Dibs in Search of Self: The Renowned, Deeply Moving Story of an Emotionally Lost Child Who Found His Way Back

For his second session a week later, Dibs reads the sign on the playroom door, with some help from Dr. Axline: “Play Therapy Room” (48). Inside the room, Dibs again asks for help with his coat and hat, but this time, Dr. Axline has him hang his things up himself. Dibs goes to play with the dollhouse, looking for the missing front door and finding it in a cupboard. He puts it on after several failed attempts, and when Dr. Axline acknowledges this, he smiles at her for the first time. Dibs looks at the basement walls of the dollhouse and sees none of them has a door, so he draws a doorknob and lock. He narrates his actions: “Got a lock on it now, too” (50), and Dr. Axline affirms that she understands. She realizes Dibs has a preoccupation with locked doors, and that his vocabulary is more advanced than he initially let on. Dibs starts talking in full sentences, using words like “indeed” and “position” (51). As they converse, Dr. Axline gently encourages Dibs to refer to himself as “I”—as he usually refers to himself in the second person.