Whole Body Listensing Larry began his life as a tongue depressor – which is appropriate because two innovative speech language pathologists, Kristen Wilson and Elizabeth Sautter, created him. Larry is now teaching kids how to use their hands, feet, eyes - their whole bodies - to better engage with those around them.

"Larry was a character  – a puppet sort of thing – who taught the lessons we developed." The first "Larry" was "a random picture cartoon picture of a little boy – colored in different parts – who knew and could talk about Whole Body Listening... an important concept that is an expansion upon listen with your eyes."

That tongue depressor became a light bulb: Kristen and Elizabeth saw Larry was so effective he could become the subject of a storybook to teach the concepts of Whole Body Listening.

“We sat down and brainstormed,” Elizabeth says. “We decided we needed one [book] for parents and and one for teachers.” The one for parents has already been released, Whole Body Listening Larry at Home, and the one for teachers will be released in summer 2011.

Both Kris and Elizabeth developed the concepts of Larry working at Communication Works, a treatment organization with a group of therapists in Oakland, CA. They were conducting afternoon groups directed at self regulation, and are always developing lessons to make the concepts more concrete, more functional and more fun, constantly innovating upon ideas developed by Michelle Garcia Winner, Carol Gray and others. They attended a Social Thinking conference in the Bay Area and focused on Michelle's ideas involved with listening – realizing there were not a lot materials out there for teaching their own students about "listening with the eyes" and expanding upon that to the whole body. And Larry's "whole body" came to life.

The therapists, in fact, have file cabinets of materials like this, filled with handouts they give to parents andn other materials. They even trained parents 10-15 mins per week on the concept. But, they realized, Whole Body Listening is something that needs to happen all the time, at home and at school - so the storybooks were the needed.
 
“Every preschool should have this book,” Kristen says. "Any child who is wiggly will benefit. If you say `pay attention', they won't if they are 4 or 5 years." Larry helps these students to try to engage all their senses with those around them - that "listening" is more than just a function of the ears. 

“Keeping your body regulated is a huge part of success at school and home,” Elizabeth says.

The book can be particularly helpful for children with sensory processing issues in pre-K thru 3rd grade.

"So many of kids are visual learners – if they can instead of just hearing the words, remember the images, how they listen with their feet, their whole bodies... they will be more engaged."

More on Kris and Elizabeth

Kristen is a southern California native who earned a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Fullerton in Child and Adolescent Development and a master’s degree from California State University, East Bay, in Speech Pathology and Audiology. Over the past decade Kristen has enjoyed working with children in both the public schools and in private practices. Before entering the speech world, Kristen taught for the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District. It was there she discovered her passion for working with children with social cognitive disorders.

Elizabeth Sautter is the co-director/owner of Communication Works. She is a licensed and certified speech-language pathologist who has been working with clients and their families since 1996. Growing up with a sister with developmental delays and now with a second cousin with Asperger syndrome, Elizabeth's passion in this field has never been stonger. She feels lucky to be able to give back to the community that she grew up in and that has given so much to her family. A native of Oakland, Elizabeth received her bachelor's degree from San Francisco State University and her masters degree from San Jose State University. Elizabeth has particular expertise in the areas of autism, developmental disabilities, social cognitive deficits, emotional disorders, and challenging behaviors.