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What Are These Kits All About?
Each kit is a self-contained, do-it-yourself course that enables you to bring together a group of parents, teachers, students, colleagues, staff, clients, friends or neighbors to solve common problems of living or working with children of all ages.
How Do I Get a Group Started at Home or at Work?
You can organize a group on your own, or through your school, house of worship, community center, “Y”, nursery school, PTA, library, adult education center, social services agency or business.
How Many People Should Be in a Group?
Each course was designed for six to twelve people. The programs, however, have also been used successfully by as few as two or as many as 100+.
What happens in the Workshop Sessions?
The chairperson is in charge of distributing materials and reading aloud simple directions from the Chairperson’s Guide. In the “How To Talk So Kids Will Listen” workshop, the chairperson will also operate an audio player, so that participants will hear the authors’ voices conducting each session.
Participants follow along using their workbooks. As each new skill is presented, through cartoons and “true-to-life” dramatizations, the group will have a chance to discuss their reactions with each other and practice their new skills by doing exercises in their workbooks, role playing common problem situations and sharing their reactions with each other.
The format provides a warm, relaxed and enjoyable way for all members of the group to learn and practice valuable communication skills.
May I combine the workshop kit with my own material?
We ask that workshop leaders do not blend the workshop kit with their own material. That would create a grab bag of approaches that the authors may or may not endorse (meditation, behavior charts, reward systems…), which would lead to a misrepresentation of Faber and Mazlish’s work.
If you want to offer the Faber Mazlish How To Talk So Kids Will Listen workshop to your clients, we ask that you use the kit they created, which includes a Chairperson’s Guide and a set of audio recordings, and requires a workbook for each participant.
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Can Other Professionals and Those Who Are Not Parents Benefit From These Programs?
Yes. The principles and skills taught in these workshops can be used by anyone who lives or works with children. The material is ideal for social workers, guidance counselors, clergy, doctors, nurses, childcare workers, camp counselors, grandparents…anyone who has contact with children. The kits have also been used successfully in high school and college courses in Early Childhood Education.
Does the Chairperson Need Professional Training?
No. While the programs are widely used by mental health professionals, they were designed so that they can also be run successfully by any motivated person. No special expertise is required.
The task of the chairperson is to guide the group through the different exercises by reading the directions aloud and, in the case of the “How To Talk So Kids Will Listen” workshop, playing audio recordings of the authors. In the “How To Talk So Kids Can Learn” workshop, there are no audio recordings. All authors’ commentary is included in the Chairperson’s Guide.
If a question arises, the chairperson is not expected to be the “answer person.” Instead, the question is turned back to the group for exploration and discussion.
How Long Is Each Session?
Each session runs one-and-a-half to two hours, depending upon the size of the group.
A Special Note to Mental Health Professionals.
May I charge a fee for the workshop?
Yes. As the chairperson organizing a workshop, you are entitled to charge participants a fee in order to compensate you for your time, effort and any expenses you incur.
May I offer the workshop in my own (non-English) language?
If you’d like to translate the workshop kit into your own language, please contact info@howtotalkworkshops.com for information about your options. We offer licenses to individuals who would like to lead a workshop themselves, as well as a license to translate and publish the entire kit for sale to the public.
