Journey
An Individualized Approach to Raising Your Challenging Child
This program is for parents of children (ages preschool through early adolescence) with challenging behaviors.
WITH: Dan Shapiro, M.D.
WHEN: Winter 2019
Feb 6 – April 10
Ten Wednesday nights
7:00 – 8:30 PM
6:30 – 7:00 PM Free dinner before class
LOCATION: Rollins Congressional Clubhouse
1621 Martha Terrace
Rockville, MD 20852
WITH: Melissa Goldberg, Ph.D.
WHEN: Winter 2019
Ten Wednesday mornings
February 6 – April 10
9:45 – 11:15 AM
LOCATION: Temple Beth Ami
14330 Travilah Road
Rockville, MD 20850
WITH: Dan Shapiro, M.D.
WHEN: Spring 2019
10 Thursday nights
7:30 – 9:00 pm
April 4th – June 13th
(skip April 18th)
LOCATION: Temple Sinai
3100 Military Road NW
Washington, DC 20015
Ample free parking.
Resources for Journey Program
Overview: A Different Journey
First Mile: Know Your Child/Know Yourself
Second Mile: Time-In and Self-Care
Third Mile: Engagement and Understanding
Fourth Mile: Motivation through Positive Attention
Fifth Mile: Self-Motivation and Learning from Experience
Sixth Mile: Motivation through Rewards
Seventh Mile: Problem-Solving
Eighth Mile: Ignoring and Timeout
Ninth Mile: Pausing for Empathy and Self-Reflection
Tenth Mile: Weaknesses, Strengths, and Independence
YOUR GANDER Instruction Manual
The Gander© provides an easy way to assess your child’s developmental and behavioral profile. Understanding your child’s profile will help explain the source of behavioral challenges and guide individualized management. The multi-modal Instruction Manual provides detailed – and fun –explanations.
Parent Child Journey: The book
Get your copy of Dr. Shapiro’s expansive book, Parent Child Journey: An Individualized Approach to Raising Your Challenging Child. With compassion, creativity, and humor, Dr. Shapiro presents in-depth discussion of his entire parent training program, including illustrations, graphs, charts, and detailed examples. Plus, there’s an entertaining fable that winds in and out. Available in paperback or Kindle eBook.
Journey FAQs
- any type of developmental difference,
- challenging temperaments such as: inflexibility, impulsivity, slow-to-warm-up, or explosive, OR
- specific disorders including ADHD, Autism Spectrum, Learning Disability, Anxiety, and more.
Some participants will have children with relatively mild problems; others, more challenging. We will review some general principles but one strategy will not fit all. You will hear about different children, add tools to your own behavioral toolkit and learn how to choose the right one. The most effective behavioral strategies depend upon understanding your child’s unique developmental profile and individualizing your approach.
What’s This Program Based On?
Starting nearly 30 years ago, Dr. Shapiro ran parent groups in his general pediatrics practice based on the parent training programs of Forehand/ McMahon and Barkley. Over the years, he has modified the program to include the ideas in Ross Greene’s The Explosive Child, Martin Seligman’s Learned Optimism, William Carey’s work on temperament, B.F. Skinner’s behaviorism, Mel Levine’s A Mind at a Time – and more. While the material presented in this class is based on the work of these innovative researchers, Dr. Shapiro’s Journey Program integrates the best of these time-tested approaches to give parents an approach that’s understandable, effective and real-life.
Want to learn more about Dr. Shapiro and the origins of this class? Read the article about “The Child Whisperer” that appeared in the August 2015 issue of the Washingtonian magazine.
Want to learn more about Dr. Shapiro’s approach to problem solving? Listen to a podcast in which Dr. Steve Silvestro interviews Dr. Shapiro about these issues, and more from March, 2016.
Does It Really Work?
At the beginning and end of every course, parents have completed behavior rating scales. Over the years, about 75% of class participants have reported substantial improvement in their children’s problem behaviors and problem situations. In addition, parents have enjoyed meeting others who share their experiences. Journey parents have supported each other and felt less alone in their challenges. Moreover, when parents and extended family have differences of opinion or style, this course often helps bring them together and reduces household tension. Greater than 95% of Journey parents have given the course an “A” rating in overall satisfaction.
What Should I Expect When I Come?
Each session of the Journey covers a specific topic. You can take a look at the course content by clicking here. Discussion will be structured but very informal and relaxed. Questions and comments will be encouraged. We will talk about how to implement strategies for different kids in different homes. There will be homework. Detailed handouts will be provided to share with others involved in your child’s life. Talking about what to do is important but actually doing it is what matters. Each session begins with sharing homework successes and frustrations. Respectfully and non-judgmentally, we will offer each other suggestions and fine-tune our approaches. Your children need time and understanding. You do too.
Thank you for all of the expertise, experience, time, energy, hope and caring that you have put into this workshop. What I am learning is becoming such a strong voice in my head now, especially when I think I have reached the end of my rope. I have also made some special, strong, new connections in the form of other parents going through similar struggles. That counts for a lot and gives me strength.