Through years of study and personal experience, we will help make sense of the sensitive child.  We will share our own challenges and discuss what the parent/teacher role is in helping the sensitive child to mature and realize his or her developmental potential.  Within this session, we will cover topic such as attachment, discipline and the risks involved when these children are misunderstood and treated with behavioural techniques.

The following is a list of presentations available for conferences or professional development, suitable for educators, helping professionals and parents. All presentations are based on the developmental paradigm of Dr. Gordon Neufeld. To book a presentation, please contact Colleen at cmdrobot@shaw.ca or (604) 626-5377 or Patti at pdrobot@shaw.ca or (604) 782-4147.

Relationship Matters: How attachment influences learning and resilience
In this presentation parents and professionals will learn why the relationship with your children is the most important factor in their development and how parents, teachers, and other helping professionals can deepen their attachment with the children in their care. Covering topics such as children’s impulsivity and how to deal with it, why children need to keep soft hearts and have their tears, and how we can help our children mature and flourish. Both theory and practical suggestions will be given. This presentation serves as an excellent introduction to the developmental approach to raising children for parents and professionals.

You`re Not the Boss of Me: Understanding Defiant Behaviour and Cultivating Cooperation in the Classroom Children and adolescents are naturally inclined to resist and oppose when feeling pressed upon or controlled. Although the reaction is quite normal and even healthy in certain circumstances, its manifestations and impact can be highly disruptive, making life difficult for teachers and parents. It can create significant challenges for teachers in both the learning and behavioural spheres. We will discusses the meaning of this deep-rooted instinct and the dynamics that control its existence and expression. We will will provide strategies to help adults reduce the effects of oppositional behavior and deepen attachment and cooperation with children and youth in and out of the classroom.

Cultivating Caring Children
We all want caring and considerate children but there is much confusion about how to raise them. This presentation unravels the mystery by uncovering the developmental roots of these esteemed virtues. What may come as a surprise is the negative effect that some of our prevailing practices in parenting and education have on caring. In this presentation, we suggest how parents and teachers can best cultivate these characteristics in children.

Cultivating Resilience In Children
Humans are some of the most adaptive creatures on the planet. Many of us are able to overcome adversity and find creative solutions to our problems, but unfortunately this is not the case for everyone. Raising resourceful and resilient children has never been more important. Children must face disappointment, loss, and circumstances they cannot change. How can we as parents and professional cultivate resilience so that our children will not only endure these experiences, but will be able to gain strength and confidence in their ability to cope with them? We will will uncover the key to resilience. We will discuss how lack of resilience affects learning and behaviour in the classroom and other settings. We will offer suggestions about managing incidents as well as helping children to mature and become resilient.

Making Sense of Young Children
In this workshop we will provide insight into the inner world of young children. We will help make sense of their shyness, separation anxieties, aggression, resistance, oppositionality and more. Making sense of this confusing, yet wondrous time in a child’s life, lays the foundation for intuitive and fruitful interaction with them. In Making Sense of Young Children we will explore: the developmental characteristics of children from ages 1 to 7, how to cultivate a deep attachment and deal with separation anxiety, why young children are impulsive or often resist our direction, why they can be aggressive and how we can help them adapt to what they cannot change which cultivates resilience.

Heart Matters: Safe-guarding our children today’s world
In this presentation parents and professionals will learn why the relationship with our children is the most important factor in their development, and how adults can deepen their attachments with the children in their care. We will cover why children need to keep soft hearts and have their tears, and how we can help them develop resilience and maturity. We will discuss theory and give practical suggestions. This presentation is an excellent introduction to the developmental approach to raising children.

Bullies: Their Making and Unmaking
The bully is an enigma. Because of this, we mistakenly project strength where there is fragility, attribute intention where there is instinct, and assume choice where there is drive. Because of common misperceptions, we proceed to battle against the symptoms, hardening the very syndrome we wish to confront. We cannot effectively address a problem we do not understand. We will trace the syndrome to its roots and pave the way for change that is deep and lasting.

Supporting The Sensitive Child
What is sensitivity and how does it manifest in some children? Many children with learning disorders and other diagnoses are very sensitive children. Understanding and recognizing sensitivity is key when teaching or parenting a sensitive children. If misunderstood, these children are at risk for behavioural problems and failure to mature.
Through years of study and personal experience, we will help make sense of the sensitive child. We will share our own challenges and discuss what the parent/teacher role is in helping the sensitive child to mature and realize his or her developmental potential. Within this session, we will cover topic such as attachment, discipline and the risks involved when these children are misunderstood and treated with behavioural techniques.

Making Sense of Adolescence
Crossing the bridge from childhood to adulthood has never been so daunting. An adolescent is neither child nor adult and therein lies the turbulence, the confusion and the difficulty. The challenge for parents is neither to treat teens as though they were children nor to retreat from them as though they were adults. In this presentation, we will highlight the significant changes that occur during adolescence, what nature’s purpose is for these changes, how to make sense of behaviour, and how parents and professionals can deepen attachment with the teens in their care to help them mature into adulthood.