Treasured Tradition: Expressing Gratitude and Encouraging Speech Around the Table
by
Chantai Snellgrove 
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Treasured Tradition
Around the table
In an effort to help encourage speech, language, communication and conversations with my daughter, we started a little tradition around our dinner table. It started with everyone taking a turn sharing three things that were good about their day. This proved to be a challenge with my daughter who has different abilities because she always shared about negative things that happened to her during the day. Wanting to encourage the positive, we started asking her to tell us three things she liked about a certain person, school, class, etc.
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Nightly Ritual becomes Treasured Tradition
This became a nightly ritual at our house, and since my daughter is a stickler on routines, it has become a family tradition. Now, whenever we are at any family dinner gathering with relatives, as soon as we sit down she starts’s asking… “can go around table…can we go around the table”? It took a little coaxing at first for great-grandparents, aunts, uncles and family friends to join in, but, now everyone is on board. We have switched it up a little bit for birthdays. Family members or friends are asked to share what they appreciate, or a favorite memory, about the person that is having the birthday. It has become a fun tradition in our house; a time to stop, reflect and be grateful for the good in our lives. So, you can imagine what it’s like at Thanksgiving. Family members have now started writing down what they’re thankful and grateful for so that they can share. Although my daughter with different abilities does not always use the right words to express herself, the sentiments from her heart are easily understood. A word of caution: we no longer do this during the Thanksgiving dinner. We do it before or after the dinner because sometimes tears roll. What started out as us trying to incorporate speech therapy into our daily lives has become a treasured tradition in our house.
What are some of your family traditions for giving thanks?
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awesome idea!!
One year at a Christmas family gathering, we used a plastic ketchup bottle to play our version of the old “Spin the Bottle” game. Someone would spin the bottle. Then, when it stopped, the spinner would say one thing he or she appreciated or loved about the person to whom the bottle pointed. (We had to limit it to ONE thing because some people would get carried away.) Like your family, tears sometimes flowed. The person to whom the bottle pointed would then become the spinner. We made sure that everyone had a turn. It was a hit with everyone – young & old!
I love it!!! We will have to add this to our table as well. Thank you for sharing~ Chantai
What a wonderful idea! I think that I may try to put this in our nightly routine before Prayers. My son can sometimes be a little negative about things so this might help him think of good things. i might need to make a rule that it can’t be a good thing about his video games though lol!