Page 69 - Meeting with Children Book

P a ge | 67

virtually impossible for practitioners to keep in mind
the all of the variances of any particular aged child
without a good reference. Meeting with Children
emphasizes the importance of understanding a
baseline set of expectations for every age so that it is
possible to know when a child is and is not meeting
basic milestone developmental expectations. Conflict
and role confusion can impact the normal trajectory
of development and therefore attention is placed on
how to understand children and youth.

Points of departure from Other Models and
Trainings
 All children and youth should have the
opportunity for inclusion – regardless of level
of family conflict
 All children and youth will be offered 2-4
projective activities over 2 meetings
 All children and youth need to be seen more
than one time
 Inquiry skills for staying in the metaphor are
essential
 Children describe what their products or
expressions mean – not adults
 Practitioners do not drill for specific topics or
answers from children
 Interviewing skills for children are important –
but not central to the approach
 Practical tools are provided to structure the
adult