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Ackerman and Sobel undertake to describe the personalities of preschool children not as separate organizations but as functional parts of the family
group. This approach requires a study of the parents and the siblings with particular emphasis on 'the functions and patterns of interaction of the parents at each stage in the history of their relationship, leading up to the point where the parental relationship and the individual personalities of each parent accommodate to the admission of the child into the family group'.
A clinic team is used to obtain the necessary data. The family is then grouped according to its internal dynamics and social position and the child's problems described in terms of the adjustive behavior required to maintain equilibrium within the disturbed family constellation. The methodology for this approach is still in the process of evolution. Problems of treating one family in such terms are described.