Positive Developments offers specialized and unique parenting services to address a wide range of issues and challenges. We take each family’s personal and cultural values into account and have found that parents benefit from our collaborative, supportive, and practical approach. Our services are offered in person and via tele-health and include:

• Individual parent consultation

• Parent-Child Interaction Therapy: a modified version of the evidence-based, live coaching treatment model for young children with behavioral problems focused on the parent-child relationship and discipline

• Brief in-home interventions including observation, evaluation, and 1-2 “coaching” sessions

• Community-based parenting workshops

Our parenting interventions are based on positive discipline strategies. These techniques emphasize consistency, positive attention, acceptance, respect, and clear structure. As with other treatment approaches, we assume a developmental perspective by identifying age-appropriate expectations and behaviors. We also consider how certain family patterns of relating may contribute to or be impacted by the child’s behavior. Guided by these approaches, we offer concrete strategies and solutions to improve behavior and further strengthen families. We help parents successfully apply positive parenting techniques at home and avoid common discipline pitfalls.

Parenting interventions for younger children include:

• Helping your child listen the first time

• Setting clear and consistent limits

• Increasing positive “do” behaviors and decreasing negative “don’t” behaviors

• Preventing and handling temper tantrums

• Using strategic praise and play to gain cooperation and foster self-esteem

• Determining appropriate rewards and consequences

• Effectively utilizing reward systems including behavioral charts

• Streamlining morning and bedtime routines

• Targeting behavioral sleep issues

Parenting interventions for pre-teens and adolescents include:

• Modeling and teaching effective problem-solving

• Opening up the lines of communication between parents and children

• Balancing your child’s increased need for independence and privacy with his or her continued need for parental support and supervision

• Promoting good judgment and decision-making

• Handling peer pressure

• Fostering healthy self-esteem