Dibs in search of self

Virginia M. Axline's Dibs in Search of Self provides a case study demonstrating the potential benefits of child play therapy. Dibs is a boy who, at the age of six, has closed himself off from the surrounding world to such an extent that he is almost completely unable to communicate his wants, needs, or emotions. Gradually, with the aid of Axline, he emerges from his self-sentenced prison and reveals himself to be a particularly gifted individual, who is totally capable of meaningful inter-human communications. The book is a testament to the power of child play therapy for developing a patient's sense of individuality and social confidence.

Dibs begins as a child who attends school daily, without fail, but also without any meaningful social interactions -- with his teachers or with other students. Nothing the school's staff offers produces any response in him. "The teachers were completely baffled by Dibs.... The school pediatrician had looked in on him several times and later through up his hands in despair." (Axline 16). The general consensus is that the boy is retarded, psychotic, or brain-damaged -- but no-one thinks it is possible to determine which it might be (Axline 16). His parents seem to perpetuate this sentiment: "She [his mother] said that she and her husband have accepted the fact that he is probably mentally retarded or brain damaged." (Axline 18). The boy is utterly unresponsive in the classroom; often times his teachers read to him or tell him stories as he lays face-down on the ground, apparently oblivious to their attempts to reach him.