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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.

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

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.

"Moody" and "unpredictable" are adjectives parents will often use when referring to their teenagers.

You cannot reason with someone who is being unreasonable.

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

We should not medicate the boys so they fit the school; we should change the school to fit the boy. (Leonard Sax, M.D. Ph.D)

"To be a man, a boy must see a man."  (J.R. Moehringer)

It is what we say and do when we're angry that creates the very model our children will follow when dealing with their own frustrations.

Hurt people hurt people.

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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 extent that you are able to pick up suble 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.

Your reading speed probably slowed down as you read this passage as your brain had to process something that it normally does not have to process. During “normal” reading, when you encounter a “new” word, your brain automatically slows down and searches for a skill that will decode the word for you. If it is a complex combination of letters you will probably attempt to use your phonics skills to decode it:

eg. Chargoggagooggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamogg   – a lake in Massachusetts

 

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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

“Our daughter was the joy of our life until she turned 13, then all hell broke loose. Rick helped us understand what was happening to her and we made some adjustments that helped us get through it. She’s now in University and doing well.”

(D.A. – St. Thomas)