Perspective on Dibs in Search of Self

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A child doesn’t ask to be born into this world, but we have the choice to be parents if God sees fit. Perfect parents don’t just fall from the sky either, unfortunately for Dibs, he was born into a family who didn’t want anything to do with him. In the book Dibs in Search of Self, Dibs struggles to cope with life, but his parents end up struggling with their lives and the life of Dibs even more so. My personal take on this book is that it’s a bit rushed for what is supposed to be a case study, yet it still found a way to pull on my heartstrings. I wish that there was more detail surrounding Dibs’ behavioral issues. That being said, all in all I really enjoyed it, some parts more than others. My favorite part was actually the letter that Dib himself wrote as a letter of protest against the recent dismissal of one of his classmates. Dibs’, even having gone through so much turmoil in his past, has grown up to be a charismatic, compassionate, sensitive, leader. In his letter, Dibs’ expresses his protest to the head of the school by arguing that his classmate was not trying to cheat by copying off of him, but that he was trying to look at Dibs’ paper to make sure that he had the correct date down and as Dib’s argues, “He said he was verifying a date – an important date in history – and since accuracy is of date is essential to establish its very existence, then it should indeed, be verified” (Axline, 1964, p. 217). Dibs’ mother saw him as being schizophrenic, autistic, or mentally challenged (Axline, 1964, p.88). I can understand how his mother might have thought he was autistic, but not schizophrenic or mentally challenged. In fact, Dibs’ was the just the opposite of mentally challenged, he was a child of “superior intelligence” as his therapist suggests to his mother (Axline, 1964, p.92). Berger (2012, p.342) suggests that autism comes in many
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