I don’t deny the physical structure of the brain or mental illness, BUT. . .
to you and to other posters who seem to just want to reduce this boy’s problems to the physical, genetics, etc. -
where does evil enter in?
Is there such a thing as evil in your opinion? What is its source? How should it be dealt with?
People do evil things of course but science is showing there is a medical reason for much of it. 500 years ago people thought mental illness was caused by demons and goblins. Now we know it is a brain chemical imbalance in most cases.
You can still be religious and believe in evil but should accept modern science. Science and religion can and should/must go together.
The evil is the the brain malfunction IMO. I'm not saying this is 100% the case for all people and not letting what people do as evil off the hook.
Most of what we consider evil is undoubtedly physiological in nature. With advances in science, especial the advent of the FMRI in psycho/neuro studies we have learned that a lot of what we once believed were simple self-control issues are much deeper.
Even something as benign as gambling has proven to be largely physiological. When shown pictures of slot machine windows, those predisposed to compulsive gambling (even those who have no gambling experience) show the same activation of pleasure centers in the brain when shown near misses as when shown winners. Normal brains only show activity in the pleasure centers when shown winners.
Studies of cold blood killers, meaning those who kill for pleasure or profit without anger, rage, or fear have shown completely abnormal brain activity when compared to normally inhibited people.
To answer your question about evil? No, I don't believe in a spiritual evil that invades otherwise normal people and makes them do bad things.
The brain is interesting in that its anatomy and physiology(its actual neurons, synapses,and neurotransmitters)are constantly changing through our lives. I think of it like a garden that is constantly growing and being pruned. And what decides the pruning is, in part, environmental - for young children largely their parents. That is how I understand that there can be both “evil” and structural MRI differences in a brain. “Evil” (intentional or not) can cause over time these structural differences as the “evil” of the dominant mom mixed with the “evil” of the passive dad mixed with the “evil” of no concept of God being taught to the child etc. can all come together to physically prune this child’s brain in a certain pathological way. The good news of course is that God in his infinite mercy through the truth of His Word can “renew the minds” - rewire the pathological connections - of anyone who will allow Him to.