Introduction

IAN had serious behaviour problems at school from the age of 9, and at 14 he was referred to a child psychiatrist. He did not share the interests of the other boys, who found him snobbish and ‘precious’; he was temperamental, aggressive and sullen, annoying other children until they retaliated; then he would lose control, screaming and holding his head. He had only one friend, and got on better with adults, conversing with them at a level beyond his years and his just average intelligence.