One day at the beach I found myself watching a delightful little boy who had a severe neurophysiological impairment. I overheard him telling his father that the large rocks along the shoreline were really treasure chests filled with all kinds of hidden treasures. As he spoke, he pointed toward the rocks with his small, shaking arm. His eyes sparkled and the smile on his face spoke of a private pleasure—more, a private knowledge—that I could not help but envy.
Fantasy is the inner world of the child. It is also the natural, innate process through which the child learns to make sense of the world outside himself. Indeed fantasy is viewed by some as a generic, biological function with a time clock of emergence that is necessary for healthy child development (Pearce, 1977). Pearce points out that there are rwo different types of play that are manifested by the healthy, growing child. One is imitative play, as when the child plays "Follow the Leader," and the other is "fantasy play" or "symbolic play," as when an object is turned into something different from its outer reality. For example, a large empty box in an attic becomes a fort, a castle, a boat; a saltshaker in a restaurant is turned into a racing car, a space missile, a submarine. In other words, the delimited reality of the box or the saltshaker becomes the unlimited springboard for imaginative fantasy and metaphor. This type of "child-created metaphor" appears to be one thread in the fabric of the child's inner learning process. The child turns what is learned into a spontaneous game or story, which in turn facilitates the integration of what is learned.
METAPHOR IN CHILD THERAPY 37 D a n c i n g Shoes
When I arrived ar the home of a Feldenkrais therapist for treatment of a back problem, her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Katie, was also present. Shy of strangers, Katie sat quietly on the couch, carefully tearing a piece of paper into small bits. Looking at a piece she had torn off, I inquired if it was a gift for me. Then, I reached out and she handed me the paper. I thanked her for her gift and put it in my pocket to protect it.
Toward the end of my session, I noticed through half-opened eyes that Katie and a twelve-year-old friend were watching their mother working on me. Without looking in their direction, I waved in a childlike fashion. When I finally opened my eyes and sat up straight, Katie and her friend were sitting quietly across from me. I smiled. Since my session had focused on balancing, Katie's mother now instructed me to walk slowly across the living room with my eyes closed. All the while Katie was observing. When I had finished, I thanked Katie again for the gift of the piece of paper and, for no conscious reason on my part, brought her attention to my shoes which I named "Dancing Shoes." I proceeded to move my feet quickly in place, spooring a tap dance. I stopped and Katie smiled and giggled at me.
I commented, "All you have to do is tell my shoes to dance and they will do so."
I moved my feet quickly in place again. Then I suggested that she could request her shoes to become "Dancing Shoes"' by telling them simply to "Dance." Katie did so, and began to shuffle and move her feet the way I had done. She giggled with the delight of her new found ability. I let her continue to make my shoes dance as I left her house and went down the stairs to my car.
The next week her mother reported that Katie, usually shy and quiet, had been dancing and showing everybody her "Dancing Shoes." THEORIES OF FANTASY
There are many theories regarding the dynamics involved in the creative process of play and fantasy. Not surprisingly, some of these theories view fantasy negatively while others support its value and. utility as a developmental and therapeutical tool.
38 THERAPEUTIC METAPHORS FOR CHILDREN Freud (1962) believed that fantasy developed out of deprivation and therefore expressed a need for wish fulfillment. As in the dream state, fantasy for Freud functioned primarily as a compensatory mech- anism to help fill a gap or reverse a wrong. Bettelheim (1975) has added to the basic Freudian view by noting the critical developmental functions served by fantasy: Amidst the powerlessness and dependency of childhood, fantasy kindles hope and rescues the child from the despair of his failures. Furthermore, it can help the child deal with and "transcend" the emotional and psychological issues characteristic of the several Freudian stages of development.
Montessori (1914) took a surprisingly dim view of fantasy, considering ir to be "a somewhat unfortunate pathological tendency of early childhood" that encourages "defects of character" (Gross & Gross, 1965). Piaget, on the other hand, believed that fantasy played an extremely important role in the cognitive and sensory-motor development of the child (1951). Symbolic games such as building a sandcastle or racing saltshaker cars could be seen as a means of improving motor performance and developing cognitive-spatial awareness. Piaget carefully noted and utilized the developmental phases of imaginative play in his work with children.
More recent investigators have noted that fantasy can function in both compensatory and creative modalities: Children can use fantasy as a way of changing unpleasant situations or gratifying unmet needs, and they also can use it as a means of developing purely creative capacities (Hilgard, 1970; Olness, 1978).
In direct opposition to the view that fantasy has a pathological influence on children is the view that its absence may be the real problem. Gardner and Olness (1981) speculate that our devaluation of fantasy in Western culture might contribute to the conflicts that emerge during adolescence.
Axline (1955) stresses the need for the therapist to be open to the free flight of a child's fantasy play "without ordering it into mean- ingfulness." She points out that what is meaningful and therapeutic for the child may be viewed as insignificant from the adult's point of Providing a personal illustration of the value of fantasy, Oaklander (1978) recounts her own childhood experience of surviving the ordeal of a burn trauma by immersing herself in fantasy. Fantasy plays a central role in her work with children because of its important and
METAPHOR IN CHILD THERAPY 39 diversified uses, both as a source of fun and as a mirror of the child's inner life process. Hidden fears can be expressed, unspoken desires depicted, and problems acted out, all through fantasy.
Erickson ( 1 9 5 4 a / 1 9 8 0 ) makes an interesting and useful differentiation between conscious and unconscious fantasy. Conscious fantasy is a simple form of wish fulfillment: We see ourselves performing great deeds or creating great masterpieces which we are in no way equipped to accomplish. Unconscious fantasies, however, are communications of actual potentiality from the unconscious mind; they are harbingers of what could be accomplished if the conscious mind gives agreement. "Un- conscious fantasies . . . are psychological constructs in various degrees of formulation, for which the unconscious stands ready, or is actually awaiting an opportunity, to make a part of reality" (Erickson, 1 9 5 4 a / 1980, p. 421).
The little handicapped boy on the beach mentioned at the beginning of this section knew that the rocks were really rocks; yet his unconscious mind wisely allowed the fantasy of hidden treasures to communicate an important metaphorical message about the child's own hidden abilities.
To a little child, the word block can evoke images of wonderful tools for building and exploring the world. Presenting the same word to an adult, howevet, would typically evoke images of obstacles. Children are able to turn simple wooden blocks into cities, buildings, cars, trains, airplanes. W h a t does the child know about learning that we as adults often forget? Could it be the natural ability to use whatever is available— an image, an object, a sound, a texture—to cteate a wonderful experience of self-discovery?