Dibs in Search of Self - Victoria Axline

This was recommended reading for the counselling course I just completed....it *sounded* relatively uninspiring, and I was not about to *buy* a copy, however I borrowed one, and on the recommendation of those who had read it already, started reading....... I couldn't put it down! This is truly an inspiring and amazing book..... although it relates directly to my area of work and interest, it is a book which can and will be appreciated by anyone. Dibbs presents as a child locked away in his own world....withdrawn and antisocial, unable to relate to anyone and classified as educationally subnormal....and then he enters therapy.....sounds cliched, ...

and, with this true account, she opens our eyes, to a song of friends. Dibs is just a little boy. And we are the privileged few, allowed to meet him. I picked it up by chance. I did not intend to read it. I would never have read it had it been recommended to me. I would never, ordinarily, even have opened it, let alone begun to browse. It was not my style, not my type of reading matter. I had arranged to meet a friend, and it was raining outside, so I took refuge in the store. A bookstore. Lots of books, of course, but the "interesting" sections -- the ones I would usually browse through -- are at the back of ...

I picked this book up in a very old edition when I was going off on holiday and neede some beach novels. However, I realised this was something very different and I was thrilled to find that it was in fact written on a subject very close to heart as I am intending to study psychology at uni. Having read it, all in one day in a matter of hours, I should say that this book has to be compulsory not just to those studying counselling / psychology, but also to those who except at some point to come into contact with children (ie all of us). The unfolding of Dibs' personality is amazingly enticing and touching, by the end you feel like you really know him, and you ...