Language During Mealtime – Details, episodes & analysis

I have known Noreen for many years and loved her first children's book, I'll Tell You Why...I Can't Wear Those Clothes! To read my review and short online interview with Noreen, click here.

Do you want to focus on mindfulness and acceptance with your children? For anyone not familiar with EFT tapping, check out this website here. 

I learned about tapping a few years ago and have found it helpful as an easy and accessible way to reduce anxiety. 

Look, Listen, Love written by Noreen O'Sullivan is a parent and children's guide to emotional freedom tapping. A softcover interactive children’s book, helping children love and accept themselves just the way they are. This book uses animals to teach children the self-awareness and self-acceptance tool EFT Tapping. Included in the book are different animals to help children interact and learn about tapping in a fun and playful way. 

For each animal, the author gives examples to learn how to use Look Listen Love. For many children, having examples, especially of animals can help them relate to specific strategies. After each animal, the book gives space for children to add their own Look Listen Love sentences to the book. This strategy helps make both children and adults aware of how you are feeling and giving yourself time to feel the feeling and then accept yourself. Listen to the podcast to learn more! 

To learn more about Noreen, visit my website here.

Living with Viola written and illustrated by the talented Rosena Fung is a wonderful graphic novel about a young name Livy who is having trouble fitting into her new school. She also has a lot of anxiety, which is represented as a shadowy twin named Viola. When visiting Toronto, I found a beautiful and unique bookstore called Type Books. After browsing for a few minutes, I discovered this book, Living with Viola. I love middle grade books, especially ones that are based on memoirs. Listen to our podcast to learn more!

In this middle-grade graphic novel, Livy navigates friendships, insecurity, family relationships, and how to navigate anxiety. As a tween and/or teen, anxiety can be overwhelming. I found the representation of anxiety of a shadowy twin, Viola, to be really interesting and helpful when trying to understand anxiety. It can also lead to productive conversations about self-talk. Often we talk worse to ourselves than anyone else! Living with Viola can be an excellent book for a classroom, home library, or book club. 

When reading this book with your tween/teen, here are some discussion questions to start with:

Tell me about Livy feels when she first begins school. Did you ever feel like Livy?

What do you think Viola represents in the story? Do you think Viola is mean or supportive of Livy?

Why is Livy embarrassed to bring her friend to her house? 

Are you similar or different from Livy? If so, how? 

To learn more about Rosena and her work, visit my website here.

Terrance The Hothead written by Lisa Cloherty and illustrated by Alex Lopez is a story about big feelings and emotional regulation. Terrance the Hothead has big feelings and feels overwhelmed with big emotions each time a problem arises. He starts with a simmer, steam, and then explodes! How can he regulate his emotions better so he can begin to develop friendships with others? Terrance learns some key strategies from Coach Ice and Lady Grey throughout the book to help keep him more regulated. This picture book helps give children the language to talk about big feelings and how to cope with them.

I love the illustrations in the book and how the main character navigates his feelings throughout the story. I also love the language of simmer, steam, and boil. Giving children some concrete ways of talking about their emotions help them learn to talk and regulate their big feelings. Listen to our podcast above to learn more about emotional regulation!

To learn more about Lisa and her book, visit my website here. 

Forget Me Not begins as Calliope moves to a new town with her mother. Calliope moves often with her unstable mother, which makes her feel displaced and unsure of how long she will be living in one place. On the first day that she moves, she meets her neighbor, Jinsong, who also is in 7th grade at her new school. Calliope immediately feels connected to Jinsong. Will he be a true friend to her? 

Calliope has always felt different because of her tics and "quirks" as her mom would call it. She would hum, tense her arms and yank her hair. Her mother, who doesn't understand the disorder, takes some extreme measures to help reduce symptoms, which includes cutting Calliope's beautiful hair at the beginning of the book to reduce the "yanking and pulling". When Calliope is diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome at a young age, her doctor advises Calliope to hide and control her tics. For someone with Tourette's, trying to hide these tics makes symptoms even worse. 

The story progresses as Calliope navigates her new school, tries to make new friends, and struggles with her Tourette's Syndrome. However, it's difficult because she gets bullied and teased, which makes her symptoms even worse. She also feels alone with her mother constantly with a new boyfriend. How will Calliope find true friends and take control of her own life? 

To learn more about Ellie and her books, check out my website here.

 

Come On, Calm! is a wonderful, interactive book that is not just a story, it's a therapeutic experience when reading it with your child. I love supporting other speech-language pathologists in their journey in writing children's books since we have such a unique perspective with regard to neurodiversity. Come On, Calm! written by Kelsey Brown and illustrated by Joseph Wrightson is a picture book published by Mascot Books that embeds calming strategies for young children. The book was originally written as a poem by the author. It focuses on specific vocabulary and action words with step-by-step ideas for self or co-regulation. Come On, Calm! embeds language such as emotional vocabulary (e.g. nervous, excited) with strategies such as "sniffing", "squeezing", "zipping", "brushing" and much more. The book is beautifully illustrated and bursts with energy! 

I love how the book naturally embeds movement and a multi-sensory experience. When reading this book, practice the different movements with your child and/or student. Work on print awareness by pointing to the words in the book and doing consistent check-ins with feelings. This book also helps children understand what "calm" means. Listen to our podcast above to learn more about tips from Kelsey!

To learn more about Kelsey, visit my website here. 

Mindful Mondays: Transforming the Everyday to Claim Calm and Reduce Stress written by Kim Dwyer, Ph.D. is divided into four sections. These sections include General Mindfulness Strategies, Mindful and Thoughts, Mindfulness Values and Intentionality, and Mindfulness and the Art of Living. This book gives valuable strategies for both the beginner and expert in mindfulness. One of the most challenging aspects of daily living is being mindful. I have to remind myself all of the time to "slow down and be in the moment". In our podcast, we discuss different ways to be more mindful in our busy and stressful world! 

Kim is also the children's book author of Rocky's Christmas Journey. This picture book is about an owl that was discovered in the tree at Rockefeller Center in 2020. The story follows this owl from the treetops of a forest to the tree in NYC.  The book is beautifully illustrated by Moran Roudor and includes a caregiver guide at the end with discussion questions.

To read more and learn about Kim Dwyer, click here. 

I Am Odd I Am New written by Benjamin Giroux and illustrated by Roz MacLean is a picture book based on a poem that the author wrote when he was 10 years old. The poem, which is pictured below describes Ben's feelings about feeling "out of place", "like a castaway", and how he tries "to fit in". Benjamin, who is autistic wrote this poem as part of a school assignment. The poem is beautifully written and unique but the feelings he expresses through the poem are felt by many others. This was evident after his parents shared the poem on social media and it became viral inspiring many others to discuss similar feelings. Whether your child is neurodiverse or neurotypical, this book can be an excellent tool to be read at home or in the classroom. 

To learn more about Benjamin and read this poem, click here.

Do you have a child with selective mutism? Does your child's voice get stuck in school or with certain people? All three books below written by Lucy Nathanson are excellent resources for both school and home alike.  Why Doesn't Alice Talk at School?

This picture book is a story that is intended to be read to friends and the class about selective mutism. This book begins with a section for adults and the story for children follows. The book is a wonderful tool to help explain to children why Alice doesn't talk at school. He talks about different things that other children are scared of and then relates it to Alice and her fear of talking at school. The teacher also gives some tips for the children to help support Alice. Why Doesn't Alice Talk at School is ideal for the classroom or school library!

My Name is Ben and I don't talk sometimes

This picture book includes both a children's story and guidelines for parents and professionals. The story begins with Ben explaining that he is a chatterbox at home, but at school he has trouble talking. He also gets nervous when he has other people over at his house and is scared to talk to his Aunty Sarah. I loved how the author embedded different tips in the storybook such as Ben being relieved that his Aunty Sarah doesn't ask him a lot of questions, which makes him nervous. The book also incorporates the brave chart and how Ben begins to feel brave to talk with his Aunty Sarah in the room.

My Name is Eliza and I don't talk at school

My Name is Eliza and I don't talk at school is another wonderful storybook about a young girl named Eliza. The book begins with a section of "How to Read this Book" and then includes a section of therapeutic strategies such as stimulus fading, reassuring your child, graded exposure in the community, and brave charts. Eliza describes her "big worry feeling" when her voice gets stuck. This third book written by Lucy Nathanson can be an excellent tool for parents, friends and educators.

To learn more and check out additional resources about selective mutism, click here. 

Be The Dragon 9 Keys to Unlocking Your Inner Magic written by Catherine J. Manning and illustrated by Melanie Demmer is a beautiful workbook to stimulate your child's creativity and imagination. The book begins with a Know Yourself Quiz to determine "What type of dragon are you?" From there, you can determine what type of dragon you are! Are you a water dragon, air dragon, ground dragon, fire dragon, or moon dragon? 

In this book, you will find hands-on activities, quests and quizzes, exciting stories, and vibrant illustrations. Through these activities, your child can reflect on overcoming fears, increasing confidence, social skills, and stimulating problem-solving situations.

To learn more about this book, visit my website here!

When Things Get Too Loud written and illustrated by Anne Alcott is an excellent book to help children who are sensitive to loud noises. This story about sensory overload is visual in nature with the integration of the Feel-O-Meter, which helps children understand the intensity of their sensitivity. This book, written in rhyme takes children from low intensity (#1- feeling great) all the way through the high intensity with tips on strategies to help calm down. 

When Things Get Too Loud includes a section on strategies for when things get too loud such as headphones, a weighted blanket, music, or rocking motion. There is also a section that each child can individualize by drawing what helps them. As a speech-language pathologist for over 20 years, I have had many students who are overwhelmed by loud noises. When this sensitivity isn't addressed, children can become distressed which can manifest into negative behaviors or withdrawal. Recognizing and validating the sensitivity is key. Additionally, providing effective strategies to help a child is extremely important. 

To read more and connect with Anne, visit my website here.