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Removing a child from a traumatic environment does not remove the trauma from the child's memory.

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.

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.

"The thing that impresses me most about North America is the way parents obey their children"    (King Edward VII , 1841-1910)

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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Reading Rescue – theory part 2

    Rescue Reading” 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: the sounds of individual letters the skill of blending 2 sounds together, then 3, then 4, then  . . .to make words focuses initially on the “short” vowel sounds the combining of words to make sentences uses games to […]

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Reading Rescue – theory Part 2

My blog entry on November 23 presented a paragraph to read that broke all the rules for reading. You did not use your phonics skills or your whole language skills to read the passage as none of them conformed to the rules of reading. and yet you were able to read it by using a set of skills that were not taught to you. Your brain has mastered the skill of reading to such an […]

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Politics of Teaching Reading

    Proponents of each of the 2 approaches to reading (phonics based vs whole language) maintain their approach is the “KEY” to engaging children in reading and are often critical of the other. The “whole language” group think children’s literature, writing activities and communication activities can be used across the curriculum to teach reading. The backers of “phonics” instruction insist that a direct, sequential mode of teaching reading enables students to master reading in […]

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Reading Rescue – theory – part 1

    There are 2 basic approaches to teaching reading: phonics based whole language The traditional theory of learning established in the 19th century draws on the notion that children need to break down a complex skill into its smallest components and then put the components together to perform the complex skill. Example – the complex skill of skiing The components of skiing: putting boots and skis on walking on level, snow covered ground with […]

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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 […]

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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

“Implementing Rick’s techniques and adhering to them is exhausting, but it is a healthy exhaustion rather than the detrimental exhaustion I used to experience.”

(B.F. – Woodstock)