March 28, 2024

Therapeutic parenting specialist to present seminar Friday, Saturday

We've all witnessed a child throwing a fit in the supermarket aisle, causing the parent to scold or even spank the little one. It's a seemingly typical child-parent relationship, instilling basic skills such as how to properly act in public or how to obey rules. The child usually learns the lesson, and the family moves on with life.

But what happens when that child-parent bond never really forms — perhaps the result of an unwanted pregnancy or a child who frequently travels in and out of foster homes — leaving behind a disorderly child that no one seems able to help?

Nancy Thomas, a Colorado-based therapeutic parenting specialist, will be in Newton Friday and Saturday to help parents, foster parents, teachers, guidance counselors, pastors and other caregivers answer questions about how to deal with challenging children who may have Asperger's Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Reactive Attachment Disorder or who face other behavioral disturbances. The two-day seminar is sponsored by Newton resident Sonya Metz.

"Sonya was helping a child that just didn't seem to fit the mold for other kinds of descriptions, and she was kind of at wit's end on what to do," said Donna Norris, Metz's mother. "She kind of bounced into somebody that knew about this person (Thomas) and she went on the site, and the woman has written books and has DVDs ... so she ordered some of the materials and felt like she was getting a pretty good response in implementing those techniques."

Eventually, Metz reached out to Thomas, who has trained more than 50,000 parents and professionals throughout her career. According to Thomas' website, www.attachement.org, she also has shared her home for the past 35 years with "severely emotionally disturbed children," gaining personal experience on how to teach behaviorally challenged children to be respectful and responsible.

The seminar is set to take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Community Heights Alliance Church, 2500 S. 13th Ave. E. Cost is $100 per person to attend the event, and lunch will be the responsibility of each participant. Additonally, foster parents who attend both days are eligible to recieve 12.5 contact hours, while DMACC is offering 12 contact hours.

"What Sonya's trying to do is raise awareness and hopefully attract a group of people who have an interest in trying to address the needs of some of these kids," Norris said of the event. "There are going to be parents who just are bewildered and wanting to help their child. The focus is 'How To Have A Winning Team To Heal A Challenging Child."

For more information and to register for the seminar, call Metz at (641) 792-4651 or email metzsonya@yahoo.com.

Amy Martens can be contacted at (641) 792-3121 ext. 426 or via email at amartens@newtondailynews.com.