Speaking and Workshops

A child’s visible struggles are often just the tip of the iceberg. 

Underlying factors often worsen or create symptoms.

The good news is, answers exist once you have the full picture!

The Child Decoded team offers a range of services to support you, whether you are a parent, teacher, or practitioner and whether your kids struggle with learning or behavioral problems.

“This workshop distilled the information it took me decades to gather into a few hours. As a parent of a son with multiple learning differences and as a teacher of over thirty years, I see this workshop as an effective way to give you the tools that will help you succeed as a parent and advocate of kids with learning or behavioral differences.” ~ Craig A.

The Iceberg Model:

This provides the basis for most of our presentations, no matter what specific focus we may be addressing. Your child’s symptoms (i.e., the diagnoses they’ve received, which basically just identify what they’re struggling with) are often just the tip of the iceberg of what’s really happening.

We offer an unusual cross-disciplined perspective that looks through more than one lens and digs deeper than the learning or behavioral symptoms. This allows us to offer a broader context for your child’s issues, which in turn opens the way for new, more comprehensive solutions.

We developed this model after decades of clinical experience collaborating with other professionals to find answers for our most challenging clients. We’ve found that the majority of children –especially those that don’t seem to respond to treatment – benefit from this kind of deeper examination.

Whether a child is emotionally shut down, chronically underperforming, defiant, or struggling with learning in multiple but ill-defined ways, there are almost always answers to be found when you look at deeper levels of their system.

Don’t just manage symptoms; make real shifts!

Contact Us

TOPICS:

The following choices can be adapted to serve the needs of parents, teachers, or practitioners.

The Iceberg Model, broken down:

We explain the most fundamental pieces that contribute to, cause or mimic learning or behavioral problems in children: biomedical issues (often poorly understood, if they are taken into account at all); sensory processing issues; basic health issues such as trauma, ongoing stress, and genetics; and language processing issues.

Dyslexia:

Dyslexia is a reading disability, but not all reading disabilities are dyslexia. Dr. Robin McEvoy can educate both parents and professionals about these differences and the best approaches for different reading challenges. Reading in the Rockies, an annual conference in Colorado that addresses reading challenges, has requested this talk for several years.

ADHD:

One of the most commonly diagnosed disorders, ADHD confounds parents, teachers and students alike. We can help you understand the many faces it can present, – you might find you have a spacy, hyperactive or defiant child, with numerous small but important nuances within each profile. We also explore how different underlying issues can create the same symptoms, but need to be addressed differently.  Finally, we cover common misdiagnoses and issues that can “hide” within ADHD symptomology, but need to be addressed separately.

Sensory Processing Disorder:

We explore this topic from a unique cross-topic perspective, looking particularly at the overlap with biomedical issues and head injuries, both of which can exacerbate or even create symptoms. SPD contributes to a wide range of symptoms, from kids’ learning challenges to behavioral problems that confound everyone, such as the ‘defiant child’ profile that has become more prevalent in recent years. We also discuss what SPD looks like as they get older; many professionals believe children “outgrow” it, but in fact the symptomology just shifts.

Four Foundations:

Whatever your child’s diagnosis,  you want to send them to school each day as prepared to learn as possible.  Dr. McEvoy will present information about the basic foundations for learning readiness, how each child may differ in the relative importance of these foundations, and tips for optimizing each one.  Also helpful for children without obvious issues, since these are issues that can have a dramatic impact on all kids’ learning and behavioral problems .

Adoption-related Issues:

Adopted children often face their own set of complications, from attachment issues to unexplored genetic problems and everything in between. These issues can affect kids’ learning, behavior problems, emotional well-being or general health. Both Kim Gangwish and Robin McEvoy have extensive experience with the adoption community and would love to share their expertise with this unique population.

Customize Your Topic:

We have a wide range of experience and can address others topics, depending on your needs.

School-sponsored presentations:

We are happy to work with your school to arrange a larger presentation for large groups of parents.

“This workshop was very helpful in giving me new perspectives to explore. I appreciated the lengthy Q&A section.”
~ Parent

FOR PARENTS:

If you can gather a minimum of ten participants, we will join you for an hour and a half to two hours to discuss our basic model (above). We can focus on a subject of your choice, but will always include some discussion of the Iceberg Model. We aim to include at least an hour for Q&A.

Since we anticipate a lot of discussion of your children’s individual cases, this amounts to almost a private consultation for the participants. An excellent value!

Cost: $40/person

Gather a minimum of ten interested parties, and we will present a webinar version of the above.

Cost: $30/person

We are happy to work with your school or other organization to arrange a larger presentation for large groups of parents.

“This workshop opened my eyes to the many ways a child can be struggling. I feel much better educated about how to spot what a child’s true issue might be. I am happy to have more reasons to be compassionate and supportive!” ~ Christy G., Teacher

FOR TEACHERS:

Let us help you minimize frustration and maximize results! Our understanding of different learning challenges is constantly shifting.  Let us bring up-to-date information about learning challenges, how to spot them in the classroom, and what might help. Learn to differentiate what specific behaviors mean about what each child is really struggling with.

We can also help you set up protocols that will benefit all your students, but especially your more challenging ones.

Come with questions ready!

FOR PRACTITIONERS:

It’s hard enough to keep up with your own discipline, much less others within the realm of child development, kids’ learning and behavioral problems in children. Let Child Decoded take the lead in providing information across disciplines and treatment modalities. Complex kids often need support in multiple areas.

The Wholistic Neurodevelopmental Evaluation

Why get an evaluation? Neuropsychologist Robin McEvoy, PhD, discusses her take on the importance of a complete and ‘integrated’ evaluation. DSM diagnoses are often helpful, even necessary, but are not the final or most important goal. (And some diagnoses are almost meaningless: the ‘defiant child,’ for example, is basically just a description of behavior; almost always, the answers you need come from looking deeper than the behavioral problems themselves.) By looking at multiple other factors in a child’s life and health, a more comprehensive and useful picture can emerge, revealing new possibilities for creating shifts where possible.

Kim Gangwich
Kim Gangwish
Robin McEvoy
Robin McEvoy
Buy the Book
Read An Excerpt
“This book helps take the guesswork out of guiding your child through their difficulties.”
Jill N.

Join Our Newsletter

Join our newsletter for blog posts, practitioner interviews, latest research, in-depth discussion of relevant topics, parenting tips and more!

Join Now