The orientation date has been set and spots are filling up fast! Send an email to reserve your spot and ask specific questions. I will try to answer them all. The following are payment options for the upcoming More Than Words program starting in January:

For the Hanen Program only ($480), I do ask for payment up front. Participants are encouraged, not required, to attend all sessions. Payment at the start of the program encourages you (or loved ones) to attend all sessions and holds you responsible for your attendance to the program. Also, if you are not able to attend a session, you may send a substitute to sit in for you. The information in this program is valid for anyone who communicates with your child (family members, babysitter, teacher, etc.).

I realize that sometimes it is not possible to come up with the payment up front (especially right after the holidays) but I do not want this to deter you from coming to the program! So, I'm offering a holiday break and allowing participants with the Hanen Program Only option the same payment arrangement as the Hanen Program plus Intervention option.

For the Hanen Program plus 8 weeks of Intervention for your child, we allow participants to pay 1/2 at the start of the program and 1/2 at the midterm. We do not allow payment after services are rendered for the reasons mentioned above. Parent education is essential for any parent of a child with special needs. Again, you are encouraged to attend all of the sessions.

Parents are also encouraged to buy the companion book to the program. This can be purchased from http://www.hanen.org/ from their online store. Parents are given the option of a loan of the required companion book from our library. Borrowed books require a $53 refundable deposit in the form of check or cash. Should you choose to keep the text, your deposit will be cashed and used to replace the text for the next group. Should you return the book, the deposit will be returned to you. (I have not had a family yet who has returned the book..it's an easy read!)

Please feel free to email me any specific concerns you may have and keep checking the blog for updates! I look forward to answering your questions!

The Airplane Analogy

So, many times I hear parents expressing concerns about their child by saying things like "My child can't..." or "I don't understand why my child doesn't..." or "What can I do to help my child?" The typical first step?...someone (doctor, teacher, friend, or family) refers the child for treatment of the delayed areas. Individual treatment can typically be received up to a few times per week. Listen, it is not often that you'll be told this, but one to two times per week for 30 to 60 minutes will be a waste of your time and money if you don't have the requisite knowledge to keep the strategies going outside of a therapy session. What I find parents often doing is pouring time and money into educating their child and spending little to no time educating themselves as the child's primary caregiver.

This reminds me of air travel and something I call "The Airplane Analogy." At the beginning of every flight, the flight attendants discuss a variety of safety tips during flight. One particular safety tip stands out to me. If there is a drop in cabin pressure and the oxygen masks come down, you are instructed to place the mask on yourself first and then assist any child accompanying you. Why is this? This is because in a difficult situation, how are you, as the parent, supposed to care for your child if you are incapacitated? Well, this is not dissimilar to what a parent should experience in the presence of an unexplained or daunting diagnosis such as communication delays or autism. In the presence of a difficult situation it is imperative that parents be equipped with the right knowledge before they can help their child. Parent education is vital in any therapeutic circumstance.

The Hanen Program for Parents can and should be used as a parents'/caregivers' first line of defense when the tough questions arise. If you teach yourself the same intervention strategies that the therapists use, your child will need less treatment in the long run since therapy will be an everyday occurrence!

The Mama Duck Theory

Years ago, I made a mental note while my friend and I were shopping. A woman and her son were walking through the aisles. We encountered them several times throughout the store. Each time, the mother was either behind the cart scolding the child for wandering too far ahead or watching the child walking ahead of her. I thought about how this situation sounds similar to several families I've encountered over the years. And I thought, as I always do, about how funny and different human behavior is when compared to other animal behavior...like ducks...and I formulated The Mama Duck Theory. The theory states this:

Humans are the only species to let the young walk ahead of them rather than behind or on top.

I thought more about ducks. "Why DO the mama ducks go first?" The immediate answers I came up with were:

To scout for dangers ahead and protect from predators.
To show them how to do something (walk, eat, swim, play, etc) the correct way.
To teach them what NOT to do.

So, my next question was, "Why DO we let our children walk ahead of us and what message are we sending in this action?" It's just a theory... :)

Sensory Integration

I'm finding that a lot of children are coming into my offices with sensory imbalances. These are the kids that don't like certain textures on their skin or certain types, textures, and tastes of foods. These are the kids that just hate wearing shoes, or long pants, or having their hands or bodies dirty, or the feel of grass under their feet...basically, anyone that is over or under responsive to things that most people would find easy and forgettable. This is an excellent book to start with should you know anyone who experiences these issues. It's called the Out-of-Sync-Child and it's written by an educator named Carol Stock-Kranowitz. She gives lots of descriptions and ideas. I don't have one parent that I've suggested this book to that has not read it and said, "hmm...yup...that sounds exactly like my child". I've found that the strategies are also great for working with ADD and ADHD. You can check out the website. I've added it to the 'links' section of this blog.