In the matter of SS (Care Proceedings)

SS is 14 and is described by Dr Willemson, the child psychologist, at paragraph 97 of his report, as follows:-

"[SS] has an insecure attachment which is anxious and disorganised in nature. His behaviour is that of a much younger child compared to a child of a similar age. He has significant emotional problems which are reflected in his sexualised, aggressive and intimidating behaviour. He is developmentally delayed, lacks empathy and struggles with the expression of feelings and emotions."

At Appendix A of his report Dr Willemson sets out the IQ results and says this at paragraphs 7-10:-

"[SS]'s IQ of 66 falls within the extremely low range, (IQ <69). His verbal comprehension and perceptual reasoning (performance IQ) are 73 and 79 respectively and therefore fall within the borderline range. Particularly [SS]'s Processing Speed and Working Memory scores are very low. He struggles to concentrate for longer periods of time and works slowly. [SS] has a poor ability to retain new information.

Concerns need to be raised about [SS]'s cognitive functioning. He certainly functions with severe learning difficulties. Strictly speaking his IQ falls within the learning disability range, but I think that considering his psycho-social skills and his stronger verbal and performance scores he currently functions within the learning difficulties range.