INDEX OF QUOTES
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Redl’s writings and the chapters in this book speak to this current scene in many ways. If more of the children are going to be kept in the mainstream, certainly crisis intervention and Life Space Interviewing are sine qua non. The nature and building of a hygienic milieu assumes importance in all intervention settings for disturbed children, not just in residential placements. Knitzer points out that many school programs are stuck on a point system behavior modification plateau. The adults have not gone beyond what Redl described as just being able to live in the same environment with disturbed kids. All who work with children need to know more about what makes children "tic," to use Redl’s phrase. Aggressive behavior is in long supply but short in our understanding. Delinquency has become endemic. Workers recognize that many disturbed and disturbing children present one self in an individual one to one exchange with an adult and quite another self when performing in a group setting. In our closing section the reader will be directed to certain of Redl’s papers on these topics. The fact is, many young professionals are struggling with difficult children without the advantage of Redl’s insights. Those who were long ago introduced to his wisdom will find rereading rewarding for there are always ideas that provide cues for tomorrow’s engagements. So let us again become aware of how much we can benefit from his teaching. Fortunately many of the best papers of this remarkable man can be found in his (1966) collection When We Deal With Children. The problem is to stimulate directors, professors and students to search out his work and sense the excitement of a writer who was there before we were and writes it like it really is. We can ‘‘see" in our experience what he explains in his writings. No one since has had Redl’s clarity of vision combined with the descriptive power to illuminate the meaning of events we live with everyday. His genius was to speak on many levels and present a challenge to the childcare worker and theoretician in the same description. The purpose of this publication is to encourage others to find the stimulation Redl’s original followers found. Part of Redl’s power was in how he delivered the message and unfortunately there is no way this can be reproduced in a printed page even with his colorful turn of phrase. The personality which made such an impact was composed of many facets that touched every writer in this volume as well as thousands who heard him lecture. He was an essential democrat, treating the neophyte and the distinguished with the same warm regard. His sense of humor was always there, and often at his own expense. And Fritz did love a party. He was always in a learning mode. An acute social conscience guided his work. His creativity matched the ease with which he spoke, and his thinking was so organized that there was a logical outline if you took notes. It is no wonder so many have taken him as the model for child mental health professionals. |
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