Using Books to Help With Change
Books introduce us to new places and people, and they can help familiarize children with new situations that may be happening in their own lives.
Perhaps your child is going to the dentist for the first time, going to the hospital, starting school, moving, going to have a new sibling, or getting a pet, these are often new experiences for children and can prompt a lot of questions, concern, and curiosity.
Reading about the situation beforehand can help a child know what to expect. (Learn to Read series like Pete the Cat* and Berenstain Bears*). Likewise, reading about the situation afterward can give your child the opportunity to compare and contrast their experience with that of the story’s characters.
Jann Fujimoto, MS CCC-SLP has always been a fan of the Berenstain Bears, because of Jan Berenstain. Jann is a speech-language pathologist and owner of SpeechWorks in Oconomowoc, WI.
