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

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.

Parenting style matters - a lot!

Whining and crying are employed by kids for the purpose of getting something. If it works, then it was worth the effort and will be repeated.

Some hope their children will be like sponges soaking up the truth and wisdom imparted by their parents. However appealing this philosophy might be, it seldom seems to catch on with their children.

The challenge of adolescence is to balance the right of the parents to feel they are in charge with the need of the adolescent to gain independence.

If it  was going to be easy to raise kids, it never would have started with something called "labour".

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

"Rules without relationship leads to rebellion" (Josh McDowell)

"Unexpressed feeling never die. They are buried alive and come back later in ugly ways." (Stephen Covey)

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READING RESCUE

Can You Read This?

I cdnuolt bleveiee taht I cluod aulaaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdenieg. The phaonemneal pweor of the hmuan mndi. Aodccrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dnsoe’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotle mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porblem. Tihs is bcuseae the hmuan mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azmanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuoht slpeling was ipmorantt.

The paragraph you just read illustrates what a complex skill reading actually is. You did not use your phonics skills or your whole language skills to read this message as none of the words in the paragraph conform to the rules. And yet, you were able to read it by using a set of skills that were not directly taught to you.

Your brain has mastered the skill of reading to such an extent that you are able to pick up subtle clues from the combination of letters and spaces and context and length of words, etc. to make sense of something that actually makes no sense.

 

“Reading Rescue” is a program I developed that is intended for those children who are not experiencing success in their ability to read in the early grades. It is a highly structured and sequential phonics based reading program that teaches:

  1. the sounds of individual letters
  2. the skill of blending 2 sounds together, then 3, then 4, then . .to make individual words
  3. focuses initially on the “short” vowel words
  4. the combining of words to make sentences
  5. uses games to maintain interest
  6. provides exercises to develop comprehension
  7. builds a sequential list of “sight” words – many of which cannot be sounded out
  8. progresses through the “long” vowel words and the “irregular” vowel words

Repetition and liberal use of reinforcements are key components of this program.

Extensive research and development into the methodology of teaching reading has produced numerous systems and programs that are successful most of the time with students. “Reading Rescue” has been developed to assist those children whose “special” learning needs are not being met by regular classroom experiences.

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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

“Our psychiatrist recommended Rick to help us sort out behaviour management issues for our autistic son. He was an invaluable help.”

(C.C. – Sarnia)