When dealing with teenagers, sometimes it's difficult for parents to be firm about treatment (whether with pills or any other treatment) when the teen isn't cooperating. How much should we take the teen's opinion or desires into account? How should one relate to and approach the teen with this topic?
In adolescence and also in younger ages, there's space for frank and truthful dialogue with the child. The key to dialogue is the listening that allows the parent to learn the child's points of view and the difficulties he deals with. Through cooperation and understanding it's possible to transform the child into an active partner and plan the proper treatment together with him. The advantages and disadvantages in whichever way he will choose should be considered together with him. When a parent imposes his will on his child, he doesn't gain anything from this and certainly not the cooperation that's so necessary for the success of every treatment. In the "Parent's Coaching Program", we coach parents how to carry out effective dialogue.
Do you think that teachers today in the school system have enough knowledge on the topics of ADHD and learning disabilities?
In our opinion, teachers have a lot of knowledge in the field of learning disabilities and ADHD. On the other hand, many teachers claim that they lack tools to effectively cope in the class with students suffering from learning disabilities and ADHD. The Nitzan Association runs workshops for teachers with the goal of providing tools and skills for dealing effectively with these students.
Is there an empirical connection between the style of school books in the lower grades and learning disabilities problems?
New programs have been developed that speak about such that children need to learn and not just fill out letters. Preventing writing prevents them from developing. Some parents are very confused when the teacher says, "You should go for an evaluation; you'll get an exemption from writing and you'll be tested orally." When talking about extra time on tests, they have to measure the time needed for the student and how much he completes after the extension. Regarding problems with handwriting, practicing writing improves the results. The more we read, the more we come across a good role model, which in the end, helps to improve results.
I'm a home room teacher in middle school. In the 9th grade there's a student with learning disabilities who experiences stress and anxiety before exams and during which she feels pressure in her chest, increased heart rate, crying, difficulty concentrating…can somebody advise me how to help her?
Your willingness to help your student is certainly moving and I'm sure that your student feels how much you're concerned for her. A significant adult at the school is extremely important for the student's functioning and many times the student will remember that adult throughout the years as someone who was ray of light for her during his/her school years.
It's known that many students with learning disabilities suffer from test anxiety. It's important to note that the cause of the test anxiety is the learning disabilities, a result of the accompanying failures and frustrations over the years. Therefore, it's important to evaluate the disability and treat it correctly. Emotional treatment for anxiety isn't enough, since the anxiety is secondary to the learning disability.
We think that in order to help your student in this stage, it's worthwhile to check which evaluations have been performed, what are the recommendations that have been made, and if the recommendations have been implemented. Many times the recommendations written in the evaluation report are not carried out for different reasons. It's also important to stress that providing accommodations on exams is not enough and one should verify that there was in fact treatment given and at the given age mainly, acquisition of appropriate learning strategies in order that the student can bypass the disabilities and to express her abilities in the best way, mainly when approaching the bagrut (matriculation) exams. We'd love to help you later. If necessary, you're invited to call the National Center of The Nitzan Association and to consult with us by phone.
What's your opinion about therapeutic horseback riding? Does it work? Does it treat learning disabilities and ADHD?
Therapeutic horseback riding is one of the ways for working with children that's recognized as helping to cope with emotional issues. Coping with difficulties of different types, also as a result of disabilities or ADHD, almost always, if not always, is accompanied by emotional difficulties like frustration, depression, negative self image, low self-esteem, and so forth, and from here comes the importance of emotional treatment with children and training for their parents.
Therapeutic horseback riding is an example of a method of working with children that has emotional consequences and indirectly affects the academic areas as well.
It's important to evaluate how much the child is interested and responds to this type of intervention and if he doesn't like the riding, to try a different sort of treatment (e.g., music, art, drama…). It's important to stress that the success of the intervention lies in finding a good therapist, who has good chemistry with the child. The difference between horseback riding in general and therapeutic horseback riding is the therapist. The therapist is a person who's qualified for this work and has the talent to transform the riding into a therapeutic tool, just as an art therapist knows how to make use of art to work with the emotional needs and isn't just an art teacher.
The work on the emotional aspects can certainly help the child in coping with the implications of the learning disabilities or ADHD, especially in light of the fact that it's not done directly and doesn't relate to the academic parts in which the child had lots of difficulty and sometimes even resists receiving help because of sensitivity and frustration that he experienced. For example, the studies of Professor Schechtman from the Haifa University revealed that emotional group work with children improves their academic achievements more than tutoring given for the same amount of time. In summary, we're very much in favor of working with children in ways that relate to emotional needs.
I'm the mother of three children, two soldiers and a 7-year-old boy in first grade. The teacher and school principal recommend that I take my youngest child for an evaluation since he's not focused and doesn't cooperate in class, doesn't want to write, always asks for the teacher or assistant to help him and be by his side, in short, isn't ready to work alone in class and at home refuses to do homework. Tomorrow, I'm supposed to take him for an evaluation, but I'm very worried and anxious; I don't know what's waiting for me. I understand that he has difficulties, but on the other hand he's very intelligent. I understand that he wants to play and have fun and he simply doesn't want to try.
Don't worry about the evaluation. The evaluation will give a current snapshot of your son's difficulties. From our experience over many years at The Nitzan Association, we know that detection and diagnosis as early as possible of children with learning disabilities and matching an appropriate treatment will enable better readiness and integration in the framework of the school's requirements. Similarly, early detection will prevent feelings of failure, anger, and low self-image, with all of the accompanying implications. We applaud you on your alertness to your son's situation and on that you are addressing the issue and turning for help. It's important at the end of the evaluation to go for a summary discussion with the evaluator and request a detailed explanation of your son's difficulties and recommended treatment methods. It's important to remember that the evaluation is only the beginning of the way. Many parents that we meet do not implement the evaluation recommendations in which they invested a large amount of money and this is a pity. It's recommended to go back and refer to the evaluation periodically, see what else was recommended but hasn't been done. In case you'll need guidance and consultation in the future, return to the center that evaluated your son or refer to the Nitzan branch closest to your place of residence.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Necessary Accommodations or Leniencies for Solid Students?
- Article by Ruti Levi, The Marker
At the beginning of the year, 16-year-old Hila received a text message from her friend with the cell phone number and a strong recommendation for a private learning disabilities evaluator. "I wanted an evaluator with evidence that the leniencies he recommends have already been accepted by the Ministry of Education a number of times", the teenager explains.
The widely open market of evaluations has been familiar since the beginning of the decade, and the clearest expression of such has been rooted in the language; the word accommodations has been switched with the word leniencies. At the Ministry of Education it's noted that a third of the evaluations submitted for approval of accommodations are disqualified each year, and nowadays, regulations which define what is an acceptable evaluation and who is a recognized evaluator have been constructed, which is supposed to reduce the scope of the problem.
Anyhow, the Ministry notes, the accommodations are divided to three levels, where two of the first levels don't affect the essence of what is measured by the exam or don't affect its content, and the accepted belief is that they're not significant enough to help a child who isn't learning disabled. In other words, extra time that's given to a child who is not really learning disabled is not expected to improve the grade he'll achieve. These suppositions are supported by studies conducted within and outside of the Ministry of Education. In contrast, the significant accommodations are those which change the essence of the content being measured (for example changing a math exam to an exam in a different scientific subject), are given only with the approval of the District Committee for Severe Cases.
Last June, the Central Office for Statistics published a comparison of data of students receiving accommodations on the bagrut (matriculation) exams). The study found the number of students entitled to leniencies out of the general student body of 10th-12th grades almost doubled between the years 2000-2007. Another finding is that the "socio-economic level considerably contributes to the likeliness to receive an accommodation on the first and second levels" - according to the data, only 5.7% of the Arab student body received leniencies on the bagrut (matriculation) exams), in comparison to 23.9% of the Jewish student body.
Do children of the wealthy hurry to request leniencies and inflate the statistics, or maybe those established parents are more aware of the importance of evaluations for learning disabilities? Between all of the numbers and percentages, a more significant problem is raised: "Children with learning disabilities from needy families in the peripheral areas and impoverished neighborhoods are going to waste", says Ophra Elul, President of the Nitzan Association.
- Article by Ruti Levi, The Marker
At the beginning of the year, 16-year-old Hila received a text message from her friend with the cell phone number and a strong recommendation for a private learning disabilities evaluator. "I wanted an evaluator with evidence that the leniencies he recommends have already been accepted by the Ministry of Education a number of times", the teenager explains. Hila's friends, it turns out, know to point out the names of evaluators who have proven to be "generous". Loosely speaking, this means evaluators, who know that when parents pay, they're expecting results, e.g., leniencies that are negotiable: extra time, ignoring spelling mistakes, expanded formulas page in math - and if you're good, maybe you can reach the bagrut (matriculation) exam for English with an electronic dictionary.
The widely open market of evaluations has been familiar since the beginning of the decade, and the clearest expression of such has been rooted in the language; the word accommodations has been switched with the word leniencies. At the Ministry of Education it's noted that a third of the evaluations submitted for approval of accommodations are disqualified each year, and nowadays, regulations which define what is an acceptable evaluation and who is a recognized evaluator have been constructed, which is supposed to reduce the scope of the problem.
Anyhow, the Ministry notes, the accommodations are divided to three levels, where two of the first levels don't affect the essence of what is measured by the exam or don't affect its content, and the accepted belief is that they're not significant enough to help a child who isn't learning disabled. In other words, extra time that's given to a child who is not really learning disabled is not expected to improve the grade he'll achieve. These suppositions are supported by studies conducted within and outside of the Ministry of Education. In contrast, the significant accommodations are those which change the essence of the content being measured (for example changing a math exam to an exam in a different scientific subject), are given only with the approval of the District Committee for Severe Cases.
Last June, the Central Office for Statistics published a comparison of data of students receiving accommodations on the bagrut (matriculation) exams). The study found the number of students entitled to leniencies out of the general student body of 10th-12th grades almost doubled between the years 2000-2007. Another finding is that the "socio-economic level considerably contributes to the likeliness to receive an accommodation on the first and second levels" - according to the data, only 5.7% of the Arab student body received leniencies on the bagrut (matriculation) exams), in comparison to 23.9% of the Jewish student body.
Do children of the wealthy hurry to request leniencies and inflate the statistics, or maybe those established parents are more aware of the importance of evaluations for learning disabilities? Between all of the numbers and percentages, a more significant problem is raised: "Children with learning disabilities from needy families in the peripheral areas and impoverished neighborhoods are going to waste", says Ophra Elul, President of the Nitzan Association.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
LD Evaluations and Back to School Tips
Maly Danino, Executive Director of Nitzan was recently interviewed on Israel's Channel 2 morning show "The World this Morning". She speaks about LD evaluations, different types of evaluations, and offers some back to school tips.
An interesting part of the clip is where she responds to the interviewers' suggestions that students go for evaluations in order to get "exemptions" and that having LD or ADHD is fun.
Maly lets everyone know that having LD or ADHD is far from fun, especially for the parents and that there are no "exemptions" but rather "accomodations" which are like glasses for a person who has trouble seeing. Check out the video.
An interesting part of the clip is where she responds to the interviewers' suggestions that students go for evaluations in order to get "exemptions" and that having LD or ADHD is fun.
Maly lets everyone know that having LD or ADHD is far from fun, especially for the parents and that there are no "exemptions" but rather "accomodations" which are like glasses for a person who has trouble seeing. Check out the video.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
LD Evaluation in the Summer
Kathy Sanitsky-Muller, director of the Nitzan branch in Holon, explains in a channel 10 interview why it is important for children to be evaluated for learning disabilities in the summer.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Nitzanei Mehut - College Preparatory Program for Students with Learning Disabilities
Nitzanei Mehut is a program run by Nitzan and the Seminar Kibbutzim College. I recently received an email from a parent of a 20 year old with dyslexia and dyscalculia who was looking for a program to help her child prepare for college. In case there are others with the same question I'm posting a promotional video for Nitzanei Mehut together with a link to an explanation of the program on the Nitzan website.
You can read about the program on Nitzan's website at:
Nitzan Mehut Program
Here's their promotional video:
You can read about the program on Nitzan's website at:
Nitzan Mehut Program
Here's their promotional video:
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Parent Coaching - Questions and Answers
I am a mother of two boys. The oldest is 10 years old with ADHD and learning disabilities. The youngest is 3 years old. The oldest moved this year to a school for children with learning disabilities and seems pleased so far. Without a doubt, the move from Israel’s central region to here a year ago had its effect and influenced the entire household (I raise the children alone). Now, we’re starting to see the beginnings of satisfaction and some calmness at home.
I don’t have to tell you how hard it is to cope with a child with ADHD and learning disabilities, a low self-image, and severe anxieties of late. I see this as daily survival and I frequently ask myself, “Did I do the right thing?”, “Did I give the right punishment?”, or “Why do I constantly have to punish him and be angry with him…this tortures me. I receive parent training from a wonderful lady who really understands me and the difficulties and doesn’t judge me as others did in the past. We analyze each difficulty/problem/ way of relating, and this is what I wanted to ask…mention
What is the coaching process? How could it affect me?
Why do I feel that most of the time I’m angry with him, his impulsivity, and his tone of voice? Sometimes there’s physical violence, hitting, for which he's been punished and doesn’t dare do again, and I received training for this too.
Since it’s difficult with him, I feel in a certain sense that he’s the underdog, the younger one and naturally he’s closer to me and I feel guilty most of the time since the older son I love with all my might, and because of the problems and difficulties, it’s hard for me to approach him sometimes, I get tired of him quickly, and he feels this.
Another thing, he doesn’t want to do his homework when he comes home. Sometimes he does it during breaks at school (and he really doesn’t have many). The assistant told me not to get angry with him and not to force him to do things. It’s hard for me because sometimes I feel not involved in what’s happening, even though I open up his book bag, etc. He plays with his computer, and doesn’t share with me too much.
Is there a certain behavior that’s representative of children with learning disabilities? Do I expect from him more than he can do? How am I supposed to act with him…I’m really hopeless sometimes and quite frustrated.
It’s noticeable that you’re very attentive to your son and make a lot of effort to help him, and for this we’d like to congratulate you. Coping with raising children with difficulties, as you describe them, isn’t easy and frequently requires good advice and professional help. The difficulties you describe are indeed characteristic of children with ADHD who show difficulty with emotional regulation, the ability to plan and get organized, impulsivity, behavioral problems, and more.
At The Nitzan Association we offer parents two tracks for receiving help.
1. Coaching for parents with learning disabilities and/or ADHD – the coaching is intended for parents of children with learning disabilities and/or ADHD. This is a process of personal growth with the close guidance of a coach, who is an expert in the field trained by Nitzan. The process takes place within the framework of 12 meetings of parents with a personal coach (who is also a psychologist, social worker, school counselor, etc.). During the coaching process, the parent will receive tools for more effective coping with their child. With the coach’s assistance, the parent will understand the patterns that are interfering in his life and that of his child and which patterns are more effective and allow him to progress. The coaching focuses on the self-contemplation of the parent and shared dialogue with the child.
2. An additional track is parent’s groups that allow parents dealing with similar difficulties to meet, to help each other, to hear a good word or good advice, with the accompanying of professionals from the field of group leadership who are experts in the area of learning disabilities and ADHD.
I recommend for you to call the National Training Center of Nitzan so we can tell you more about coaching/parent’s groups and to refer you to the branch closest to your place of residence.
In addition, we recommend that you read the book “The Parent as a Coach”. The book was written for parents dealing with children who suffer from learning disabilities and/or ADHD. The book takes the parents on a journey from the place of difficulty and hopelessness to a place of empowerment and advocacy. The book tells about effective coping of parents that give from their knowledge and experience to other parents who are dealing with similar problems.
My son is 6 years old. He was diagnosed last year with ADHD, and he’s been treated with Ritalin for half a year already. There are days when it’s very difficult for me to understand him, and you can see that he’s frustrated that I don’t understand and he, himself, doesn’t know what’s happening with him. I began to check about a personal training process in our house by an educational counselor. The training is for the parent without the child. This kind of training is very expensive, and, therefore, I’m interested in checking the option to participate in a parent’s group, but I didn’t find one in my area (I live in Holon).
My questions are:
1. What’s the difference between coaching and training/therapy?
2. How many sessions are there in a coaching process, and what do you do in these sessions?
3. Do both parents have to participate?
4. I’d be glad if you can refer me, according to my place of residence, to a place where there is coaching of this type.
I feel like I don’t understand my son, and because of this I’m angry at myself and sometimes at him…I’d be glad to receive answers and help…
In answer to your questions:
1. The coaching process, like the therapy process, deals with the identity and life of the person. It focuses on interpersonal and intrapersonal processes. However, therapy focuses on a person’s past, while the coaching process focuses on the future. Coaching focuses on strengths and abilities of the trainee, while therapy focuses on weaknesses and difficulties. Similarly, coaching is short term in contrast to therapy, which is usually long term. In therapy, the client is usually passive, while in coaching the trainee takes an active role in the process.
2. Coaching is a process of personal growth while in close contact with a coach, who has specialized in the field of learning disabilities and ADHD through courses at Nitzan. Coaching is comprised of a series of conversations through which the coach comes to know the trainee and his behavioral patterns. The coach helps the trainee through coaching to improve skills and abilities, to redesign behavioral patterns, to cope with crises, and to improve relationships throughout the different cycles of life.
The coaching process at Nitzan is intended for parents of children with learning disabilities and/or ADHD. The process takes place within the setting of 12 meetings of the parents with the personal coach (psychologist, social worker, educational counselor, etc., who has specialized in the field of learning disabilities and ADHD). Through the coaching process the parents receives tools for more effective coping with their child. With the help of the coach, the parent will understand what are the patterns that interfere with his life and that of his child and which patterns are more effective and help him progress. The coaching focuses on the self-reflection of the parent and sharing conversation with the child.
3. We very much recommend that both parents participate in the activities at Nitzan. Of course, it’s also possible to come separately.
4. The Coaching takes place at Nitzan’s National Center in Tel-Aviv.
Single-parent training at Nitzan was suggested to me (by a coach in training). Since were looking for parent training for both parents, I decide to pass. I’d be glad if you could explain how training for a single parent for 12 meetings could contribute to our family? What’s the rationale to go in this direction instead of parent training that we’re familiar with for both parents?
In the training program for coaches of parents of children with learning disabilities and/or ADHD, treatment professionals from the fields of therapy, counseling, and education who have expertise in the fields of learning disabilities and ADHD, practice each time with one parent in the context of the struggling child. In the coaching process, in contrast to parent training, the coach gets to know the trainee and his behavioral patterns, and helps the parent through coaching to improve skills and abilities, to redesign behavioral patterns, to cope with crises, and to improve the relationships throughout all the cycles of life.
For these reasons, the coaching is individualized for the parent with the intention to improve his/her abilities to support his/her child and to increase the ability for self-contemplation and recruiting the partner and support network to aid in these processes.
Studies show that even if one of the parents receives treatment of some type, this has a significant influence on the partner and the entire family system.
However, participation of both parents in every intervention program is an immense advantage. So, for example, it’s possible to join parent’s groups either as a couple or individually. Also in the parent coaching program, we are planning this year to train coaches for couples coaching, with the guidance of a psychologist and counselor in family therapy to supervise the coaches.
I don’t have to tell you how hard it is to cope with a child with ADHD and learning disabilities, a low self-image, and severe anxieties of late. I see this as daily survival and I frequently ask myself, “Did I do the right thing?”, “Did I give the right punishment?”, or “Why do I constantly have to punish him and be angry with him…this tortures me. I receive parent training from a wonderful lady who really understands me and the difficulties and doesn’t judge me as others did in the past. We analyze each difficulty/problem/ way of relating, and this is what I wanted to ask…mention
What is the coaching process? How could it affect me?
Why do I feel that most of the time I’m angry with him, his impulsivity, and his tone of voice? Sometimes there’s physical violence, hitting, for which he's been punished and doesn’t dare do again, and I received training for this too.
Since it’s difficult with him, I feel in a certain sense that he’s the underdog, the younger one and naturally he’s closer to me and I feel guilty most of the time since the older son I love with all my might, and because of the problems and difficulties, it’s hard for me to approach him sometimes, I get tired of him quickly, and he feels this.
Another thing, he doesn’t want to do his homework when he comes home. Sometimes he does it during breaks at school (and he really doesn’t have many). The assistant told me not to get angry with him and not to force him to do things. It’s hard for me because sometimes I feel not involved in what’s happening, even though I open up his book bag, etc. He plays with his computer, and doesn’t share with me too much.
Is there a certain behavior that’s representative of children with learning disabilities? Do I expect from him more than he can do? How am I supposed to act with him…I’m really hopeless sometimes and quite frustrated.
It’s noticeable that you’re very attentive to your son and make a lot of effort to help him, and for this we’d like to congratulate you. Coping with raising children with difficulties, as you describe them, isn’t easy and frequently requires good advice and professional help. The difficulties you describe are indeed characteristic of children with ADHD who show difficulty with emotional regulation, the ability to plan and get organized, impulsivity, behavioral problems, and more.
At The Nitzan Association we offer parents two tracks for receiving help.
1. Coaching for parents with learning disabilities and/or ADHD – the coaching is intended for parents of children with learning disabilities and/or ADHD. This is a process of personal growth with the close guidance of a coach, who is an expert in the field trained by Nitzan. The process takes place within the framework of 12 meetings of parents with a personal coach (who is also a psychologist, social worker, school counselor, etc.). During the coaching process, the parent will receive tools for more effective coping with their child. With the coach’s assistance, the parent will understand the patterns that are interfering in his life and that of his child and which patterns are more effective and allow him to progress. The coaching focuses on the self-contemplation of the parent and shared dialogue with the child.
2. An additional track is parent’s groups that allow parents dealing with similar difficulties to meet, to help each other, to hear a good word or good advice, with the accompanying of professionals from the field of group leadership who are experts in the area of learning disabilities and ADHD.
I recommend for you to call the National Training Center of Nitzan so we can tell you more about coaching/parent’s groups and to refer you to the branch closest to your place of residence.
In addition, we recommend that you read the book “The Parent as a Coach”. The book was written for parents dealing with children who suffer from learning disabilities and/or ADHD. The book takes the parents on a journey from the place of difficulty and hopelessness to a place of empowerment and advocacy. The book tells about effective coping of parents that give from their knowledge and experience to other parents who are dealing with similar problems.
My son is 6 years old. He was diagnosed last year with ADHD, and he’s been treated with Ritalin for half a year already. There are days when it’s very difficult for me to understand him, and you can see that he’s frustrated that I don’t understand and he, himself, doesn’t know what’s happening with him. I began to check about a personal training process in our house by an educational counselor. The training is for the parent without the child. This kind of training is very expensive, and, therefore, I’m interested in checking the option to participate in a parent’s group, but I didn’t find one in my area (I live in Holon).
My questions are:
1. What’s the difference between coaching and training/therapy?
2. How many sessions are there in a coaching process, and what do you do in these sessions?
3. Do both parents have to participate?
4. I’d be glad if you can refer me, according to my place of residence, to a place where there is coaching of this type.
I feel like I don’t understand my son, and because of this I’m angry at myself and sometimes at him…I’d be glad to receive answers and help…
In answer to your questions:
1. The coaching process, like the therapy process, deals with the identity and life of the person. It focuses on interpersonal and intrapersonal processes. However, therapy focuses on a person’s past, while the coaching process focuses on the future. Coaching focuses on strengths and abilities of the trainee, while therapy focuses on weaknesses and difficulties. Similarly, coaching is short term in contrast to therapy, which is usually long term. In therapy, the client is usually passive, while in coaching the trainee takes an active role in the process.
2. Coaching is a process of personal growth while in close contact with a coach, who has specialized in the field of learning disabilities and ADHD through courses at Nitzan. Coaching is comprised of a series of conversations through which the coach comes to know the trainee and his behavioral patterns. The coach helps the trainee through coaching to improve skills and abilities, to redesign behavioral patterns, to cope with crises, and to improve relationships throughout the different cycles of life.
The coaching process at Nitzan is intended for parents of children with learning disabilities and/or ADHD. The process takes place within the setting of 12 meetings of the parents with the personal coach (psychologist, social worker, educational counselor, etc., who has specialized in the field of learning disabilities and ADHD). Through the coaching process the parents receives tools for more effective coping with their child. With the help of the coach, the parent will understand what are the patterns that interfere with his life and that of his child and which patterns are more effective and help him progress. The coaching focuses on the self-reflection of the parent and sharing conversation with the child.
3. We very much recommend that both parents participate in the activities at Nitzan. Of course, it’s also possible to come separately.
4. The Coaching takes place at Nitzan’s National Center in Tel-Aviv.
Single-parent training at Nitzan was suggested to me (by a coach in training). Since were looking for parent training for both parents, I decide to pass. I’d be glad if you could explain how training for a single parent for 12 meetings could contribute to our family? What’s the rationale to go in this direction instead of parent training that we’re familiar with for both parents?
In the training program for coaches of parents of children with learning disabilities and/or ADHD, treatment professionals from the fields of therapy, counseling, and education who have expertise in the fields of learning disabilities and ADHD, practice each time with one parent in the context of the struggling child. In the coaching process, in contrast to parent training, the coach gets to know the trainee and his behavioral patterns, and helps the parent through coaching to improve skills and abilities, to redesign behavioral patterns, to cope with crises, and to improve the relationships throughout all the cycles of life.
For these reasons, the coaching is individualized for the parent with the intention to improve his/her abilities to support his/her child and to increase the ability for self-contemplation and recruiting the partner and support network to aid in these processes.
Studies show that even if one of the parents receives treatment of some type, this has a significant influence on the partner and the entire family system.
However, participation of both parents in every intervention program is an immense advantage. So, for example, it’s possible to join parent’s groups either as a couple or individually. Also in the parent coaching program, we are planning this year to train coaches for couples coaching, with the guidance of a psychologist and counselor in family therapy to supervise the coaches.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)