Verbal First Aid: Help Your Kids Heal from Fear and Pain--and Come Out Strong

by Judith Simon Prager, Judith Acosta

Words as Medicine
What to say to your children to get them through the bumps, bruises, and crises of childhood.

Falling off a bike, having a bad dream, getting stitches...sometimes a kiss isn't enough to make it all better. But what you say to your child in those first moments of pain or fear could make all the difference.

Using techniques the authors have taught to doctors, nurses, and first responders, Verbal First Aid(tm) explains how words can be used to promote healing from burns, bruises, nightmares, asthma attacks, and more. It provides scripts and tips on how to short-circuit traumatic memories, sometimes just by speaking a sentence or two.

This revolutionary book gives parents the responses they need to immediately stabilize their children's emotions. And these methods will build a foundation of confidence and inner strength that will help kids heal at the deepest level, and weather whatever hardships and difficulties they encounter throughout life.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction

338 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 26, 2010

About the author

Judith Simon Prager is an Award-Winning Instructor at UCLA Ext. Writers’ Program where she’s taught fiction and memoir writing for more than 20 years.
She is co-author of THE WORST IS OVER: WHAT TO SAY WHEN EVERY MOMENT COUNTS, which has been called “the ‘bible’ for crisis communication” by The International Journal of Emergency Mental Health, and of VERBAL FIRST AID: HELP YOUR KIDS HEAL FROM FEAR AND PAIN—AND COME OUT STRONG.

She has written a picture book called OWIE-CADABRA’S VERBAL FIRST AID FOR KIDS, A SOMEWHAT MAGICAL WAY TO HELP HEAL YOURSELF AND YOUR FRIENDS that has been used in waiting rooms in pediatric hospitals as well as by moms across the country. And she teaches first responders, medical professionals, school and military personnel in Verbal First Aid, a protocol she and her co-author developed, about how to speak in medical emergencies to set a course for recovery. She has been a consultant to several medical centers including Cedars-Sinai and Children’s Hospital of Orange County.

She’s written JOURNEY TO ALTERNITY: TRANSFORMATIONAL HEALING THROUGH STORIES AND METAPHORS, a memoir of sorts about her hypnotherapy work with clients that has sometimes led to miracles, and about the science behind it.

Her latest book was an effort to discover what NON-Verbal First Aid would be like. So she asked a dolphin and this is WHAT THE DOLPHIN SAID, a novel based on actual incidents, filled with drama, suspense, consciousness, inspiration, and mystical happenings that truly occurred. You can see the trailer here: http://bit.ly/2tnVOgD

She has a private therapy practice in Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband, the poet Harry Youtt.
You can visit her on the web at judithprager.com and here at goodreads.

Reviews

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book using subtle hypnotherapy techniques to provided emotional first aid for kids when something happens (since people tend to be in a highly suggestible state when they are scared/ in pain). Very congruent with my somatic therapy training (Somatic Experiencing). The book is extremely readable and practical, and is mainly composed of examples, stories, and lists (rather than vague theory). THANK you.

My only criticism is that I wasn't sure all the scientific references were actually legitimate science. No offense to the authors, but there is a lot of pseudo-science around, and it's sometimes hard to differentiate.

[Amy Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily the most useful parenting book I have read since Baby 411 and/or The Happiest Baby on the Block. The authors have extensive experience training medical personnel and first responders who work with injured and sick children. In this book, they rework their training for parents. I've used a variety of the techniques with good results. (One nit to pick: The authors, I think, dwell too much on the danger of saying the wrong thing. You can't function as a parent if you worry too much that your every utterance is a one-way ticket to psychotherapy.)

[Kassaundra Slifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gave me so many options to help with my kids, my pediatric patients and adults I interact with every day

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is worth reading for anyone raising or working with young children -- especially if any of your kids tend to imagine or fret over injuries and ailments. The premise is that to help lead someone to a calmer state, you must yourself become calm. It elaborates on this general principle with scripts for situations such as asthma attacks, nosebleeds, natural disasters, etc. Like another reviewer, I wondered about the quality of some scientific studies referred to in the book. But this is a minor quibble. Before I even finished the book, I was applying its strategies with my preschool class of 2yos and (with some adaptation) with my 17yo son. They worked every time, sometimes startlingly well. Fortunately, I wasn't dealing with serious medical crises, just stuff like head bumps and anxious tummies. I also adapted the principles to deal with emotional upsets. I was able to talk to a completely flipped-out 2yo so that when I said, "It's a good thing you know how to be happy when you don't get you want," she immediately settled down and was happy. I was so surprised I just about fell over. I plan to re-read this to help me remember the ideas when I need them.

[Kellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the many books I've read on parenting or relating to kids, this is one of the few that I wish I'd read sooner. The authors have included so many practical examples that really help me feel prepared to support my children through adversity.

[Sandi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my kind of book.