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Children

General

Helping children to express their 0-10 feeling intensity

Important Note: This article was written prior to 2010 and is now outdated. Please use my newest advancement, Optimal EFT. It is more efficient, more powerful and clearly explained in my free e-book, The Unseen Therapist™.  Best wishes, Gary

Hi Everyone,

Here's a very helpful method by Eddie Brady of the UK for using EFT with young children. Note how rapport with the children is generated by having them participate in the construction of the "dial."

Hugs, Gary


By Eddie Brady

Hi Gary,

I’m a practitioner working in England and I’d like to share a method I have used very successfully in introducing children to EFT, creating rapport and determining levels of intensity on a scale of 0 - 10.

Before a first session, I make a simple dial from card.  I draw a semi-circle on the card divided into 10 sections then attach a card pointer that is able to swing through each of the sections.  The end result resembles half a clock face with only one hand.

At the beginning of a session with a child, I ask them if they would help me with an experiment and I explain that I am trying to show how feelings can be changed just by tapping on certain parts of the body.

I then show them the dial and ask them to help me finish it.  As the dial is supposed to represent their feelings, I ask them which way up they would like the dial and which end would represent good feelings and which end would represent bad.

We then use coloured pens to fill in the dial - I ask them what expression they use if they are feeling really great and we write this in one end section of the semi circle using whatever colour the child has chosen.  I then ask what expression they use when things are really bad and we write this at the other end of the scale, again using the child’s colour of choice.  The rest of the dial is completed using different colours and words to represent different feelings.

I then talk to the child about different things and I ask them to use the dial to show me how they feel.  If they move the dial to a high setting for a particular issue, I conduct rounds of tapping, asking them to show me any changes in their feelings on the dial.  Typically, the dial moves from high to low.

This can be particularly useful for children who find it difficult to talk.  One 8 year old boy was unwilling to tell me what his feelings were but would nod if he agreed with my suggestions so I was able to construct a dial with ‘Cool’ at one end of the scale and ‘Aaaaaaaaaargh!’ at the other end.  I then brought up different subjects and asked him to indicate using the dial to show how he felt.  After a few rounds of tapping on different issues he was moving the dial without any prompting.

I leave the dial with the child and suggest that they use it themselves until our next appointment.  I have found that this encourages children to use EFT and it is not unusual for them to want to change the words and colours on their dial.  One boy named the dial his ‘feel-o-meter’ and would use it response to his mother’s questions like ‘How are you?’ or ‘How was school?’.

Of course, this approach is not restricted to children and it may be useful in any situation where verbal communication is difficult.

Love from Eddie

More articles on Children's Issues

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