J. W.
Notes and comments on past behaviour
Incidents on 15 July 1988
Mrs W. says that Jenna has started to bang the doors of the house again.
Again here is the desire to control, close or open, the means of ingress or egress into or out of
rooms of the house, more female sexual symbols.
Incidents on 17 August 1988
Around 7.00 p.m. Jenna becomes very difficult to manage, this is when Jenna's father is trying to
eat his evening meal. Jenna becomes very giggly and will go into the kitchen and grab at items so
as to cause the maximum disruption. She has also started opening and closing the oven door. This
is a particularly bad time of day because Mrs W. wishes to spend some time with her husband
on his return to work.
Comments
Here Jenna tries to sabotage the cosy little domestic scene between mother and father. To do this
she tries to make trouble in the kitchen. It is also said that she has started opening and
closing the oven door. All these female, maternal symbols and the female maternal domain they
represent are made claim to here by Jenna, she wants her mother out of the way, she wishes
to be the mother and to have her father.
The oven is a wonderful symbol of course!
It's a womb-like container, from which comes warm food, that which a mother produces, and what of
the phrase, 'to have a bun in the oven'!
In this behaviour Jenna demonstrates a desire to control the access from and to this hollow object,
she opens and closes the oven door.
The Sessions
Date of Birth:
Date Seen: 20.11.92
Chronological Age:
School: W.W.
She is given a doll and a doll's shoe. She puts the doll's foot by the
shoe and tries to get it into the shoe, then tries to get the shoe on
the foot. E puts it on for her and she takes it off again. This would
appear to suggest that she understands the meaning of these symbolic
objects.
She is given the doll again and a tiny cup with 'orange squash' in,
(orange coloured wax). E sits the doll on the table. She holds the
tiny cup by its handle, (seems to know how a cup is held and
recognises the meaning of this symbolic object in so far as she holds
it in a parallel fashion to the way a real cup is grasped) but then
gives the cup to E. E re-sits the doll on the table and again and
gives her the 'cup' and she then puts the cup by the doll's 'mouth'.
This again seems to imply that she recognises the nature of this
symbolic object. E then performs the symbolic action and says "Give
her a drink"
Given a doll and a 'chair' standing properly she sits the doll in the
chair.
Given a 'bath' and the doll she lies the doll in the 'bath'. Given a
doll and an overturned 'chair' and a "Go on!" she rights the chair
but doesn't seat the doll on it.
With a doll and a 'settee' she 'sits' the doll on the settee but
doesn't put the doll in a sitting posture. Then she moves the settee
around in a circular manner on the table, (a favourite non-symbolic
and rather ritualistic- meaningless use).
Given a 'table', tiny 'cup', doll and overturned 'chair' she puts the
'cup' on the up turned 'table' and rights the chair, with lots of
"Go on!"'s from E. Then E uses more direct and specific instructions,
so:-
E. "put her on the chair, sit her on the chair". She does so but again
without placing the doll in a sitting posture.
E. "put the table the right way up!" No response.
She sits the doll on the chair again, then overturns the chair.
A different 'table' is given to her on its side. She rights it, then
taps doll's head on the real table repetitively.
Then photos of J and of E, the small black shoe photo, and the
sultanas picture are given to her. She lies the photos face down on
the table, becomes tantrummy again and posts the 'shoe'. (puts it on
the floor).
E re-presents these objects
1. touches 'shoe'. E picks up real shoe and says, "Put it somewhere!",
indicating the person photos. She puts 'shoe' by E's photo. E takes
shoe and puts it on his lap.
2. touches 'shoe'. E picks up real shoe, E: "Give it to one of these!",
(indicating the person photos). She gives the 'shoe' to 'E', and E
takes the shoe, (on his lap).
3. touches 'sultanas'. E picks up some from tin, asks "Who do you want
to have them?". She touches E's photo, E says "No!" and makes her give
'sultanas' to her own photo.
4. touches 'shoe'. E presents shoe and she 'posts' the little 'shoe'.
Is made to pick it up off the floor.
5. touches 'shoe', tries to give it to E, he makes her give it to E
and takes real shoe. Tries to 'post' 'shoe' again, is prevented.
6. touches 'shoe'. This is removed and tin of sultanas presented to her
to check that she wants any. She tries to grab some but is made to
point to 'sultanas' to get the reward.
7. ditto
8. E."Point to it", ('sultanas'). Eventually does and is given real
sultanas, (the 'sultanas' are removed or taken by E after each reward
of her point to 'sultanas'- after E gives her real sultanas- here
sultanas are exchanged for 'sultanas', i.e. 'sultanas' are used as a
specific token or a very specific 'money')
9. E: "point to it", she does so. R.
10 ditto
11 ditto
12 ditto
13 ditto
14 ditto
She does not seem all that interested in eating the sultanas, is
beginning to toy with them
15. ditto
The brown shoe photo is added to the 'sultanas'
1. puts a real sultana on 'sultanas'. Rewarded
2. points to 'sultanas', then 'shoe'. NR
3. 'sultanas'. R.
The L-R position of the photos of shoe and the sultanas is changed
4. points to 'shoe'. Given shoe
5. points to shoe. Not given to her. E: "Which one do you want?" She
looks at sultanas in the tin, then at the 'sultanas' and touches
'sultanas'.
Note: the person photos are head and shoulder ones.
Name: Jenna W.
Date Seen: 27.11.92
School: W.W.
Materials
Two photos, one of a brown shoe and one of Smarties.
Jenna'a head and shoulders photo in a vertical perspex frame and the
psychologist's full length photo in a similar frame.
Method
Two phases are used, first where the task is to pick which object she
wants and second, where the task is to pick who she wishes to have it.
The object photos are held up vertically one in each of the
psychologist's hands in front of Jenna and closer to his chest.
1. A. touches 'sweets'.
B. touches E's photo
E eats a sweet, he corrects her by making her touch her own photo.
E: Jenna wants a sweet, and rewards her.
2. ditto
She gazes fixedly at the 'correct' photo, i.e. of sweets and is
prompted to "touch it".
3. touches 'sweets', is made to give sweet to her photo
4 ditto (L-R position changes of object photos are made every so often)
5. 'sweets'. Given this tries to rip it, stopped, told to give it to
someone, (i.e. a photo). With no further verbal prompt and only a
little gestural one gives to her photo.
6. ditto
7. ditto
Next we try a procedure wherein the photos are presented simultaneously
instead of the two phase procedure.
Set up is so: -
E's photo Jenna's photo
'shoe' 'sweets'
E J
8. touches 'shoe'. I get her to give it to E's photo and E takes the
real shoe
9. touches 'sweets'. E makes her give it to her photo
10 ditto
11 ditto
12 touches 'sweets', lifts it and plays a bit with it. E says "Put it
over there"(by her photo and gestures). Does so. R.
13 picks 'sweets'. E: "Go on!" No response. She picks up E's photo.
14. puts E's photo by her photo. I separate them again and she repeats
her response.
15. picks 'sweets'. E: Give it", (and points to 'J'). She puts it in
the right place. R.
16. touches sweets. E.: "Give it!" and gestures to her photo. OK. R
17. touches 'sweets', then 'shoe', and put 'sweets' and 'shoe'
together.
18 touches 'sweets'. E: "Give it to J", with a gesture. OK
19 ditto
20 ditto
Swap L-R positions of people photos
21 as 18
22 ditto
Comments
1. She is very successful in consistently indicating the photo of the
object she desires here, rather than the alternative. This is in
contrast to her behaviour in indicating a photo of sultanas rather
than a photo of a shoe, where she is very inconsistent. This is to be
ascribed to
a) her much stronger motivation and liking for the little sweets used
than sultanas.
b) the task of discriminating the two cue visual stimuli, (photos) is
much easier in the present case, she has to differentiate between a
photo of highly and different coloured sweets, (Smarties), and a photo
of a brown shoe here, while previously she had to differentiate between
a photo of a group of brown sultanas and a photo of a brown shoe.
c) it's possible that the device of holding up the alternative photos
in front of E's chest is helpful too, certainly it's easy to see which
photo, (sweets), she 'eye-points' to, (in fact gazes fixedly at and
with obvious delight)
2. her understanding of the idea of giving the desired symbol, i.e.
'sweets' to her photo is not yet complete, but possibly she is in the
way to grasping this. This work must be continued.
Jenna W.
Date: 9.May.1996
W.W.
First session after a long break. Happy to be in the i.s.l. room again
with us, smiles and laughter.
Operates two switches, (momentary mode), one for 'Dr Who effect', and
one for bubble tube, (appropriate photos on these.)
Both put on her lap.
Does this happily. Good behaviour. She sit quietly, uses switches
happily and vocalises a bit.
My assistant and I talk, she says "shshsh!" and we stop, she does this
once or twice more and we respond similarly.
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