Help for Parents of Struggling Teens

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Fat Camp
Learn about why fat camps don't work and why the new healthy weight loss camps are so much more effective. more >>

Featured Programs

TurnAbout RanchTurn-About Ranch
As a parent you are often challenged by outside influences that threaten your child's emotional and behavioral development. Imagine a place where old-time values such as honesty, respect, teamwork, and accountability are the standard. Turn-About Ranch is such a place. Teens thrive in the unique environment of this spirited working cow-and-horse ranch. As they get back to basics, they are challenged to examine their values and recognize how their poor choices have impacted their lives.

Turn-About Ranch features a hard-hitting, high-impact residential program works wonders with defiant teens where the experience of the ranch setting has a powerful real-world impact.

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Adirondack Leadership ExpeditionsAdirondack Leadership Expeditions
Adirondack Leadership Expeditions is a character development wilderness program for troubled teens that promotes personal growth through a focus on insight-oriented experiences. The forested, mountain setting removes urban distractions and simplifies options to help students gain insight into their core values and accept responsibility for their choices. Our wilderness program's nurturing approach helps participants address personal issues, achieve success in a safe environment, and develop their leadership potential.

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Girls and Boys' Brains Develop Similarly

A long-range study of the brain development of healthy children indicates that girls' brains develop similarly to boys', that family income is related to IQ, and that most mental development takes place before age six.

Scientists at the U.S. National Institute of Health studied 450 American children from a variety of backgrounds from birth to age 18 years, using tools such as MRIs and brain scans. They found very few significant differences between boys and girls in most paths of development although boys perform better at spatial and visual tasks and girls are better at motor speed. Children from wealthy households had higher IQs than those from poor families, although the difference was only ten points.

Children under age six are developing very fast mentally, but this process levels off for children ages 10 to 12, and then improves only slightly during adolescence.

This study appears in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.

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