the eaglets, dropping warm meat down their eager gullets. He wished he could stay.

Test Behavior and Observations

Devon did his best on all of the screening activities. In this quiet one to one setting, there was only one instance observed of distractibility, and this was due to inner rather than to outer stimuli.

Emotional and Motivational Factors

Devon said “I like just about everything in school…the learning…I like recess lunch, math, handwriting, language papers. (Anything you don’t like?) Like what you were talking about in here…not following instructions. Sometimes it’s because I don’t hear them. (Do other children have trouble hearing them, do you think?) I been thinking about that…I been trying to decide if they hear the instructions…do they follow the instructions better than me or not? I’ve been trying to decide. I’d say I’m getting a little bit better. (Is it that you get sidetracked?) That’s what my mother thinks. Some things I don’t know about in this world and that’s one of them!”

He never understood the playground rules, not the adult rules, but the rules of the other children. He was supposed to say things, he was supposed to do things, he said and did the wrong things, and they laughed and said and did things that hurt. He felt hot and sad and foolish and there were tears sometimes.

Devon’s greatest strengths are his verbal comprehension skills which are exceptional. Although not directly tested, he appears to reason at a very high conceptual level (cognitive complexity). For example, when explaining why games need rules he indicated that rules determine the shape of the game. As he explained what he meant, it appears as though he was using formal operational reasoning which compares all possible combination of data and then selects the most appropriate one for the specific occasion. If he often reasons at this level, it would be very difficult for him when his classmates use primarily concrete reasoning patterns. Research indicates that it is very frustrating for students when they are asked to operate in a learning environment that is not matched to their conceptual level.

In stories he always knew what to do. There were stories in his head, and stories in books too. There were even stories in pictures, and in toys, in rooms, in rocks. There were stories everywhere. The black stained the white, the symbols made pictures and people and worlds. The black splotches on the white paper. The first thoughts, the first desires, the first characters.

Devon came to the testing session with his mother who told the evaluator that Devon’s Grandfather had died a few days earlier but that they wanted to proceed with the testing because they were anxious to have the results before Dr. Simmons’ monthly visit. She felt that there would be little effect on Devon’s test results. Devon was well-groomed, cooperative, and polite. He was rather serious in his demeanor and appeared very motivated to do his best. He was careful and deliberate in his responses. On some of the subtests he would spontaneously explain how he came to arrive at his answer.

The first lesson: the world can be better. It hurts when you scrape your knee, bloodred and hot and gritty from the asphalt. But there is a place, through the black splotches, beyond them, where the story goes different, the other children love you, and girls give you kisses.

Devon’s verbal abilities are clearly far above his chronological age and are far more advanced than his present ability to process in a visual motor task. Effort is required for the latter. It is not surprising that Devon has a strong tendency to respond to inner stimuli rather than outer; i.e., to become carried away by his own thinking rather that by the more difficult (for him) and boring tasks involving visual motor integration and sequencing.

Animals can do things that people can’t, transformation feels funny deep down. Animals can piss anywhere and can do secret things that only adults know about, but animals know. So he wanted to transform, to change, to feel forces outside himself controlling his body. He wanted instincts, because it seemed like everyone else had them. All the other little animals knew what to do, knew the law of the jungle gym.

Since his ADD is now regulated with Ritalin it is not clear what role it originally played in masking his intellectual ability. Now that it is clear that Devon is a very gifted child, it is the task of his parents, educators, and mental health professionals to see that an educational program be structured that allows him to function to the best of his ability. This includes giving him adequate challenge in the areas of his strengths and not putting artificial barriers to that functioning by asking him to focus primarily on his weaker areas. It is also important that Devon be made to feel comfortable with his unique set of skills and appreciated for who he is. It is always a challenge for children that are different from the norm to feel accepted both by peers and adults. That is true even for gifted children. In Devon’s case that has been accentuated by the lack of understanding of his intellectual strengths in the first several years of school and by the complications of ADD.

The law was for all, it was inside and it twisted his stomach. He crawled away from it into the paper, into the hiding places, the slimy cardboard box cupboard sewer. Alone and turning away, afraid of the fruit, he dumped it from his lunchpail into the big smelly trashcan, fearful some would see.