Hardbound. Three-year-old Julien withdraws into his own world. He does not make any attempt to communicate by gesture or facial expression. He spends hours playing with a piece of string. What can be done? Try to remove the "block" by waiting for some expression of what he wants? Apply learning techniques to learning to perform the most useful elementary gestures? The therapy proposed for little Julien is based on the experience and practice of a multidisciplinary team. It involves eliciting and encouraging exchange through play and hence the development of communication. The basis is the study of the development and functioning of the nervous system. There are three principles which guide the child and the therapist: calm, in order to facilitate selection of information, receptiveness, in order to make free association possible, and reciprocity which is elicited by free association. The results achieved by such therapy, with the help of the family, are m
