Kamani's Intellectual Speech Analysis

Kamani was seen for evaluation over the course of 2.5 hours at AMI Kids located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He presented as an African American male who appeared to be of average weight, was about 5’9” tall and appeared his stated age of 17. The youth was disheveled on presentation as evidenced of his pants hanging loosely below his buttocks, showing another pair of shorts that was worn underneath his trousers and a sweater, but there was no evidence of significant impediments in grooming or hygiene. The youth demonstrated poor posture as evidence of repeated slouching in his seat. Importantly, no gross abnormalities were noted in ambulation, coordination and motor skills. Kamani’s expressive speech was normal with regards to rate, rhythm

Although the youth reported experiencing auditory hallucinations, as what he described as a “ghost” whispering into his ear, continuously at night time and that it disappeared and suddenly developed two years ago, he did not exhibit loosening of associations and/or flight of ideas. Additionally, Kamani noted he worries about being enrolled at AMI Kids educational program because he hates everything about the school, he denied the worry causes psychological responses such as trembling hands, difficulty breathing or palpitations. The youth described his appetite as being normal and noted he has not gained or lost weight recently. He denied any problems falling asleep or staying asleep but noted that he had a total of five hours of sleep the night before because he stayed up late. Nevertheless, he reported is normally energize when he get sufficient sleep. The youth described his current mood as “mad” which is experienced daily, but lasts for only a few minutes and his affect was congruent. He denied feeling hopeless, thoughts of death, or isolation from others, but shared two incidents of which he felt hopeless. The first incident, when his father was arrested three years ago and second time was experiencing the death of his grandmother one month ago, which resulted in change in attitude as he states “I don’t care.” Moreover, the youth noted that he said he wanted to kill others, when he was 9 years of age, but he denied current active or passive homicidal/ suicidal ideation, plans, or intent and denied ever engaging in self-injury behavior. Additionally, the youth denied experiencing additional symptoms of mania such as grandiosity, being more talkative than usual, or racing thoughts. The youth noted that he was told that he has Attention