DEVELOPING YOUTHS' STRENGTHS LECTURE TOPIC

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Parents can follow specific steps to help their children become capable, responsible adults, says H. Stephen Glenn.

Glenn, a family psychologist and educator, is in Cape Girardeau this week training leaders for his "Developing Capable People" program.

At a special showcase presentation tonight, Glenn will list the 10 most powerful ways for a parent to encourage the strengths in their children.

His lecture will outline specific ways to turn everyday experiences into teaching moments. Those who attend will learn ways to foster cooperation and responsibility in children, he said.

The program begins at 7 p.m. at Central High School Auditorium. It is free and open to the public.

Glenn has been an adviser to four presidents on drug-abuse prevention and is author of "Raising Self-Reliant Children in a Self-Indulgent World."

He said in working with adolescents with drug-abuse problems, "We find a common core of issues which manifest themselves as drug abuse, underachievement, teen pregnancy." But with seven specific perceptions and skills, young people can become capable adults, he said.

"These three perceptions and four skills are not being developed by our society's lifestyle without some help," he said. "And until you develop these perceptions and skills, problems will show up. It may not be drug abuse, but they will show up in some way."

Glenn developed a course to teach the seven critical areas, which he calls the "Significant Seven."

Support groups and rehabilitation centers use similar approaches, Glenn said. "But people can learn these skills without having to crash."

He listed three key perceptions young people must develop about themselves:

"I am a capable person.

"My life has significance, meaning and purpose.

"Although I can't always determine what happens to me, I can determine how I let it affect my life."

And, he said, young people must develop four skills: Self discipline, interpersonal skills, responsibility, and judgment

"These are skills, and skills have to be practiced and developed," Glenn said. He said punishing a child for not having the skills is non-productive. "They need to be encouraged to practice the skills," he said. "Once people have the tools, they can go on to lead successful lives."

Organizers said 25 people, about 20 from Cape Girardeau, are being trained in Glenn's method this week.

He said, "My main goal is to train a cadre of people offering this course in this community at churches, at schools."

Teachers who have been through the program show less stress and less depression and report they are doing less work, he said, and abusive parents who have been through the training report that incidents of continued abuse decreased by 92 percent.

In Oklahoma, courts require parents of juvenile offenders to take the course. Repeat offenses by these juveniles were reduced by 55 percent, he said.

Glenn, a parent of four and foster parent of 18, has been a professional family educator for the past 28 years.

The three-day training seminar is sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Drug-Free Schools and Communities Advisory Board. Tonight's lecture is sponsored by the SEMO Social Work Club, the Mental Health Association of Cape Girardeau, Missouri Division of Alcohol and Drugs, St. Francis Medical Center and the Drug-Free Schools Advisory Board.