Training

Last Friday the 25th, Steve and I attended an all day training in Sioux Falls at a counseling center. The information was based on Beyond Consequences, which focuses on developing and maintaining relationships with children who have behavior issues. We've taken other courses from Children's Home which centered around the same material but I've found that 1)it's good to have the information as a couple to make sure we're parenting on the same page, 2) it takes a lot of repeating to make sure the information sticks in our heads, and 3)it's good to network with other parents who have challenging children. The best part of the day was that we splurged and went out for supper at Olive Garden - by ourselves- before we went home!
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This Friday, I attended an all-day training in Madison. We started with information on tax preperation, which might have been informative, but within the first five minutes, the speaker informed us that it applied to every area except Minnehaha and Brookings counties. So it didn't apply to me or the families in our area at all!
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The next session was about autism, which again could have been interesting because the presenter was a good speaker from Parent Connection, but the information presented was very general and I didn't feel like I was learning anything new. I was really hoping for some new information or some new techniques for intervention.
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The third session was about internet security. The presenter was awesome! He's originally from the middle east and looked like some kind of long-bearded terrorist but he spoke English without even an accent. He was trained in computer security and not only did he know a lot, he was able to pass the information along to us in a way we were able to understand. And his sense of humor made the presentation go really quickly. I would highly recommend him for anyone who would like to ensure their employees are aware of all aspects of computer security, which is pretty much anyone who uses a computer or phone. He also brought along a detective from the FBI who spoke to us for a few minutes.
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The fourth session was about conflict resolution with children, based on material from Conscious Discipline. This was the one that most specifically applied to me and my ability to work with children. Plus I love the presenter - she's my boss! Someday when I have a bit more time, I'd love to share some of the information that I've been learning over the past few years. It works in the classroom and it works at home. For all you Love and Logic parents out there, that works too if you have a child who is logical and comes from a place where their needs have been met in the past. Lots, if not most of the kids I work with haven't had that advantage. If I ever get to the place in life where I have time again, I'd love to help present some of these strategies to parents and teachers. 
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I think I'm done with trainings for a while :)
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