With Melanie Klein , she may be considered the founder of psychoanalytic child psychology . As her father put it , child analysis had received a powerful impetus through `` the work of Frau Melanie Klein and of my daughter , Anna Freud '' . Alongside Melanie Klein , she may be considered the founder of psychoanalytic child psychology : as her father put it , child analysis ` had received a powerful impetus through `` the work of Frau Melanie Klein and of my daughter , Anna Freud '' ' .