The Parents, Take Charge! Program

Workshop Principles

About PTC

PTC is an unique and powerful program that gives parents the skills they need to help their children overcome their learning, behavior and mood challenges, preferably without the use of drugs.

Dealing with a child that has learning, mood or behavior problems can be very stressful, confusing and frustrating for parents and can place great stress on the family system.

Parents, Take Charge! is an educational and skills-based program for parents of children from four years of age to late teens who are struggling with any one of a wide array of learning and behavior difficulties: underachievement, low motivation, inattention, meltdowns, temper tantrums, anxiety, depression, bullying, ADHD, ADD, OCD, ODD, Aspergers, Tourettes and  bipolar disorder. This program has been designed to empower parents with the most current scientifically-proven information and skills to help their children overcome learning, mood and behavior symptoms, without medication. The skills taught in this program are playful and easy to use, as well as being grounded in science and are designed to help your child’s body use its natural ability to heal itself.

As a parent attending a program you will:
  • Learn about the science of what is happening to your child:
    • The latest research findings.
    • The latest treatment options.
  • Be given a step-by-step plan of action appropriate for your child’s specific challenges:
    • What types of healthcare practitioners would be appropriate for the problems your child is displaying.
    • How to identify and interview these practitioners.
    • How to work as a team with your child’s healthcare practitioners.
  • Learn tools, techniques and exercises to be incorporated into the daily schedule. This gives you, the parent, exceptional skills to play an active part in your child’s healing.

The Science Behind PTC

The skills required for being a great parent today have changed dramatically from even a decade ago.  Today, millions of parents are faced with having to cope with the epidemic of learning, behavior and mood problems in children.  Another challenge all parents face today is how to help their kids be strong, healthy, confident, and resilient in this pressurized and stressful environment that they are growing up in.

Today’s world calls for parents to have exceptional health and wellness skills.

As a parent today, you will want to be well informed and knowledgeable about:

    • What steps to take before ever considering medication as an option
    • Understanding how the body heals itself
    • The role stress plays in your child’s problems
    • How to recognize early signs of physical stress or spirit stress in your child
    • How to avoid, reduce and remove inflammation
    • How to identify and limit exposure to physical and emotional toxins
    • How to discover and treat hidden viruses, bacteria, yeasts or parasites
    • What to feed your child’s brain, body and spirit
    • How to identify and correct nutritional imbalances or deficiencies
    • How to train your child’s brain
    • How to nourish and build your child’s spirit

Does this sound like you will need a degree in medicine, nutrition, neuroscience and psychology?   Not so.  Parents Take Charge will teach you the facts and the skills you need so that you can play an active role in your child’s healing.

The Parents, Take Charge (PTC) program is grounded in the latest research in physiology, psychology and neuroscience.

The Physiology of PTC

Based on:

  1. The scientific principles of Functional Medicine.  The PTC Program is based on healing the causes not hiding the symptoms. The first step is to identify the combined physical and emotional sources of the child’s problems. The treatment plan will then flow from this. Take for example a child that appears depressed. This could be due to stress, an emotional trauma that has caused a chemical imbalance, a vitamin B12 deficiency, a food allergy, mercury poisoning, the thyroid not functioning properly, or a combination of these factors.
  2. Integrating the left and right brain.  This reduces stress and enhances learning and social behavior.
  3. The body’s natural ability to heal itself and achieve optimal health.  .

The Psychology of PTC

Based on:

  1. Treating body, brain and spirit of the child are treated as ONE interrelated and interdependent system. A dysfunction in any one of these, will always affect the other two. This means that for healing to take place, body, brain and spirit cannot be compartmentalized and treated separately.
  2. Stress reduction
  3. Avoidance of labels.  Using labels such as, for example, ADD, ADHD, OCD, ODD, depression and others, is considered to be counter-productive because labels like these:
  • Define the child in a negative way. One 8-year old boy introduced himself to me as, ‘Hi I am David. I have ADHD.’
  • Become self-fulfilling prophecies.
  1. Behavior Change
  2. Building identity and self-esteem

The Neuroscience

Based on:

Neuroplasticity and Neurogenesis prove that the brain is not a static system. It changes over time depending on the inputs it receives. This has major implications for how parents interact with their naturally developing children as well as children with learning, mood and behavior issues.

  1. Neuroplasticity. Exciting research shows that our brain can re-wire itself and make structural changes as a result of new experiences, new stimuli, use or disuse.
  2. Neurogenesis. Research reveals that we can produce brand new brain cells.

This comprehensive PTC approach to learning problems, ADD, ADHD, social issues, autism spectrum disorders, depression, anxiety, mood swings and behavioral issues has been shown to produce successful healing, where currently there is a great deal of failure.

Common Diagnoses

The parents who attend a PTC Program fall into two categories – parents that have already had their children diagnosed by a healthcare practitioner and those who are considering seeking a diagnosis.   Some of the common diagnoses of those children who have been diagnosed  are ADD, ADHD, OCD, ODD, Depression, Autism spectrum disorder, Aspergers, Tourettes or Bi-polar, amongst others.

The PTC program does not concern itself with such diagnostic labels.  These labels are counter-productive to the true healing of the child.   The goal of the PTC program is to teach parents not to seek and treat the label but rather to identify and treat the actual source of the problem.  This is the functional medicine approach.

Dr. Sandy Gluckman works with functional medicine practitioners, who form an integral part of her all-inclusive body-spirit program.   Amongst others, these include, medical pediatricians, nutritionists, kinesiologists and chiropractors, all of whom are skilled in identifying and treating underlying causes.

Listed below are symptoms that could offer clues to the possible underlying causes for the learning, behavior and mood challenges your child is displaying.  Clusters and combinations of certain body-spirit symptoms will help identify the particular organs and physiological systems that are not functioning correctly.  This list is not comprehensive and is just offered as an example.

  • Has seasonal or environmental allergies
  • Has known food allergies or sensitivities, intolerance, or reactions
  • Regularly takes:
    • Antibiotics – more than once or twice in 3 years
    • Acid-blocking drugs
    • Medications for recurrent headaches, allergy symptoms, nausea, diarrhea, or indigestion
  • Has frequent colds or respiratory infections
  • Gets sinusitis and allergies
  • Has eczema, acne, rashes
  • Is overweight
  • Complains of feeling bloated/full; belching, burning or flatulence after meals.
  • Has chronic yeast or fungal infections (jock itch, vaginal yeast infection, athlete’s foot, toenail fungus)
  • Has diarrhea
  • Craves salt
  • Craves candies
  • Craves carbohydrates
  • Has dark circles under eyes
  • Has sleep problems (falling asleep or staying asleep)
  • Seems to sleep but wakes up tired
  • Gets headaches regularly
  • Doesn’t like exercise
  • Muscles are weak
  • Has chronic abdominal pains
  • Often feels down and doesn’t have the motivation to do anything
  • A low-energy kind of child
  • Has trouble concentrating or focusing on things
  • Is forgetful;  Disorganized
  • Doesn’t seem to hear/listen
  • Is negative about everything; glass-half-empty person.
  • Has low self-esteem; low self-confidence
  • Tends to be a perfectionist
  • Tends to be moody,  irritable, easily angered, and/or impatient
  • Seems anxious a great deal of the time
  • It is difficult for the child to relax
  • Is easily stressed or overwhelmed
  • Bothered by loud noises, lights, or too much activity
  • Gets anxious, stressed, cranky, irritable, weak, tired, if skips meals
  • Has acid reflux
  • Is constipated
  • Has diarrhea
  • Wounds heal poorly
  • Losing hair
  • Eats a low-fat diet but can’t seem to lose weight
  • Eating makes the child calm
  • Has extra weight around the middle
  • Has dry skin
  • Sensitive to cold
  • Cold hands and feet
  • Need to understand the logic of something
  • Likes to draw
  • Enjoys music, stories
  • Learns best when there are graphics, videos, role-play, simulation
  • Is creative – thinks about things in a different way
  • Often needs to move when learning

 

The Parents, Take Charge Program is offered in three ways:

The PTC program is tailored and personalized for the specific learning, behavior or mood issues your child has. This is a 4-hour interactive educational and skills-building workshop. Workshop participants are placed in small groups in which they will learn and practice the Take Charge Skills. In this way participants leave the workshop with actual skills beyond anything that could be learned simply from a lecture. This consists of 4 one-hour sessions – one per week for 4 weeks. The content of this online program is the same as the 4-hour live workshop in Option 2, without the skills practice.

Additionally, an Online Support Group is available for those parents who have completed one of the above.

To request information about any of our programs, please fill out the very brief form on our Contact page.