Working as a Child Analyst in a Community Daycare Program

ABSTRACT

The work described illustrates the importance of active playing in childhood as a subjective activity from age two-and-one-half years up to at least five years old, as a means of communicating nonverbally, especially when words are not yet readily available. It is a young child’s way of exploring the world and his own interests, while also communicating what matters to him emotionally. It requires adults to translate and understand what playing communicates and actually means, and why it matters emotionally. Playing enhances relationships and is useful in conveying and furthering interpersonal understanding, gradually becoming ever more verbal.

KEYWORDS:

• Daycare
• consultation
• verbal communication
• nonverbal communication
• items used for playing
• use of play
• physical development
• mentalizing
• posture
• means of contact
• responsiveness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Audrey Gavshon, a supervisor of mine at the Hampstead Clinic (now the Anna Freud Centre), discussed how one sometimes could connect with a silent child by imitating their posture. She described a silent girl who stared at her hands while twisting her fingers in her lap. Audrey found that, after she imitated the girl’s posture and actions, the girl then peeked over at her and, in that moment, communication became possible.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Helge Staby Deaton

Helge Staby Deaton began her training in child development in Namibia and Berlin, and later completed the four-year training as a child and adolescent analyst at the Hampstead Child-Therapy Course and Clinic (now the Anna Freud Centre) in London. She earned her MSW from Yeshiva University’s School of Social Work.