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Thanking All Sponsors ~ Parents and Programs Who Assist In Bringing This Information To So Many Every Month
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| | Dore E. Frances, PhD, Advocate, Educational/Therapeutic Consultant |
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| | Supporting Youth With Needs Through Outdoor Experiential Education |
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| | We help families flourish through therapeutic mentoring for young people combined with supportive coaching for their parents |
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ISER is a directory of professionals, organizations, and schools that serve the learning disabilities and special education communities.
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 | | Saving Teens In Crisis Collaborative (STICC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed in April of 2004 to assist troubled teens and their families struggling with substance abuse and other emotional issues. |
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 | | Summit Preparatory School is an accredited private non-profit therapeutic boarding school specializing in compassionate, relationship-based treatment of bright, capable high school age youth who are struggling in their current academic and/or home community due to emotional, academic and behavioral concerns. |
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 | | Vantage Point is a clinically advanced, short term, outdoor, wilderness adventure therapy and assessment program located in Mt. Pleasant, Utah |
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Greetings!
 | | Dore E. Frances, Ph.D. |
April is Autism Awareness Month
In an effort to heighten the need for autism awareness, the Autism Society has celebrated National Autism Awareness Month in April since the 1970s. Autism, which affects one in 110 Americans or 13 million families, is a complicated neuro-developmental disorder that appears in the first three years of life, and affects the brain's normal development of social and communication skills. It often can be diagnosed in children as young as 18 months old, and it affects every race, ethnic group and socio-economic status. However, according to a 2007 Developmental Disability News survey, boys were four times more likely than girls to be. A child with autism usually shows different behaviors than typical developing children. Some early signs are lack of eye contact, avoidance of interaction with others, repetitive interests, and lack of speech. It is important to note that these common behaviors may begin shortly after birth or develop as a child grows older. And these symptoms may range from mild to severe. All children with autism are eligible to receive a free appropriate public education, services provided by all states, behavioral treatments and enrollment in a classroom geared toward their condition. However, access to resources in New Orleans has proven to be a challenge. Though there is no single known cause or cure, autism is treatable. Children do not "outgrow" autism, but studies show that early diagnosis and intervention can lead to significantly improved outcomes. With the right services and support, people with autism can live full, healthy and meaningful lives. For more information please visit the website of Autism Society. Sincerely,
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Do You Know the Warning Signs of FRAUD? 
Fraud Facts - Check out the company with the Better Business Bureau, State licensing agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, etc.
- Check your monthly bank statements for charges you do not recognize
- Don't wire money to people you don't know
Play It Safe - It is easy for a business to look legitimate online. When you have doubts, verify the company with the Better Business Bureau, State licensing agency, etc.
Get Involved - Point out "too good to be true" offers to others, and encourage them to be skeptical
- Share information about scams with family and friends.
Every day, con artists and scammers attempt to victimize millions of people. And when they succeed, these crimes seriously affect the lives of their victims, their families, and ultimately each and every one of us. |
The Parents' Ten
Here are ten (10) competencies that predict good parenting outcomes, listed roughly in order from most to least important. The skills - all derived from published studies - were ranked based on how well they predict a strong parent-child bond and children's happiness, health and success.
- Affection and love. You accept and support the child, are physically affectionate, and spend quality one-on-one time together.
- Stress management. You take steps to reduce stress for yourself and your child, practice relaxation techniques and promote positive interpretations of events.
- Relationship skills. You maintain a healthy relationship with your co-parent/ partner/ significant other/ spouse and model effective relationship skills with other people.
- Autonomy and independence. You treat your child with respect and encourage them to become self-reliant and self-sufficient.
- Education and learning. You promote and model learning and provide educational opportunities to your child.
- Life skills. You provide for your child, have a steady income and plan for the future.
- Behavior management.You make extensive use of positive reinforcement and punish only when other methods of managing behavior have failed.
- Health. You model a healthy lifestyle and good habits, such as regular exercise and proper nutrition, for your child.
- Religion / Spiritual. You support religious or spiritual development and participate in religious or spiritual activities.
- Safety.Yu take precautions to protect your child and maintain awareness of the child's activities and friends.
(The Author - Robert Epstein, a longtime researcher and professor of psychology, is a contributing editor for Scientific American Mind and former editor in chief of Psychology Today.)
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Your Teens Asked that this article be written! They want you to know ....
What's Really Going On INSIDE YOU TEEN'S HEAD
They are moody. Infuriating. Secretive. Spacy!
Honestly, I am so relived my daughter is 25 and I only had to go through the teen years once. (I love you honey!) It was so painful at times. It was so brutal to watch my darling, sweet, little girl turn into a 14-year-old stranger who just wanted to be away from me and oh yes .... wanted money ... all the time. The drama. The intensity. The sullenness. and it is not just the rebellious kids who turn on their parents. I have assisted parents with their straight A students - who were creating good relationships - by getting a call from them them that they are at the hospital because their child is getting their stomach pumped because they went out drinking with their friends and lost track of how much they were drinking. There is just no predicting. Even for the most responsible kids, there is always that combustible combination of opportunity, youth, and just one bad night. As recently as 15 years ago, parents threw up their hands and yelled, "Hormones!" In the past few years, research has shown that the brain of a teen really is different and just "wishing" for them to be "normal" is not going to happen. Two technologies - PET Scans and fMRI - have enabled us to study how the brain changes over time. What research has shown is that the teenage brain is still very much a work in progress and it functions quite differently from an adult's. True, there are areas, such as hand/eye coordination and motor control that are as well developed as they ever will be. That is one reason teens can beat almost any adult at computer games. There are other areas however - and not surprisingly, the ones responsible for things like planning ahead and weighing consequences and priorities - that continue to develop well into the 20's. Which is something to remember the next time you find your son posting videos of himself and his friends on YouTube and failing to realize that this footage will now be available to the people who may interviewing him for college or even for a white-collar, corporate, financial firm. Truth is, the teenage brain is a like a red Ferrari: It is sexy, shiny, sleek and very fast, and it corners really well. It also has crappy brakes. Join us next month for more information about: - If she's so smart what is she so clueless?
- Why can't he rise and shine, darn it?
- Why is he forgetting so much of what he knows?
- Why is she so quick to flip out?
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