Jan Drew wrote:
"Rich" wrote in message
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"Jan Drew" wrote in message
m...
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...WS06/609240659

Testimony at odds over slain boy's behavior

Excerpts:
LANSING -- Who was Ricky Holland?

Contrasting portraits of the impish 7-year-old, who was slain last summer
and buried in garbage bags in a mid-Michigan swamp, are emerging during
testimony in the murder trial of his adoptive mother.

Was Ricky a sometimes rambunctious -- but normal, even polite --
preschooler who loved to get hugs from adults and knew when his behavior
crossed the line, as his teacher testified? Or was he an aggressive,
hyperactive child who tested his mother's patience, leading her to
conclude that he needed drugs to control his behavior?

And why, as a first-grader, was the slight, blond-haired, blue-eyed
child -- he weighed 55 pounds at his death -- observed voraciously
eating food he pilfered out of school trashcans and from other students'
lunches and acting out, once breaking an eraser in two and wetting his
pants?

It will be up to jurors to put the puzzle pieces together as they
ultimately ponder the guilt or innocence of Lisa Holland, 33, who became
Ricky's foster mother in October 2000 and later adopted the boy with her
husband, Tim. She is charged with open murder and child abuse in Ricky's
death. Tim Holland, 37, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Sept. 5
and is expected to testify that his wife killed Ricky with a small
hammer. Lisa Holland has accused her husband of killing the boy.

Barbara Patrick, one of Ricky's Head Start teachers, described Ricky as a
typical preschooler in many ways but recalled that he "was kind of funny"
in the way he knew when to stop misbehaving.

But Lisa Holland also asked Patrick whether Ricky might qualify for
Social Security disability payments if found to have behavioral problems
such as ADHD or oppositional defiant disorder (ODD).

Psychological testing

At the request of Catholic Social Services in Jackson, which was
providing services to Ricky, Jerel Del Dotto, a board-certified child
psychologist at Foote Hospital in Jackson, evaluated Ricky in February
and March of 2001. Del Dotto testified that Ricky tested about average
intellectually, with an IQ of 96, but that he had the language skills of
a child about a year older.

During testing for about two hours over two days, Ricky was "somewhat
squirmy," testified Zandra Galloway, a Foote Hospital psychometrist, who
measures brain-directed activity such as language and motor skills.

But, Galloway wrote in a report that Ricky "redirects well" -- meaning
that he easily returned to a task when directed -- and talked positively
about his mother, whom Galloway took to mean Lisa Holland.

Ricky repeatedly asked Galloway, "Can you tell mama I did a good job?"

Del Dotto said his assessment included input from Lisa Holland, teacher
Patrick and his own observations as well as Galloway's. Lisa Holland's
written comments mentioned several instances of the boy being aggressive,
hyperactive and defiant at home and said she hoped that the doctors would
find out whether Ricky had ADHD or ODD.

Then in February 2002, Ricky's therapist at Catholic Social Services,
Susan Honeck, noticed what looked like a rope burn on Ricky's left wrist.
Ricky told her that "it's from the rope that they tie me in bed with at
night."

Honeck immediately called Child Protective Services and an investigator
interviewed Ricky that day. Honeck said she was told later that CPS did
not substantiate abuse.

Lisa Holland's attorney, Andrew Abood, said Thursday that the CPS
investigator reported that Ricky gave other explanations for the marks on
his wrist.

Diagnosis doubled care subsidy

Peggy Cox, Ricky's first-grade teacher at Cascades Elementary in Jackson
during 2003-2004, testified that Ricky ate food he took out of trashcans
and from other students. Cox said that at Lisa Holland's request, she
began to document Ricky's misbehaviors, including that he stood on his
chair, broke an eraser in half and wet his pants.

Lisa Holland apparently gave those reports to a Jackson psychiatrist
treating Ricky.

Eventually, the psychiatrist, Aurif Abedi, who has yet to testify,
diagnosed Ricky in 2004 as having ADHD and ODD, plus impulse control
disorder, intermittent explosive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder
and bipolar disorder. The doctor prescribed several psychotropic drugs.

Did you have a point to posting this here, Jan?

Yes, the points are in the article.

What do you think this contributes to the group?

The fact that it took three years to diagonse him. Then prescribed drugs.

Surely you would not want snap judgements made. These diagnoses, based
on third party reports of behaviors that the psychiatrist has not
himself observed, are difficult and time-consuming to make. But in any
case, the diagnosis of the child is moot; the mother (alegedly) turned
out to be an even bigger problem. Murdering your offspring with a
hammer is much more offensive behavior than eating from garbage cans or
breaking erasers.

Why did you contribute, Richey?

Well, I just wrote a whole paragraph in my own words. "The fact that it
took three years to diagonse him," and, "Then prescribed drugs," are
not even sentences. When you take your remedial English classes, they
will teach you about sentence fragments.

--Rich

(By the way, feel free to call me Richie; my mother does. But note the
correct spelling.)