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Criticism is not a motivator.

When a child is disregulated - is the time parents need to be regulated.

Setting limits teaches your children valuable skills they will use the rest of their lives. One day, they will report to a job where their ability to follow rules will dictate their success.

If you are headed in the wrong direction as a parent - you are allowed to make a U-turn.

Children fare better when expectations on them are clear and firm.

The teenage years require a delicate balance between the young person's need to gain independence, and the parent's need to retain authority.

The quickest way to change your child’s behaviour is to first change your own.

Many clinicians find it easier to tell parents their child has a brain-based disorder than suggest parenting changes. Jennifer Harris (psychiatrist)

Being a parent of a teenager can cure a person of narcissism.

Adolescence can be the cruelest place on earth. It can really be heartless.  ( Tori Amos)

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Brain Fact # 8

What is learning and how does it occur?

Dr. James Zull (a noted neurologist and teacher at Case Western University) answered.

What is learning?

“Learning is physical. Learning means the modification, growth and pruning of our neural networks, through experience.”

 

How does learning happen?

“There are 4 stages in the “learning cycle”:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Stage 1: We have a concrete experience.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Stage 2: We develop reflective observations and connections.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Stage 3: We generate abstract hypotheses.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Stage 4: We actively test those hypotheses.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         In the fourth stage, we have a new concrete experience, and a new learning cycle ensues. In other words, we get information (activating the sensory cortex), make meaning of that information (in the back integrative cortex), create new ideas from these meanings ( in the front integrative cortex) and act on those ideas (in the motor cortex). I propose that there are four pillars of learning: gathering, analyzing, creating and acting. Learning in this way requires effort and getting out of our comfort zones. A key condition for learning is self-driven motivation, a sense of ownership, to feel in control, to feel that one is making progress, is necessary for this learning cycle to self-pertetuate.

CLASSROOM TIPS for SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENTS

Many children have problems with their “executive functions”. Executive Function is a term for the mental process that goes on in an individual’s brain that serves as supervisory role in the person’s thinking and behaviour. It allow the child time to create a mental master plan to be able to accurately predict the outcome of possible responses to the challenges that arise and then make a wise choice.. Children with ADHD often have significant problems with the executive functioning. They react too quickly without thinking of the ramifications of their actions.

 

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Workshops

+ Behaviour Management (now available online)

This full day or 2 evening workshop will introduce you […]

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+ Lick Your Kids

  “Lick Your Kids” (figuratively not literally) (2 hours) First […]

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+ A Parent’s Guide to the Teenage Brain

  A teenager’s brain is not just an adult brain […]

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+ Reading Rescue

A program for children with reading problems

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+ Taming a Toddler

Many parents wonder what hit them when their sweet little baby turns into an unreasonable toddler – ideas for dealing with mealtime, bedtime, temper tanturms, toilet training, noncompliance, etc.

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See more of our workshops


Contact

2720 Rath Street, Putnam, Ontario
NOL 2BO

Phone: (519) 485-4678
Fax: (519) 485-0281

Email: info@rickharper.ca

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Parents' Comments

“I wish we had found Rick 2 years ago. We could have saved ourselves and our son a lot of trouble.”

(T.T. – Byron)