M.O.M.'s
Workshops
Everything
You Need to Know |
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| Typical Questions |
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| Who
Does M.O.M. Train? |
|
Parents, teachers and other educators, caseworkers, mental health
and other helping professionals—in other words, any audience
involved with neurologically different and often unusually difficult
tykes, teens or adults. We do not specialize in any one, or even
a set of diagnoses. Rather, we train adults in parenting and support
roles around people affected by:
| 1. |
neurological disorders
(or as we say “ADHD and its co-occurring cousins in the
syndrome mix”) |
| 2. |
secondary disabilities (such
as low self-esteem and depression) which typically arise from
living with neurological disorders in an un-attuned world |
| 3. |
environmental risk factors (such
as adoption or poverty) which can add to the load. |
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| How Does Your
Training Program Evolve? |
| That depends on your needs and your budget. While
we have done one and two hour presentations, we much prefer a minimum
of three hours (same price as shorter versions, $1000 plus expenses).
Three hours allows us to download our basic concepts and have a short
Q&A. One day, or five to six hours teaching time, however, is
ideal (Unless overnight travel is involved, normally $1,800 plus expenses.)
(We also do two-day training sessions.) |
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| Is Your
Workshop the Same for All Audiences? |
 |
|
| Yes—and no. We cover what we
call the “why” of often-mystifying attitudes and behaviours
in all workshops, plus the “what to do about it,” aka
“M.O.M’s basic rules of engagement.” However, our
anecdotes, examples, role plays, film clips, exercises, etc. change
to suit the specific audience. Before each workshop, we do a brief
needs assessment with the workshop sponsor in order to tailor the
training. |
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| Under "WHY,"
we cover some or all of these: |
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complex neurological loading (our concept
of “chaotic core”) |
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secondary disabilities |
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environmental risk factors |
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situational triggers |
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| Under
"WHAT," we cover some or all of these:
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perfecting the art of true individualization |
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building trust and safety through relationship
(or, as we say, “relationship is everything”) |
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practicing empathy and attunement |
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assessing for, and programming around strengths,
while minimizing weaknesses |
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constructing a “steel box with a velvet
lining” (Nancy Thomas): rules, routines, limits, boundaries,
structure, supervision (“age appropriate” can’t
apply) |
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recognizing “can’t” from
“won’t” |
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teaching to learning style |
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swearing off “tough love” (except
for neurotypical people raised in chaos) |
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contracting and creating conditions for success |
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lowering the bar (where most people would
raise it) |
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using Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS,
Ross Greene’s model from Treating Explosive Kids) |
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appreciating the value of natural consequences
and eschewing imposed ones (because they rarely work) |
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gaining and guarding control in caregiver
hands until kids develop an “internal skeleton”
(Dan Hughes) to gradually replace their surrogate frontal lobes
(that’s you!) |
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committing to what we call “environmental
renovations” |
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learning to become the calm at the eye of
storm (in the company of stormy people) |
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building a circle of support and culture of
inclusion |
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|
| How Long
is Your Workshop? |
|
|
| That depends on your needs and your budget. While
we have done one and two hour presentations, we much prefer a minimum
of three hours (same price as shorter versions, $1000 plus expenses).
Three hours allows us to download our basic concepts and have a short
Q&A. One day, or five to six hours teaching time, however, is
ideal (Unless overnight travel is involved, normally $1,800 plus expenses.)
(We also do two-day training sessions.) |
|
| What is Your
Teaching Style? |
| We are two presenters, using a variety of methods
that may include any combo of : didactic presentation, with or without
power point; story-telling; interactive exercises; group work; role
plays, etc. We have become best known for using our preferred medium,
film clips—from feature films, training videos and documentaries—in
an instructional way. |
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| Do You Provide
a Handout? |
| Yes. At least one week prior to the workshop, you
will receive a handout (normally around 20 pages) to reproduce. |
| Is There
Anything Else I Should Know? |
|
|
| Yes. Our traveling bookstore. We stock a small (about
70 titles), hand-picked and “kitchen tested” roster of
books and training DVDs, which we sell at all our workshops (at competitive
prices). |
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| How do I Book
a M.O.M. Workshop? |
