CHILDREN FACING DEATH: RECURRING PATTERNS OF ADAPTATION

This article examines a number of recent studies on adjustment problems faced by the dying child. Particular attention is given to the relationship between growth and development and the child's awareness of his or her impending death. Emotional growth and situational adjust-ment have emerged as primary concerns in much recent research on death and dying. Most social workers who work with the dying are familiar with Kbler-Ross's dis-cussion of the gradual emotional accep-tance of death. Kb1er-Ross suggests five stages—denial, disbelief, "victimage " (a "why me? " feeling), rage, and accept-ance—that can be used to trace the patter