The therapist can model feeling expression. I'm uncomfortable when you stand so close to me. Encourage feeling expression. Be vigilant about praising or otherwise reinforcing any attempt the client makes to express a feeling. Even negative feelings.
All feelings are authentic and valid and deserve respect.
Use pretend play to practice feeling labeling . Label the feelings of people and animals in picture books. Use magazines, school yearbooks, and TV shows to guess about the feelings of characters . Then connect their feelings to his own. Talk about similarities and differences between your client's feelings and those of his friends and media figures.