More Books for Home Speech Therapy

At the beginning of the year, I started a quest to help my daughter overcome her selective mutism.

What I found was probably there all the time, but I just didn't see it. Lately, I have been directing my attention at the whole child, not just the selective mutism behavior.

I must say, I'm having a great time bringing my daughter "out of her shell." Some days are tedious, some discouraging, but we're both learning and growing.

Here's several books that we've used as conversation starters:

Cat's Got Your Tongue is a story about a little girl, Anna, who is entering kindergarten. She is unhappy and avoids sharing her true feelings about it. Her teacher notices that she is not transitioning well and suggests counseling to her parents.

Anna goes to counseling and over a period of time, learns to use her words through play therapy, namely puppets.

Anna and her counselor put on a puppet show for her parents and teacher in her school classroom for familiarity, then they decide it would be fun to put the show on for the kids.

After overcoming her fears and anxieties, Anna is able to make friends.

My thoughts were mixed with this book. I wasn't sure my daughter would like it because the pages were black and white. However, she quickly identified herself in Anna.

The breakthrough moment came last week when we were washing dishes together. My daughter was asking questions about the book. She told me she wanted to be able to speak in public! She said she wanted to be able to make friends! She told me that maybe we should find a counselor that would help her learn to talk!

I about fell on the floor! I think I scared her when I hugged and kissed her all at the same time!

Since then, we have been more able to talk about everything! She is trying new things left and right now!

I guess I honestly believed that my child enjoyed the attention she received by not speaking. I thought it was a control issue. How wrong was I!?!

To Be Continued. . .

Double-Dip Feelings is just what the title says. It talks about how it's possible to feel several emotions at the same time.

We had a lot of fun with this book and it started many conversations. She enjoyed the colorful illustrations.

BTW, we are still filling the jar with candies everytime she tries something new. I also write her "tries" in her own little notebook, so we can review all her accomplishments.

Does anyone else have any suggestions? (books, resources, games, anything to try) Please share!

For other tips, visit 5 minutes for Special Needs

And We Are THAT Family.

Boosting Your Child's Self Esteem

*Sorry for using this post again, it just meant so much to my daughter. It's a cheap and easy thing to do to show your child that you care, and you could make a book on any subject!

When I started working with Shayla on her selective mutism issue (an official label for being painfully shy to the extreme!), I started uncovering that she has an underlying poor self-esteem issue about herself.

I believe that it was because of her skin condition and food allergies.

I'm not a therapist. For that matter, I don't even have a college degree. I'm just a mother who loves her children and I try to be very "in-tune" with them.

I tried talking with her about these things, but she didn't want to discuss them. So, I wrote her a book about herself. Awhile back we were using Ed Emberley's Fingerprint Book for art, so I created people using this method.

She enjoys it tremendously. And the best part is, it has opened up her feelings. She has begun to talk to me and I have been able to offer her comfort in the form of hugs and kisses and reassuring words.

We still have a long ways to go, but this is what is working for me! Try this tip, with whatever your situation is, your kids will love it!

Book making is about as frugal as you can get, outside of visiting the library, but that's not as much fun! For other frugal tips, visit Crystal's.