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From: Russ Hicks
Date: 10/13/03
Time: 3:39:56 PM
Remote Name: 12.237.88.139
Hi Janet,
The iceberg concept was introduced, I believe, by Joe Sheehan in about 1970, so it doesn't surprise me that there are several pictures of the iceberg around. I discovered that magnificent iceberg picture on the internet a couple of years ago and added the words and the ship to it. So even though the Iceberg Analogy bears my name most of the time, all I really did was to enhance it.
Oh yes, I can certainly believe that parents have claims to many parts of their children's iceberg! Or their OWN iceberg if the truth be known. And yes indeed, it can certainly be painful to work on those parts. Boy howdy! (As we say here in Texas!)
Regarding how to get the child to open up and let the parent hear, man, that's a tough one. I can think of two suggestions. First use a double interview room with a one-way mirror. You and the child sit on one side and have the parents observe silently from the other side. Another is the use of TV equipment. Either record the interview on video tape or DVD or have the parents observe the close circuit conversation in real time.
I doubt you're going to have any success with the parents actively in the room. We have a boy here in Dallas who looks to his father constantly to speak for him. So it's just as big a problem from the child's point of view as it is from the parents'. But to get any real information from the child himself, you've just got to separate the child from the parents. That's tough, I agree.
Did we meet at the NSA Conference in Nashville? I wasn't at IFA. That was in Montreal, wasn't it? Or Toronto...? I wished I could have attended. Maybe next time...
Good luck and please keep me posted on how you do with the boy and his parents.
My best,
Russ