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Dr. Clyde M. Narramore, iduate of Columbia Uni versity, New York City, is rchologist and Consultant in Research and Guidance h one of the largest school systems in America.
and that is to study him. I think your son needs a complete case study —several good psychological tests, as well as a work-up of the physical findings and other factors involved. This service will not be very expen sive and no doubt it will help guide you in understanding and providing for your son. Many people, through no fault of their own, have children who are intellectually retarded. However, such children can live happy, useful lives and be fine Christian citizens. After working with thousands of children who have special problems, I believe that one of the greatest diffi culties is helping parents to realistic ally face the facts and then set up a good program to help their chil dren. Many parents would rather do almost anything than to face the facts. Only recently I worked with a family who has an intelligent child who is brain-damaged. For nearly five years the mother and father have fought the case. They have placed the blame on everyone except them selves and the child. Very little can be done to help such a child make a fine adjustment to life, until the parents are; willing to accept the re sults of scientific tests. One would doubt that your child has any serious mental retardation. Fourth grade children who achieve some fourth grade work are seldom mentally retarded. Since your son does enter into athletics and swims well, there is further reason to be lieve that he is not retarded. If a person has a slight brain dam age, it can usually be diagnosed by an electroencephalogram and by a psychological case study. In such cases medication commonly produces splendid results. I am not inferring, of course, that your son has a brain injury, but I do suspect that your boy needs professional help. Readers are invited to submit questions which will be answered in future issues. Address questions to Dr. Clyde M. Narramore, King's Business, 558 South Hope Street, Los Angeles 17, California. — ED. 29
Bewildered Q, We are a family of five—two boys and one girl. One of our sons—age 10 had a severe case of rheumatic fever some years ago and we thought he was recovering slowly and that in time he would be normal again. He is in school all the time but he is very retarded and we are afraid that he will never be able to continue with his regular class and that he will fall further and further behind. He is especially poor in reading, able to do only third grade work. At present he is doing some fourth grade work and I must admit some of it he does very well. But he seems to be failing because he is unable to really com prehend what he reads. He is somewhat discouraged but still he enjoys school and seldom misses a day. He is no problem as far as discipline is concerned and he at tends church and Sunday school regu larly. We are afraid that as he goes on in school he will become so discour aged that he will want to drop out and then we will really have a prob lem. We are bewildered. Is this caused from his attack of rheumatic fever? Is our son mentally retarded? What can we do? He is very active; plays on a ball team, enjoys sports and is an excel lent swimmer. He is extremely nervous and is in perfect agony when he is forced to sit still at church. He is always say ing, “ I am so tired.” We trust that we have not bored you with our troubles but we do need help. We are sure that in some way God will undertake because we have prayed much about our boy. A. Undoubtedly your son needs the services of a psychologist or psychi atrist. I would suggest a school psy chologist but in the event one is not available in your schools, I would suggest that you contact a private psychologist. There is only one way to under stand your boy, or any other child,
Why Do They Act That Way? Q. What, in your opinion, is the cause of mass vandalism in our pub lic schools, other private buildings and in private business? A. I believe that mass vandalism is a natural reflection of our present society. What can we expect from youth who are not saved—who do not know Christ as their personal Saviour, whose natures have never been changed? So many of our children are from broken homes. Sometimes we pass very lightly over the words “ broken homes.” But actually, broken homes mean broken hearts. They mean bro ken personalities and broken dreams. No doubt some of our mass van dalism is the result of the reading materials, television and radio pro grams with which boys and girls are filling their minds. Lawlessness among young people is often the result of lack of super vision. Most boys and girls who com mit crimes have very little guidance from their parents. And too often they haven’t enough to do. Some delinquency may be attrib uted to physical causes. Net long ago an experienced psychiatrist arranged for every boy in a certain correction home to have an electroencephalo gram (brain wave test). It was found that approximately 25 percent of these apparently healthy, norm a l boys had at some time sustained an injury to the brain. No doubt this was an important contributing factor to their m a lad ju stm en t. Of course through medication and psychother apy most of these young men were able to get along satisfactorily. The greatest remedy and preven tion for juvenile crime is the gospel. When men and women and boys and girls accept Christ as their personal Saviour, God gives them a new na ture and He puts new desires into their hearts. This is certainly the an swer to all sorts of difficulties. J A N U A R Y , 1 9 5 6
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