If your child won’t talk about their thoughts, don’t panic. Silence isn’t failure—it’s a signal. Here’s what to do instead.

Stop cataloguing rituals. Start listening for what breaks if they don’t happen. Treat the structure, not just the symptom.

Is your child expressing something—or just repeating it? Learn how to tell if a ritual is symbolising, or if it’s stuck in survival mode.

To abandon symbolic work is to leave the child un-met, and the therapist untouched. We must reclaim meaning, or risk becoming procedural.