Welcome to Parenting for Success!

Greetings, and welcome to Parenting for Success!

Thank you for placing your trust in this program. My goal is not simply to give you a list of strategies, but to help you build a practical way of understanding behavior so that the choices you make as a parent become more intentional, more effective, and easier to adapt over time.

Before you get started, there are a few things to know about how the course is organized and how to get the most from it.

Your Workbook

A downloadable workbook accompanies the information in Part 1.

You can use it to follow along with key concepts, review important examples, and complete the reflection and practice activities included throughout the course.

You do not need to complete every page perfectly before moving forward. The workbook is there to help you organize your thinking and apply the material—not to create another homework assignment to feel behind on.

A Quick Note About the Course Structure

Some of the original videos were recorded when Parenting for Success! was organized as a three-part series, so you may occasionally hear references to “Part 3.”

The current program is now organized as:

• Part 1 — Building the Foundations: understanding behavior, regulation, communication, relationships, consequences, and proactive strategies;
• Part 2 — Navigating the Challenges: taking a deeper look at behavior patterns, motivations and needs, functional assessment, and development of a tailored Plan A / Plan B intervention approach.

If you hear older numbering in a video, the underlying concepts have not changed. Simply follow the current course structure shown in your learner dashboard.

Does This Apply to Older Children Too?

Yes.

The behavioral principles taught in this course can be useful across a wide range of ages.

What changes is how those principles are applied.

The way you use positive attention, choices, boundaries, communication, reinforcement, or consequences with a young child should look different from how you use them with a teenager—or an adult.

The goal is not to apply one rigid technique across every age and situation. The goal is to understand the principle well enough that you can adapt it thoughtfully to the person and circumstance in front of you.

Take Your Time With Part 1

Part 1 provides the foundation for the more individualized intervention process taught in Part 2.

Rather than rushing through the material, I encourage you to spend some time noticing how the Part 1 concepts show up in everyday family life.

Pay attention to things such as:

• what tends to happen before difficult behavior;
• when your child appears more or less regulated;
• how your own responses may influence what happens next;
• where communication or expectations could be clearer;
• and opportunities to proactively create conditions for success.

When you reach the end of Part 1, you will find a dedicated Part 1 Completion / Next Steps lesson that will help you pause, practice what you have learned, and prepare for Part 2.

If you purchased the Supported Application option, that transition point is also where you will find guidance for scheduling your first educational application consultation.

One Final Thought Before You Begin

Positive and mindful parenting practices will not make every day easy.

They can, however, help you become more thoughtful about what you are seeing, more purposeful in how you respond, and better equipped to create opportunities for positive change.

The goal is not perfection.

The goal is to understand the process well enough that you can keep using it across a broad range of behaviors, ages, and environments for many years to come.

Welcome to Parenting for Success!

Warm regards,

Dr. Brett