Communication is so vital that we as adults often take it for granted. As children, we are just learning how to communicate. Combine that learning curve with trauma, abuse or special needs and often young children can only conclude that they must have done something wrong to hurt so much. This can result in closing up, shutting down, or lashing out at the adults trying to help.
Consequently, Mending Me™ LLC designed three therapeutic toys in an attempt to make the process of interaction as supportive as possible. These toys provide the practitioner (physician, psychologist, counselor, teacher or therapist) an opportunity to observe the child’s interaction with these toys, providing an environment for the child to play out what they might be feeling and have nurturing. It also allows the therapist to evaluate at what point of the healing process the child has attained, providing important knowledge on how to engage with the child in the child’s psychological space at the most appropriate point of entry.
The therapist provides the child with an opportunity to select one of three therapeutic toys. This simple action is a way of giving the child back choice and control which they feel they have lost. The child then has an opportunity to connect with the toy through play, enjoying the softness and comfort that this plush therapeutic toy provides while at the same time displacing some of the emotional trauma he/she has endured onto the toy.
How are Mending Me,™ LLC Therapeutic Toys different?
- These plush therapeutic toys are not human like. There is a heart space that houses the heart, a Velcro pocket which holds the letter for the child. This pocket can hold the heart, other communication the child chooses to write or draw or place in the pocket. .
- The heart was created with two sides, a broken side and a mended side and is encased in the heart space to represent the walls which can form when a child undergoes trauma.
- The therapeutic toys also provide an opportunity for a child to alert the provider asking for help, which can be concealed to the unknown observer.
- The pocket also provides a place for a child to insert a piece of paper and write messages to the therapist or others, which again can be their safe hiding place to the unknown observer. This unique feature of the toy allows the practitioner to gain additional clues regarding how the child currently is feeling about him/herself.
Each one of the plush toys was designed to promote healing for children of all ages.