A Case Study
Penny was eight years old, and hadn't spoken a word since she was three. Her sister was born on Penny's second birthday. Her mother, who was suffering from an obsessive compulsive disorder which made her clean the house to a fanatical degree, dealt with Penny's silence by becoming over-protective and speaking for Penny at all times. Penny and her Mother became 'we' in a relationship where one partner spoke for both parties. Children in her class at school would help Penny by removing her coat for her if she seemed too hot, and her teachers feared that, without professional help, it would not be possible for Penny to progress to middle school.
Play Therapy was the chosen method of treatment.
Therapy, which eventually took sixteen one-hour sessions, addressed many of the problems which beset Penny, and included laying and rolling in paint and clay as a way of contrasting with the unnatural cleanliness of her home environment. But Penny remained as silent as she had been for the preceding five years.
During one session, Penny was playing the part of a witch who had to prepare a magic potion. With her plastic 'witch' fingernails on her hands, she found it difficult to tie up her witch's cloak and so looked to the therapist as if for help - it had always been forthcoming in the past from her school friends and her mother. The therapist avoided any intervention for thirty, then forty-five agonising minutes until finally saying
"I guess lots of people think you can't do this for yourself, but I know you can".
Penny slowly proceeded to remove her witch's fingernails and tie up her cloak. She then replaced the nails and started to brew the 'magic potion'. Whilst preparing the imaginary brew, she asked for one of the ingredients to be passed to her, and continued to chat normally throughout the rest of the play session.
Penny has spoken normally ever since and has progressed successfully through her schooling.
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