Tomorrow’s cases are child cases today. Whole civilizations have changed because somebody changed the children. In the past, the children were usually changed for the worse. Today let’s be different and change them for the better.
But whatever the benefits and reasons of child processing, however much it may do to smooth out a home and improve the future, the fact remains that it is a highly technical subject. The processing of children requires more technically perfect auditing and more properly applied sessions and processes than the average adult.
To achieve the greatest benefit for children, one should first achieve the greatest possible command of auditing skill and Scientology theory and practice. Because a child is helplessly unable to express his ARC breaks violently enough to be listened to is no reason he should be given them.
Child processing demands more perfect auditing than adult processing and therefore requires a better trained auditor than the average. If you would process children, be a Professional auditor first even if the children are your own. You will find that it will pay.
With that reservation in mind, here are a few very modern developments in the processing of children. These are the best processes I know and the only processes that have worked out over a long period of time on a great many children.
A child must be given a very formal session. A child’s case will go downhill generally if the child is processed hit or miss, any old time, with careless sessioning. A child’s session must be given the full dignity of an adult session. It must be opened and closed. All the formalities of a session must be observed — and of course the auditing must be done in a place where the session cannot be broken in upon by outside persons or influences.
The old technique of “short sessioning” works very well with a child. All one does is formally open and close a session and run within it only a minute or two of some simple process as below. The attention span of a child is short and if the child is even faintly unwilling to be audited, you can coax the child into short sessions and then, as time goes on, lengthen them gradually.
Of course one does not open and close a session with any formality while doing an assist. The preclear is always too tied up with the emergency and the agony to do anything but the process.
The best assist for a child is “Where did it happen?” and, after asking this, “Where are you now?” getting the child to point each time he answers the questions.
“Look at my fingers” while touching around the injured area lightly, is also a good assist for an injured child.
Probably the most worthwhile child process which works as early as first speech is: “Where is the____?” using “table,” “chair” and other room objects, but avoiding bodies. The child takes this at first as a language examination and is very proud of it. It occasionally blows grief charges on losses.
Very effective on a child that is normal or has a physical defect is an alternate touching of the child’s arm, the auditor’s arm, and using various duplicative body parts first on the auditor then on the child, accomplishing in effect: “From where could you communicate to a body?” with the actual command: “Feel my arm,” “Thank you,” “Feel your arm,” “Thank you,” and so on, using common body parts. But a warning with this — if it turns on a somatic, do the same process session after session until the child is very bright and alert all the time. This is a very fine child psychosomatic process.
Very young children and children who are older but have rough cases, respond well to CCH I and CCH 2—but if you have to look those up to find out what they are, or if you are not a Professional, don’t try them.
A version of TR 5 “You make that body sit in that chair” can be run even on babies by substituting bed for chair.
The worst crime most Scientology parents commit is demanding the child be far better and brighter than he or she can manage at once. This has the effect of making the child feel that he can’t really do anything to please his parents and that he is thus failing them. The right thing to do is to acknowledge what the CHILD thinks he can do or is all right. Otherwise you are evaluating for the preclear and that’s a Code break. A child seeking the approval of his parents is always inventing new tricks to attract attention. This means the child is already feeling neglected without reason, but is not in itself any bad sign. Acknowledge the tricks and spend more time with the child.
Self Analysis Recall Processes contained on the next but last page of the book Self Analysis can be run on a child with some success. For the very young children, these require rewording.
The aforementioned may seem brief to you, but it is a complete catalogue of workable and invariably helpful processes for children. If they can run any more than this, they’re adults.