Specialty Niche

Coaching Parents with Special Needs Children  

4 2-hour sessions TRAINER – LISA SIMMONS

THIS POPULAR AND PRACTICAL NICHE IS A RESPONSE TO THE PARENTS OF NINE MILLION OR 13% OF THE CHILDREN IN THE UNITED STATES WHO HAVE SPECIAL NEEDS. THE NUMBERS OF FAMILIES ARE PART OF A GLOBAL COMMUNITY SHARING UNIQUE RESOURCES AND COPING STRATEGIES.

Instructor Lisa Simmons believes strongly in the competence and expertise of parents -- that they know their child best and have the greatest motivation to act in their child's best interest. This class teaches coaches how to combine powerful questions and listening with both your head and your heart to help families create solutions that are both practical and compassionate to everyone involved. Plus Lisa introduces coaches to her own personal QSRA coaching process to help target coaching efforts into the most important areas for each parent. Here are just a few of the topics that will be covered during this training:

• Which coaching styles mesh best with this type of parent?

• What are the components of “diagnosis friendly” coaching?

• How do you recognize “diagnosis fall out” in family relationships?

• What are questions you can ask to draw out areas of stress?

• What 2 common problems in our society are dramatically magnified by the addition of a child with special needs?

• How do you teach parents to be disability educators?

• What are LEARNER questions and how do you use them in coaching?

• Why is “big picture” coaching critical with this parent group?

• What practical skills and information can you give parents for navigating the special education system?

• How do you separate parent issues from child issues when the child with special needs is over 18?

Each session will also include coaching simulations on real life scenarios to ensure that coaches can apply course content and introductions to the most frequent types of special needs...what they are, how they usually impact a child, and what resources are available to assist families.

Comments from previous students:

"Lisa did a great job of navigating us through the many facets on the subject of special needs. With the wealth of knowledge she presented along with the abundance of supportive materials, Lisa challenges us to raise the bar. Great Job!!!" ~ Marti Genge "Take this class. You will be so glad you did! The teacher is wonderful. The resources are priceless. There are so many applications that will be useable for families inside and beyond the special needs community." ~ Debbie Katz

"I thought your classes were well organized and on topic and I really appreciate your plethora of resources! What a time saver." ~ Nancy Schiff

"Thank you so much! You are more than a wealth of info! You ARE the information that will make our ability to serve the needs of parents and families so much easier and more efficiently." ~Shannon Kohler

"Thank you for teaching a class full of useful information and wonderful leads to information. I found the case scenarios to be extremely helpful for getting in the coaching groove. The information your presented after the scenarios was pertinent and applicable. Your positive attitude and warmness was very inviting." ~ Sandra Couts