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.