When we talk with parents about their children for the first time we ask: What is your child good at? What do you like about your child? What are your child’s strengths?

These questions are not asked in an attempt to make a worried parent feel better. We hope to elicit information about the child’s strengths that will serve as the foundation for growth and development.

For example:

• The tenacity and ability to work with others that a child develops playing team sports might be applied to conquering a learning disability.
• A child with Asperger’s Syndrome, who knows everything about trains, might develop better math skills if all the problems were posed in terms of adding and subtracting railroad cars.
• A young patient with Tourette’s Syndrome who excels as an actor might discover that the explosive verbal outbursts that sometimes characterize Tourette’s Syndrome are entirely absent when speaking lines on the stage.

At RNBC, we value the fact that every child is different. We know that every child’s goals will be different as well. We strive for solutions that make the best use of the child’s interests and abilities, that permit a child to work toward an objective, feel a sense of accomplishment, and expand the possibilities for the future.

Brain-based disabilities not only interfere with the performance of specific tasks, they sometimes mask who a child really is. We work to overcome, circumvent, compensate for, and outwit social-emotional learning issues. Most of all, we strive to help the child on the path to establishing and enjoying an authentic sense of self and self esteem.