Main description:

This book arose out of the need to work with emotionally regressed non-talking children who entered hospital in full retreat from the external world. It helps parents and professionals compassionately comprehend the child's difficulties in depending on someone to receive communication.

Contents:

Introduction -- Introduction -- "The sound of silence" -- "Milo was a normal boy" -- Communicating without words -- Young Children -- The musings of babies: reflective thinking, emotion, and the re-integration of the good object -- A baby's "broken bridge" to the parents -- Evolving patterns of parental containment of a young child communicating through not eating or speaking -- The child who has not yet found words -- Young People -- Extended family explorations using dreams, drawings, and play when the referred child does not speak -- Inpatient care of a child who does not walk, talk, or eat -- Collaborating, containing, and inspiring confidence: physiotherapy with a child who does not talk, walk, or eat -- The silent child in school: teaching a child who does not talk, walk, or eat -- "Compelled to die": psychotherapy with a girl who does not talk, walk, or eat -- Countertransference in the psychoanalysis of a silent adolescent boy -- A journey through family therapy with a non-speaking child -- Opaque silence in groups -- Creative Activities for Non-Speaking Children -- The creative group experience -- Roar and rumpus: engaging non-speaking children through stories and songs