Cahn believes that language acquisition presupposes the acquisition of stable object relations. He believes that the lack, failure, or insufficiency of object relations can gravely compromise the linguistic function. He gives a clinical example and then discusses certain essential elements in language acquisition, together with their theoretical and technical implications. In the illustration the complex process by which the child mastered the problem of absence is delineated. In therapeutic play with the therapist, the patient was enabled to accept separation, to benefit from it, and to grow.