Thanks for letting me know more how the psi collective operates. It probably would be a smarter idea to have him leashed. Reworling it a little he could still study at the University how thaumatons act to figure out why as mundane spells seem to backfire around him and why removing the leash would kill him. His thaumaphyllic psi ability would still be active and that's what would "attack" the function of others' spells.

A matured trained psi-mage's abilities could either wield lots of small objects simutaneously or manipulate "shotgun" spells-quick chaotic nature spells like an explosion.

1.) Why would such a weak psi-power have such a pronounced negative effect on the child?
2.) What sort of psi power do these children have? Is it telepathy, ESP, psychokinesis, or what?
3.) The Collective has actively worked to prevent any agency or faction from developing weapons that could nullify a person's telepathic ability. By contrast, the magic-inhibiting "leash" is a well-known piece of tech that is used to dampen the powers of anyone who shows signs of magery at an early age. If the child's survival merely requires that one power or the other be dampened — magery or psi — then why wouldn't the Collective just make sure the child was fitted with a leash? That would solve the problem of protecting the child's life without risking that someone might discover a piece of psi-inhibiting hardware on his person. If the child's psi-powers are that weak, the Collective could just let him run loose and live his life as a mundy; he would be leashed, of course, but all he would need to know is that his particular form of innate magic was self-destructive, and that it would eventually kill him if he took off the leash. That seems like a much safer path, from the Collective's perspective, than putting a psi-inhibitor on the child and hoping no one ever notices it.

He was told that the band on his wrist was to help with the headaches he had when he was younger. He barely remebers these headaches all he remembers is the pain they caused and that he doesn't want to feel them again.

Jacob is what the Collective call psi-mages. They are the only ones that register a power level that is exactly 0.5. Because they are so psionically weak The Collective usually slaps a supression band on them as soon they manifest the migrane-like headaches that will kill the child eventually if not treated. Then they usually wipe much of these memories to allow the child to live a "normal" life with a sporadic disjointed magical potential. The child never removes the band because he/she does remember just the pain (on a scale of 1-10 the pain is like 15) and never wants to feel that way again. Many of these children end up lost to the Streets as gang bangers with that extra boom at the right moment that keeps them slightly up there on the hierarchy. Those that do make it in regular society are thought to be just another weak mage.

No one up until this point has figured out what the connection between the psionic ability and talent for the arcane truly is. The Collective has just figured out it's a conflict of the 2 abilities and one of the abilities needs to be suppressed for the child to survive. By supressing their psi ability they are making sure such an aberation is kept out of breeding pool of the Collective.

Perhaps a psi not completely under the Cllective's ever watching eye could realize Jacob's true potential.