Smart Series Seminars
Struggling with attention and learning, emotions, and relationships are probably the top three areas of concern that bring young people into my office. In an attempt to help tweens and teens build skills and have success in these areas, I designed a seminar series called the Smart Series.
Since 2010, I have offered the Smart Series seminars for middle school students (in 6th, 7th, & 8th grade) and for high school students (in 9th, 10th, 11th, & 12th grade) in private practice and educational settings. In recent years, I have developed a parent component to the Smart Learner seminars to assist parents in helping students implement the skills they learn in my Smart Learner seminar. I also offer Smart Learner seminars targeted toward college and adult learner populations in private practice and educational settings.
Below I have included some additional information about each seminar as well as my thoughts on which students might particularly benefit from each seminar.
Are You a Smart Learner?
In this seminar students will learn how to maximize their motivation, attention, and learning skills. This seminar would be especially useful for:
- Student who have learning differences or learning disorders
- Students who are gifted and want to further enhance their learning strategies
- Students who struggle with confidence in their academic abilities
- Students who have difficulty with motivation for their class work or homework, studying for tests, or completing projects or papers
- Students who struggle with inattention, hyperactivity, or impulsivity (due to ADHD or as the result of another issue such as a learning disorder, anxiety or depression)
Smart Emotions – Building Emotional Intelligence
In this seminar students will be introduced to ideas and skills on how to identify emotions in themselves and others, change from an undesired emotion to a more positive emotion or mood, understand their emotions, and manage their emotions. This seminar would be especially useful for:
- Students who are having social difficulties
- Students who are starting to use or who abuse substances
- Students struggling with body image issues or an eating disorder
- Students who have ADHD (Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder)
- Students who have anxiety (generalized anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, social anxiety, or test anxiety)
- Students who are struggling with managing their emotions (sadness, anxiety, anger and irritability)
- Students who have depression or Bipolar Disorder
- Students who have Asperger’s Disorder
Being Smart About Relationships
In this seminar students will have an opportunity to consider the following questions – Who am I?, What do I stand for?, What do I want in my relationships?, How do I build and maintain relationships?, and How do I stand up for myself and problem-solve when relationship issues arise? This seminar would be especially useful for:
- Students struggling with identity development
- Students how have difficulty with assertiveness
- Students who are targets or instigators of bullying
- Students who recently transitioned to a new school
- Students with an emotional or learning disorder who are struggling with social relationships
- Students who are struggling in their current friendships or who are trying to branch out to a new group of friends
- Students who are doing well in their relationships with classmates and friends but are struggling in their relationships with their parents, siblings, teachers, or coaches