ling, adolescence, Chinese girl but she looks like little girl with the age of 8 or 9 because she is so teeny weeny. This is my first impression about Ling. I show her matryosh doll to bring up her interest and pass her another matryosh doll to let her try to open it. But she seems to find difficult to open the matryosh doll because she not have energy to open it.
I playing with her as she is a 9 years old girl and I feel comfortable about it. I react with how she interacts with me in the present without thinking much about how her behavior is incongruent with her biology age. Furthermore, her behavior did not remind me that she is actually adolescence. She is playing with the dollhouse and starts to put furniture into the dollhouse without further consider whether the furniture is being able to fix into the dollhouse. For example, the sofa might be too big to put into the dollhouse but she still wants the sofa to be in the house. After the dollhouse chocked up with furniture, I take one small matryosh doll to represent myself and invite her to take one figurine to represent herself. I believe each figurine we choose contain special meaning or reminds us something. She chooses a white girl with gorgeous outlook but after a while she changes it to another figurine with short black hair and skinny girl. The first thing she do after taking the new ‘her’ is take out the bag on the doll. (The doll is carrying a bag) Even though I tried to ask question but she only answer me with her smiling face and either nod or shake her head.
But after we play for some times, she started to take the imitative to interact with me by giving some of the furniture from her doll house. (My little matryosh doll has a house too) She just playing at one corner and is surround by toys. So I ask her if she want to move to another place in the room. She agreed and we take ‘ourselves’ to another toy cabinet and pretending our school is there. She choose aeroplane as her transport to travel from her house to the school; I tell her that I need to take more time because I don’t have aeroplane and have to walk back home. For the next time we go to school, she passes me a car. I ask her is it this is the transport for me so that I don’t have to ‘walk’ to school. Ling nods her head. =) For ‘the next day’, Ling again takes the initiative to come to my ‘house’ and go to school together. I told her that ‘I’ was sick, not able to go school with her. She immediately takes medicine from the toy cabinet for me. This makes me feel that she is a very caring girl. Keshini interact with Ling by using soft toy, she did not show any sigh of resistance. She then took another doll with long hair and she takes away the necklace on the doll. I immediately linked this to she took away the bag hang over another doll. I wonder if she does not want anything to be on the doll. Ling even invites ‘me’ to stay in her dollhouse together with her. This makes me feel that our distance is getting closer even though she still remains silent. Our connection is there even we didn’t talk.
Please avoid any actual names of clients and places instead use common pseudonym, like kim, lee, rose, etc local hospital etc without naming the hospital etc. When writing any document always ask if this is a description of me as the 'client' will I be comfortable to be described as such... is a good yardstick in writing cases.
ReplyDeleteIn play, in the initial period, it is best to be non-directive, track and comment, like paraphrasing and reflecting back to the child her play experience without interpretation, probing or evaluation. The core conditions still applies as in counselling. Maximised your attending skills in your play interaction.