Perspectives on Challenged Family Building

Time out seems to be one of the most popular forms of discipline today. However, as a tool to change the behavior of an adopted child with a history of trauma, we must re-think the use of time out. This is because time out disconnects the child from the family. Most adopted children already know [...]

It is likely that many reading this blog might be saying, “Why a blog on the brain?” The answer is that the brain is affected—long-term—by the experiences it encounters pre-natally and in the early years of one’s life. In particular, the brain grows more in the first year of life than at any other point [...]

Gordon was 15-years-old when he was arrested for vandalizing several cars parked at a local shopping mall. Gordon had been adopted, internationally, when he was 2 and 1/2 -years-old. He had been difficult from the start. This arrest was one more situation on a very lengthy list of negative behaviors! While at the police station [...]