Jack used some elements of guilt surrounding his hospitalization in an attempt to persuade his mother to get him a treat at the cafeteria. This attempt to maintain control over his mother is appropriate to this developmental age according to Erickson's stages of development, and Donna easily managed his request by explaining that his diet was restricted prior to surgery. Jack was able to accept this answer, but continued to request assurances he would obtain the treat later in the day. Jack responded appropriately to all staff requests and his behavior appeared age appropriate and unremarkable. He maintained eye contact with staff and initiated conversation on several occasions.
The staff provided some coloring books and paper for Jack once he was confined to his bed in preparation for surgery. Jack appeared to be able to manage crayons without difficulty and easily wrote his name in block capital letters which were easy to read. When asked to draw some pictures of his mother and his pet cat he made a half-hearted attempt to draw some stick figures without significant detail. This was felt to represent disinterest with the project rather than lack of motor skills. Jack was able to easily manipulate the buttons on the bed controls and the fine volume tuning control on the television controls. Later on in his hospitalization, he had the opportunity to visit the game room and play video games for a short period with other patients. Jack has an extraordinary degree of manual dexterity in the manipulation of game controls which involved flying a space ship and avoiding hostile ships. Jack appears...
He does not know his address and phone number, and was not observed skipping.
Verbally, Jack appears to have greater than 2500 words in his vocabulary. He pronounces words clearly and easily and had little trouble taking turns in conversation. He still interrupts his mother frequently when she is speaking, but listens to others well. He knew several songs and was willing to sing them for the writer. He was able to repeat full scenes from his favorite science fiction movie. Jack has a full range of facial expressions and used nonverbal expressions and gestures appropriately.
Jack is 45 pounds and 42 inches tall, which put him in the 75th and 50th percentiles respectively. This growth is in line with previous anthropometric data and there is no evidence of obesity, growth delay or asymmetry to his statistics. (CDC growth chart, 2000)
Reference:
Siddiqui a. (1995) Object Size as a Determinant of Grasping in Infancy. Journal of Genetic Psychology, Vol. 156 "http: Marcia, J.E., (1966), Development and validation of ego identity status, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 3, pp. 551-558
Centers for Disease Control (2000), 2-20 years. Stature for age and weight for age percentiles. Accessed via the Internet at www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhanes/growthcharts/set1clinical/cj41l021.pdfon 23 June 2007
I. Personal. 3:551-8, 1966.
