The Total Transformation by James Lehman, Product Review

If you're struggling to keep your child "in line" -- at home, in public, with siblings and peers, with you -- then the Total Transformation Program may help.

I've been using the parenting techniques offered in this behavioral program with my son (ADHD, PDD-NOS, anxiety that can lead to psychosis, SPD). It has made me a more confident parent, and able to contain the situation when my son has a meltdown.

The Total Transformation Program isn't a quick fix or a cure -- but if you're at this site, you're an experienced parent of a special needs kid so you probably already know this.

The company promotes that the Total Transformation Program can help kids diagnosed with ADHD, bipolar disorder, conduct disorder, ODD -- the whole lot. I'd agree and throw in RAD in my non-professional opinion.

It gives kids like these -- kids who can be stubborn, defiant, and abusive; kids who've been through the foster care system, kids who haven't had a steady home life -- firm boundaries in no uncertain terms.

The Total Transformation Program includes a "Jump Start DVD" that acclimates you to the program, introduces you to its creator James Lehman, and gets you excited about the prospect of having a child equipped to meet behavioral expectations at home, school and in public.

After you watch the DVD, there are several audio lessons to hear and corresponding workbook exercises to accomplish between lessons. I've found these audio lessons to be enormously helpful. I happen to spend a lot of time in the car, and listened to them during drive time.

In fact, I still listen to them during drive time. The audio lessons are so full of information and my son is ever growing and changing, that even though I've heard them a hundred times, I'm always finding something new to work on. James Lehman rocks.

James Lehman admittedly has ADHD. He was a kid who bounced around in foster care before he ultimately ended up with his adoptive parents. He didn't live a fairy tale life, and actually ended up in jail for a while. And then he turned his life around.

If I recall the story right, it was while he was incarcerated that he became interested in understanding behaviors associated with ADHD and other disorders. When he got out, he worked his way through the educational system and earned his Master's in social work. He's been counseling kids like him every since.

What's nice is that he has the perspective of knowing what it's like to have a disorder that doesn't make conforming easy. What's nice is he also is the father of a child with ADHD, so he knows what it's like to parent a kid with those behaviors too.

The Total Transformation Program is a behavioral therapy program.

In short, it trains you -- the parent -- in behavior therapy. It gives you the tools and techniques you'll need to work with a child who consistently defies rules and runs against the social grain. It can help your child -- from as young as three or four (you'll have to scale down some concepts) to your adult children -- the ability to understand that limits and rules you set are binding.

For me, the Total Transformation Program has given me enormous confidence. When you have a kid screaming in your face, damaging your property, throwing projectiles right and left, hitting, kicking, biting -- when you have a child that has relentless anger and energy in expressing that anger -- it can be extraordinarily difficult to contain the situation.

Thanks to the Total Transformation Program, when that happens in my house, I'm able to maintain my control and my cool.

And please notice what I just said: "when that happens in my house." I've been using techniques in the Total Transformation Program for a couple of years, and the incidents continue to occur. This program does not fix your child; it will not cure your child; your child will not magically wake up without a disorder. But it will give you the tools and the unwavering ability to rise above and direct the situation.

Prior to purchasing the Total Transformation Program, I had a library of books -- 1-2-3 Magic; The Explosive Child; Raising the Spirited Child; The Out-of-Sync Child; The Baffled Parents Guide to Stopping Bad Behavior; Parenting Guide to Positive Discipline; and, among many others, (my all-time favorite title) Parents, Please Don't Sit on Your Kids.

I have had no interest in turning back to the pages of these books for help, and I have had no interest in purchasing another book or resource dedicated to discipline or behavior. All the answers I need to help me with my son I've found in the Total Transformation Program. It is that thorough, that good.

Long story short, if you're on the fence about purchasing the program I say go for it. It's worth every penny. The program isn't cheap, but think of it this way -- it's the price of a couple of behavior therapy sessions, you can spread the payments out over time, you'll seriously never need to buy another book or resource again, it's an investment in your child and your own sense of peace.