Remembering Rose Ellen Part 6: Losing Ground

Over the years at Fort Wayne, Rose Ellen seems to decline. When she entered the institution, she was a young woman who could compose a coherent letter in cursive and knew the multiplication tables, but during testing in 1951she is described as “depressed and homesick and called attention to scratches and scars on her body” The results of her testing that year led the examiner to state: “The results represent a loss of 1 year 6 months mental age and 7 IQ. points from that secured on the 1916 Binet given in 1935” (Fort Wayne Hospital, 2023).

The longer she stays in the Fort Wayne institution, the lower her IQ scores become. 

In 1933, she was tested and attained a mental age of 7 years, 2 months and an IQ score of 44.

In 1951, using the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, she attained a: mental age: of 6 years and an IQ score of 40.

In 1957, she attained a mental age of 4 years and 7 months

In 1965, she was classified as moderately retarded, with her adaptive skills as severe.

In 1967, her behavior classification level was 4 severe and adaptive behavior level three severe.

In a Psychiatric and Psychology summary dated 1957,

Rose “Ann” (misspelled her name) cried when brought to the testing situation, saying she wanted to go home. Calming her was not difficult, however, and she responded well to the test. Because of a speech defect, the Arthur Point Scale was used. On this, her mental age was 4-7, and her IQ. was 29. This represents a decrease in comparison to a Binet Mental age of 6-0, and I/Q. of 40 obtained in 1951 (Fort Wayne Hospital, 2023).

A list of tests administered gives a more detailed picture of her deficits and the very last line of the report states her performance was poor and “seemed to be partly a function of subnormal vision.”

Rose Ellen’s poor vision is mentioned in several letters exchanged between her parents and the institution over the decades. My grandparents want her vision tested in the hopes that glasses may help her. Eventually, her vision is tested but the recommendation is that glasses will not help her. Now, with compromised vision and poor speech intelligibility, her communication via written notes is likely to have been affected negatively.

In August 1964, at 50 years old, Rose Ellen had a Speech and Language Evaluation. The notes are minimal;

Test Used: FWSS-PAT, Findings: Mis-articulated almost every sound: stimulability was poor. Delayed Language Receptive skills were poor: expressive skills were poor.

Recommendations: Therapy not recommended due to age.

Examiner: Sandra M. Bieda

Director of Speech and Hearing Center Robert. T. Fulton, PH

Just about a year later, in 1965, there was a Department of Psychology Services checklist that recorded:

“Good” self-help skills, including personal hygiene-grooming skills, dressing and toileting. She is also able to care for herself at mealtime, has good sleep habits and her care of property is “respectful”.  

Her Sex Activities were left blank.

Motor Development:  ambulatory (less than 3 blocks).

She was not attending school and worked less than 2 hours a day, and she did not attend Recreation.

Her Communication Skills were fair (receptive skills) and poor (expressive skills).

In Cottage Behaviour: she is marked as “creates no problems within the cottage” and sometimes easily disturbed.

Measured Intelligence: level 4-Severe

Adaptive Behavior: Level 3-Severe

• Edward M. Sirlin, M.D.

Up Next: Remembering Rose Ellen: Part 7: Correspondence, Visits and Vacations