The Little Girl Who Wouldn’t Walk

Exploring the Narratives of Preschoolers Through Previewing

¹ Child and Adolescent Outpatient Department, The New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical Center, Westchester Division, 21 Bloomingdale Road, White Plains, NY 10605;

In the psychotherapy of preschoolers, the children’s narratives—in which fantasy, symbol, and metaphor are used to represent internal states and perceptions—warrant special evaluation to clarify diagnosis and implement treatment. Previewing, a developmental phenomenon of the caregiver-infant interaction, may be of benefit in the psychotherapy of preschoolers. Previewing promotes children’s predictive abilities in fantasy play, sensory perception, and script formation, enabling the therapist to see the world from the child’s developmental perspective and assess the child’s emotional functioning without evoking pathological defenses. Moreover, previewing techniques aid in the process of conflict resolution.