Robertson, J. and Robertson, J (1971) Young children in brief separation: a fresh look Psychoanalytic Study of the Child 26, 264-315 See also Children Webmag October 2009 Dibs’s story parallels that of Lucy (Robertson and Robertson, 1971); both in their different ways had had a breakdown in their relationships with their mothers. The provision of an alternative caring environment in which they could establish a fresh secure relationship with an adult gave them the capacity to re-engage with their own mothers which then enabled them to make a fresh start with them.

But she was now anxious that he was “too unusual” and wondered if he was schizophrenic; they had sent his sister away to school so that they could concentrate on him. She had admitted that she had taken things out on Dibs because of the strained relationship with her husband, with both of them fighting to avoid admitting guilt for Dibs’s condition. But now both parents’ feelings had changed. Residential care can take advantage of this possibility if the child goes home regularly, for example at weekends or on the way home from school (Berridge, 1985). It also needs to be recognised that sometimes there never will be an opportunity for the child to return to live with their parents permanently but the improvement in child-parent relationships is likely to have a significant effect on wider family relationships, including sibling relationships, which are likely to be a source of support in the future.Virginia Axline (1911-1988) was the main architect of non-directed play therapy and her account of her work in the early 1950s with an emotionally disturbed five-six year old, which had a profound effect on her, has become a classic text. Key Points

Virginia Mae Axline (1964) Dibs in search of self: personality development in play therapy Boston: Houghton Mifflin In Chapter 1, Virginia Axline describes her first sight of Dibs in a corner, crouched, head down, arms across his chest, ignoring the fact that it was home time and resisting his teacher’s attempts to get him to go home. If Dibs had not stopped resisting by the time his mother arrived, the chauffeur would be sent in to collect him. In Chapter 18 she recounts how she had received a call from one of the teachers who had described a gradual change in Dibs’s behaviour at school and so she had arranged to meet two of the teachers for lunch. But, when they had showed her the very elementary pictures and writing he was producing, she had initially been baffled but hadn’t told them that he could do much better because it might have discouraged them. Bazeley, E T (1928) Homer Lane and the Little Commonwealth London: Allen & Unwin See also Children Webmag February 2009 The real story of the book—the book itself and not story it tells—is that it would not exist without Axline having the imagination to look beyond the simplistic diagnoses of the teachers and Dibs’ parents. Furthermore, it is also the story a doctor having a mind open enough to see beyond the most likely outcome after her initial meeting with Dibs’ mother: three weeks of treatment and she’s going to pull the plug. The book is the story of the how having the imagination to look challenge everybody else’s limited imagination and the courage to challenge one’s own expectations of disappointment on the part of others to put their faith in technique to the test.Dibs’s mother had influenced the school board to accept him but had refused the offer of professional help; his father was a well-known scientist and his younger sister a ‘spoiled brat.’ With other parents complaining after Dibs had scratched another child, his mother had been told that the school was thinking of excluding him and there had been a case conference to which Miss A (as Dibs called her) had been invited. The staff were obviously captivated by Dibs and had agreed to her suggestion of play therapy. In Chapter 3 she describes her visit to his mother the following day. She had been let into a drawing room where tea had been served but there had been no sign that it was ‘lived in’. His mother had said that she did not expect any change in Dibs and had offered him as raw data for study. She had also suggested using Dibs’s playroom but Miss A had insisted on using the child guidance centre even though his mother had offered her a higher fee if she had used Dibs’s playroom. She had given his mother a consent form to record the interviews and accepted his mother’s insistence that she would not be coming to the sessions. His mother had commented that his sister was a ‘perfect child’. Neill, A S (1962) Summerhill: a radical approach to education London: Victor Gollancz Originally published 1960 Summerhill: a radical approach to child rearing New York: Hart See also Children Webmag July 2009 Trasler (1960) had found that some of the most successful foster placements were those where the children’s parents were welcome visitors and, twenty years later, Berridge (1985) found that one reason why some children rejected foster care was because it implied rejection of their own parents and they preferred residential care because it did not. Yet some residential workers and many social workers lose interest in parents (Thorpe, 1973) and government policy in England has been for as many children in care as possible to be adopted rather than make their parents partners in bringing up their children as intended in the 1989 Children Act and required by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

At the end he had started making excuses why he could not go but she, while sympathising as he cried when she put his clothes on, had insisted he must go which he had done without a fuss, much to his mother’s surprise. Ultimately, the successful treatment of Dibs is accomplished not with because of play therapy itself, but because Dr. Axline had was able to imagine that whatever condition Dibs suffered from was one that could be effective treated with play therapy. In this Introduction, Leonard Carmichael compares the story of Dibs to “a first-class detective story.” On the other hand, story of the book itself is comparable to one those movies about the cop who is the one capable of catching the bad guy he doesn’t play the rules. Which is simply a phrase to describe having the imagination to think in a way that other can’t or won’t. Update this section! He had told her, to her surprise, that she had said, “This is all yours, Dibs. Have fun. Nobody is going to hurt you in here”, and he had gradually come to believe her. He had said that he had found his enemies and fought them; he had also learned how big God was and, in response to a question, she had revealed that she had heard his earlier conversation which had made him realise that they were now neighbours. She had met his parents a few days later when his mother had asked him why he called her Miss A. “A special name for a special friend”, he had replied. In Chapter 2, she says that everyone has their own private world of meaning and it is important to try once more, because we don’t have all the answers. She had arranged to observe Dibs in school, to visit his mother and to see Dibs in the play therapy room at the child guidance centre. He had started as before walking round, touching and naming objects. She had asked whether he would like to take his hat and coat off and he had agreed but had done nothing about it. Eventually he had asked for help to take things off but had dropped them on the floor, so she had put them on a hook.In Chapter 16 she recounts how Dibs had admitted to winding up his father, while threatening the father doll with a toy gun which he then hid in the basement of the doll’s house. He had then gone on to talk about the children at school before engaging in some water play, making a glass harmonica, and then mixing up all the paint jars. He had then gone to the office where he had pasted in some bookplates and asked for reassurance about his relationship with her. On his departure he had run to his mother and said, “Oh mother, I love you”. He had then asked to go to the office where he had looked up ‘yeast’ in the dictionary, written a Morse code message which he had also written on another card in the card file, had told her what other presents he had received and had thanked her for her birthday card. He had repeated the question about why some people believe and some don’t and she had said that everyone made up their own minds when they were older but that it was confusing for him now.