Quilting Therapy-Speech

Quilting is theraputic in many ways.  My grandson and I are adding our own little twist to this!!! 

He has a bit of speech trouble and during the school year works with his speech therapist several times a week, his classroom teacher daily and we work with him at home.  During the summer months, he gets to work with his speech therapist about every other week and we try to come up with some interesting ideas to do at home.

Pictures are used to work with children from the time they are born.  Pictures are often used to help stroke victims work to recover function.  After a horrible automobile accident, when he finally came out of his coma, pictures were used to help my nephew recover brain function, recognition and speech.

I know you see this coming .....  My grandson ( AKA Little Fish ) and I have put pictures and his speech therapy together with our love of quilts/quilting and we are working on two new quilts.  The first quilt is our picture quilt.  Little Fish is drawing pictures on 8" x 12" pieces of fabric using Crayola Fabric Crayons. --- I know I've told you before how I love these crayons.  I use them at school, at home, and for children's camps, classes and parties.  They are easy to use, last a long time and produce an attractive piece.  Whether or not you have children to work with, give these a try.  They are an inexpensive way to have some fun.---You can make transfers with these crayons but we prefer to draw directly on the fabric. ( If you put a piece of oatmeal paper under the fabric while drawing, it won't slide around. ) Then we cover the picture with a piece of paper and iron over it to heat-set the drawing.  After this, the block is ready to be sewn into a quilt.

The whole time we are working on our project we talk.  We talk about what we are doing, we talk about the fabric and the colors, we talk about the shapes, we talk about the machines and the thread.  Most importantly, we talk about the pictures he drew and he explains every aspect of them to me and to anyone else who will listen.  When the quilt is finished and he can snuggle under it, he can tell us about the pictures again.  This process helps his speech, his imagination, his organization, his fine motor skills and so much more.

The second quilt is a photo quilt.  We are taking pictures of my grandson during different activities this summer.  We use a digital camera and then print the pictures on fabric sheets.  --- My favorite product for this process, so far, is called Printed Treasures.  These are 100% cotton, 200 thread count and can be washed.  The photos come out clear and hold their color.  These pieces stay soft which means so does your quilt! --- You can print your pictures with more than one on a sheet but for this quilt we like to use a full sheet for each picture. 

Again, we talk the entire time we are working.  This quilt gives Little Fish the opportunity to talk about things he has done.  He describes where he was, who he was with and what was going on.  While the first quilt allows him to use his imagination, this quilt deals with real experiences.

I encourage you to try these quilt methods yourself.  Even if you do not know someone who will benefit from the speech therapy opportunities, these quilts are great fun!

Happy Quilting,
Laurel