The Cookie Monster

Melinda attends Speech therapy with Lillian straight after her nap. She will often bounce into the therapy room with a loud ‘Ni Hao’ and a huge grin on her face. Some days her hair is still in a post-nap style, but Lillian being a great Ayi and previous nanny to the kids, soon rectifies this!

 Melinda is learning sign language in her therapy sessions, and is doing great. Recently a Cookie monster toy was donated to the Foster Home- he has a bag with cookies in, and his mouth will open for you to feed him, saying ‘Cookie, cookie, cookie’ at the same time! Lillian quickly saw the great resource that he could be for their therapy sessions and the signs that could be practiced with the game- don’t we all learn best when cookies and fun are involved?!

 Melinda was initially somewhat apprehensive about seeing the bear, particularly when he started opening and closing his mouth (not surprising really)! After signing ‘more cookie’ and being given it by Lillian, she would throw it into his mouth and wriggle away as quickly as possible. They practiced this and other signs each day, and soon Melinda became an expert at feeding the monster and hearing his ‘Mmm cookie’ upon ‘eating’ his food! She will now pat his head and tell him to ‘eat’ his ‘cookie’.

Melinda and Lillian have a great relationship in their therapy sessions, learning new signs and having such fun as they do so- it’s hard not to become drawn into the monster feeding sessions too!

Check out this video that we got of Melinda in therapy with Lillian. Obviously, cookies are the theme!



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This post was written by our Occupational Therapist, Jenny