Developmental considerations in the psychotherapy of latency-age children

A discussion of "Dream Analysis in the Treatment of an Eleven-Year-Old Boy" by Harold M. Voth, M.D. An investigation of the role of memory in free association is presented. It is described that the mode of registration and recall (sensory images and/or words and/or abstractions) differs in the child of latency age from that in the adult. The child in the latency-age period undergoes a marked series of developmental changes in the elements used in memory organization. To the extent that these differences in the mode of manifestation of memory exist, there are differences between the free associations of the child and the free associations of the adult. Children do free associate. It is necessary to understand the principles which govern age-appropriate memory elements in the child before these free associations can be used therapeutically. The memory organizations, memory modes, and the theory of their ontogenesis is presented, followed by clinical examples of the application of this theoretical material in the psychotherapy of children.