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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)

Early intervention is always better than crisis management - but it is never too late to do the right thing.

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.

It's more effective to reward your child for being "good" (appropriate) than to punish him for being "bad" (inappropriate).

Don't wait for him to turn 10 before you reveal that you are not in fact the hired help whose job it is to clean up after him.

Hurt people hurt people.

Criticism is not a motivator.

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

Children today are under enormous pressures rarely experienced by their parents or grandparents. Many of today's children are being enticed to grow up too quickly and are encountering challenges for which they are totally unprepared.

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

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Professional Development

I have attended 3 separate day long conferences in the last few weeks that all basically had the same prescription for troubled and troubling youth.

Annette Kussin (MSW) was speaking in London on “Attachment in Adolescence”. Stanley Kutcher (MD) was at CPRI in London and his topic was “The Developing Adoscent Brain” and Stuart Shanker (Ph.D) presented “Bringing Self Regulation into the Classroom” in Mississauga.

All three of these individuals emphasized that caregivers must develop and understanding of how a child’s brain develops and works because the functioning of the brain is the root of all behaviour. Neuroscientists tell us that most brain growth occurs after birth and circumstances in the early years set the foundation for brain development. Stress is a major contributor to disrupted brain development and today’s youth are the most stressed in all of history. Social scientists tell us that 70% of all children in the western world are over stressed.

There is truth in the statement “We are what our brain is”. The primary goal of Behavioural Management Systems is to help parents relieve stress in their homes.

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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 are foster parents who took in a 13 year old girl (going on 18!) and she ran us through the wringer. Rick helped us learn how to set limits that made the difference.”

(G.E. – Strathroy)