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Good parenting requires sacrifice. Childhood lasts for only a few brief years , but it should be given priority while it is passing before your eyes

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

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.

You cannot reason with someone who is being unreasonable.

Children mimic well. They catch what they see better than they follow what they hear.

Relationships matter:  change comes through forming trusting relationships. People, not programs change people.

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

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

A tantruming toddler is a little ball of writhing muscle and incredible strength. It's like trying to carry a greased pig past a slop bucket.

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FASD – Mental Retardation

Mental retardation is the most debilitating feature of FASD but only about 50% of them actually fall into the retarded range of intelligence (IQ blow 70)

This can present a significant problem to individuals with FASD because they may need special services but they do not qualify because their IQ scores are not below the cut off point and therefore not be diagnosed with FASD. A diagnosis can be useful because it makes it easier to obtain services.

The damage inflicted upon the developing brain by alcohol appears to have a lasting effect. This means the prognosis for normal development is “guarded” at best even with “good parenting”. However the functioning of all children is influenced by their environment:

– support systems to families

– enriched foster/adoptive homes

– appropriate education supports

– prevocational programs

Appropriate services provided in a timely fashion can result in marked behavioural changes and productive futures, even if they do not alter the IQ scores.

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Workshops

+ Behaviour Management (now available online)

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

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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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+ A Guided Tour of ADHD (now available online)

This workshop will present the facts, myths, misconceptions, controversy and […]

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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

“We were so naive. We thought our son’s poor behaviour was just a phase he was passing through. Thankfully you led us ‘out of the wilderness'”

(N.S. – London)