Can RTT Therapy Help Children?

RTT is incredible at helping children because it empowers them and helps them to see the strength, the value and the worth within themselves. They respond as children do, quickly, easily, and with trust. Children’s minds are more receptive and less critical than adult minds, and they are ready to take on suggestions and new thoughts. It is so exciting and rewarding for parents to see children feel the power within themselves.

A child can be going along in life, happy, playful, social, sleeping well and eating well and then within months that child begins to develop and exhibit negative behaviors that seem unlike that happy, playful child. These behaviors can be anywhere from anxiety, sleep problems, bedwetting, heightened sensitivity, tantrums and more. This can be very disturbing and scary for parents.

Children experience many different problems in their lives that can cause stress, behavioral problems, mood disturbances and more. Some of these problems can begin with being bullied, not fitting in, home life problems, a death in the family, making and keeping friends, sports performance and more.

Parents love their children and would do anything for them but as hard as parents try to fulfill all of their children’s needs, they will fall short. Babies are born into this earth having many needs that need to be met.

According to Marisa Peer, the founder of RTT, the needs that a baby/child needs to have met are:

1. To feel loved- Consistent love and affection fosters security and self worth.
2. To feel safe - Having a stable and secure environment is crucial in a baby's development, creating positive beliefs about the world.
3. To feel wanted - To feel that they matter creates a strong sense of self worth.
4. To feel significant
5. To feel connected - A need to have a strong bond is innate, and babies thrive on a deep connection.
6. To be seen and heard- babies and children need their attempts at communication acknowledged. This creates a sense of being valid and important.
7. To be celebrated- It is vital for a baby and child to feel that they bring joy and happiness to others in order to have a strong sense of self worth.
8. To have someone who is proud of them-When a baby can sense and receive the positive validation from their parents, the foundation for their self esteem is strong and set.
9. To be fed - When food is sparse or withheld, a child can create limiting beliefs surrounding their worth and their safety.

When a child’s needs are not met, they create limiting beliefs. These beliefs include but are not limited to: I am not enough, I am not worthy, what I have to say doesn’t matter, I am not loveable, I am not safe, I am not smart, I am not valid, what I want isn't available to me, I am different.

These beliefs become their lense of perception and go with them throughout their life, which then lead to problems.

Between the ages of birth and seven years old, a child’s brain operates in the alpha brain wave state, a very relaxed yet alert state of being. Being in the alpha brain wave state means that they are constantly taking on suggestions and beliefs. Compare this to the Beta brainwave state, the state that is our daily, problem solving brain wave state. This is where we are alert, focused and engaged in mental activity. This constant suggestible state is why children are so vulnerable and susceptible to the world around them. A young child is creating beliefs that are helpful and shape their view of the world but they can also create negative beliefs that will limit them and create problems.

For example, if a child witnesses their sibling being yelled at by a parent, that child could form a belief that they aren’t safe, and that because they can’t help their sibling, they aren’t enough. These limiting beliefs can go with them to create anxiety, fears, and low self esteem. Or if a new sibling is born into the family, that older child could develop the belief that they aren’t important or significant, which then leads them to believe that they aren’t enough. Those limiting beliefs can go with them into their life, creating behavioral problems trying to get them attention. The parents didn’t intend for this limiting perception and these beliefs may or not be true, but what the child believes is their truth. RTT helps them by changing the way they see it and empowering them to believe that they are enough, that they are important and that they can build themselves up from within.

Childhood is a crucial time for a child in developing their belief system about themselves and about the world around them and the limiting beliefs that they create, can lead to problems in their lives. RTT helps them to change those beliefs and to let go of the negative behavior that comes along with it.

When it comes to helping children, RTT can be particularly powerful. RTT aims at discovering the root cause instead of just addressing symptoms. Principles of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are used to understand how thoughts have led to feelings and those feelings have led to the behavior, or the existing problem. Children often express emotional distress through behavior—like anxiety, bedwetting, tantrums, or lack of confidence. RTT helps identify and reframe the underlying belief or experience causing that behavior.

RTT sessions for children are all about empowering the child and building them up from within. Children are dependent, dependent on the world around them - their parents, siblings, teachers, peers, and adults in their lives. There could be a bully at school that continues to focus on that child, or a parent that, though trying their best, is not showing love and support. RTT sessions help the child build up the strength within themselves to not allow that bully to hurt them, or to know that they are lovable and worthy of love, regardless of what the parent does or does not do.

For children, who are still dependent on their parents to meet their needs, RTT sessions help them heal from traumatic experiences and then tools and principles through cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are used to empower them and help them believe in themselves to create the cheerleader within themselves.

Once a child understands and hears the encouragement needed from within themselves, they are free to move forward with confidence and happiness.

Using Neuro-Linguistics Programming techniques (NLP), RTT sessions help the child believe in themselves by hearing what they need to hear, that they aren’t getting from their peers, their teachers or their parents. They are hearing that from within themselves, I am enough, I am smart, I am significant, I am clever, I am talented, I am beautiful, I am worthy. Imagine a childhood that is rooting in a strong self belief. What could be better?

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