We diagnosed her
ability as good, but her school advantages had been poor.
Otherwise we noted she was a pert, talkative, responsive child,
of a distinctly nervous and somewhat unreliable type. Her ideas
came tumbling, one on top of another. Under close supervision
she was able to control her mental processes fairly well. For
instance, on the antonym test, where opposites to twenty stimulus
words are called for, Birdie gave them in the remarkably rapid
average time of .8 of a second, with only one failure and one
error. This is an exceptional record. From this and her
unexpected powers of self-control exhibited on some other tests
we were obliged to conclude that her aberrational tendencies were
not very deep-set. Her mental traits seemed to conform most
nearly to the type designated as constitutional excitement, or
hypomania. Further observation of the case confirmed us in this
first view of it.
On the ``Aussage'' or Testimony Test she gave 13 items, all
correct, upon free recital. On questioning, 14 more details were
added, but 6 of these were incorrect. Of the 6 suggestions
offered she accepted none.
Birdie immigrated from Austria with her family when she was 10
years of age.
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