3.1 The course of Dohsa-hou sessions
During the intake session, there was little eye contact and little
response to the therapist’s name calling. There were many times when
Sara seemed to reject the therapist offering her hand. At playtime, she
did not respond to the therapist’s words. She did not seem to respond to
the therapist’s attempts to play with her by showing her toys, and she
also appeared to avoid the therapist’s attempts. She did not make any
requests nor maintained eye contact with the therapist and she played by
herself.
In Sessions 1-5, in the interaction task, Sara sometimes tried to make
hand movements with the therapist. She gradually turned her gaze toward
the therapist and sometimes touched the therapist, indicating that she
was trying to get involved with the therapist. At playtime, she made eye
contact with the therapist a few times but turned away from the
therapist who tried to engage her, and her response to the therapist’s
attempts were indifferent or negative. Sara showed little interest in
the therapist and played by herself with a toy.
In Sessions 6-9, in the interaction task, when the therapist was
assisting her, Sara tried to move her hands following the therapist and
stared at the therapist more often. In addition, when the therapist
looked at Sara’s hand, she looked at her hand more often. She began to
look at the therapist’s face during the task and smiled several times.
It seems that she was enjoying the task with the therapist. At this
time, Sara often approached the therapist, held hands with the
therapist, and waved her hands up and down as if she wanted to be
involved with the therapist. At playtime in this period, she began to
respond to the therapist’s approach and smiled, although she sometimes
started to play by herself. At that time, she began to reach for the
toys and became more involved with the therapist. She began to share her
attention with the therapist during play, for example, by looking at the
therapist for confirmation.
In the interaction task in later sessions, Sara was able to move her
body in accordance with the therapist’s movements and intentions. When
the therapist used words, such as “slowly” and “move with me” and
moved her eyes, she moved following the therapist’s movement. In
addition, Sara began to show movements to the therapist as if she wanted
to perform the interaction task with the therapist. In the task in
kneeling posture, she was able to move her back in response to the
therapist’s instructions and was able to work calmly. At playtime in
this period, her interest in the therapist’s movements and actions was
more pronounced. She sometimes sat in front of the therapist and looked
at her expectantly. They often made eye contact, and when the therapist
laughed, Sara often smiled as well. She shared her toy and played with
the therapist steadily.
During the follow-up session, she was able to maintain eye contact with
the therapist and continued to focus on each task. She concentrated on
the therapist’s gaze and movements and moved her arms in response to the
therapist’s intentions.