Child psychology, also called child development, is the study of the psychological processes of children and especially, how they develop as young adults and how they differ from one child to the next. It basically tends to map onto children’s physical, cognitive and social/emotional development. Psychologists attempt to make sense of every aspect of child development, including how children learn, think, interact and respond emotionally to people around them and understand emotions and their developing personalities, temperaments and skills. It also includes how individual, social and cultural factors may influence their development. Child study is of relatively recent origin. Notable psychologists namely Sigmund Freud, Melanie Klein and Anna …show more content…
It chronicled Axline’s therapeutic relationship with a five-year-old boy who appeared withdrawn and uncommunicative. Dr. Axline writes from her viewpoint as a therapist, after helping Dibs. The book records the weekly play therapy sessions of Dibs with Dr. Axline and describes Dibs’ behaviour and demonstrates how Dr. Axline used reflective listening and allowed Dibs to discover himself and his responsibilities. Dr. Axlines’s style is formal and each chapter describes the play therapy session or event. The book reflects the activities of Dibs captured by Dr. Axline and how she was engaged with Dibs and her subject matter. The basic theme outlined by Dr. Axline is how play therapy can help a child psychologist to help the child who has been in isolation lead to his self-discovery. The book holds that through self-knowledge one gains valuable life experience and grows as a complete new human being. The book is important because of its contribution to play therapy. Although, it also tells the story of how Dibs goes from being thought “retarded and hostilely rejecting” to being a “brilliant boy”. Dibs in Search of Self is an inspirational …show more content…
He is frequently locked up in his room because of his behaviour, which causes frustration and at times embarrassment to his parents. His parents are well-educated, professional and wealthy. At school, Dibs would spend majority of his time disengaging from the other children and his teachers, he would crawl around the edge of the classroom and hid under tables. He would spend rest of his time looking at books. His outburst and rebellious behaviour characterized him as a mentally retarded child. Finally, a stage came when teachers as well as his parents judged him to be mentally defective. Thus, his teachers and administrators decided to give one last try and help Dibs overcome fear, rage and reach out for sunshine in his