This paper explores some issues that might arise when one considers having a table hockey game in the therapy room, and describes how an autistic boy, aged fourand-a-half when starting treatment, used that game. The unfolding process from withdrawal to separateness, intersubjectivity and playfulness is illustrated by the progress of two years of twice-weekly psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Special attention is paid to how the play progressed through the intermediate area that the therapist provided.
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