The Sweet Spot Podcasts

Please Don't Label My Child: Break the Doctor-Diagnosis-Drug Cycle and Discover Safe, Effective Choices for Your Child's Emotional Health

MP3 File  Length-22 minutes, 31 seconds

Dr. Lara Honos-Webb, host of The Sweet Spot Podcast, interviews Scott M. Shannon, MD, author of Please Don't Label My Child: Break the Doctor-Diagnosis-Drug Cycle and Discover Safe, Effective Choices for Your Child's Emotional Health published by Rodale Inc.

Dr. Scott Shannon

Scott M. Shannon, MD, is a pediatric psychiatrist who is board-certified in general psychiatry, child/ adolescent psychiatry, and holistic medicine. A past president of the American Holistic Medical Association, he currently has a private practice in holistic child psychiatry and serves as medical director of four residential treatment centers for children and teens in northern Colorado. Dr. Shannon shares his vision for transforming the care of children with chronic illness of any nature via The Center for the Whole Child (www.forthewholechild.org). He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, with his wife and two children.

Visit Dr. Lara Honos-Webb's website blog.

The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing

MP3 File

Length-22 minutes, 46 seconds

Dr. Lara Honos-Webb, host of The Sweet Spot Podcasts, interviews Mr. Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing published by Da Capo Lifelong Books.

Alfie Kohn writes and speaks widely on human behavior, education, and parenting. The latest of his eleven books are The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing (2006) and Punished By Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes (2005).

Kohn has been described in Time magazine as "perhaps the country's most outspoken critic of education's fixation on grades [and] test scores." His criticisms of competition and rewards have helped to shape the thinking of educators -- as well as parents and managers -- across the country and abroad. Kohn has been featured on hundreds of TV and radio programs, including the "Today" show and two appearances on "Oprah"; he has been profiled in the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, while his work has been described and debated in many other leading publications.

Kohn lectures widely at universities and to school faculties, parent groups, and corporations. In addition to speaking at staff development seminars and keynoting national education conferences on a regular basis, he conducts workshops for teachers and administrators on various topics. Among them: "Motivation from the Inside Out: Rethinking Rewards, Assessment, and Learning" and "Beyond Bribes and Threats: Realistic Alternatives to Controlling Students' Behavior." The latter corresponds to his book BEYOND DISCIPLINE: From Compliance to Community (ASCD, 1996), which he describes as "a modest attempt to overthrow the entire field of classroom management."   Visit his website.

Visit Dr. Lara Honos-Webb's website

The Last Normal Child: Essays on the Intersection of Kids, Culture, and Psychiatric Drugs

Length-26 minutes, 52 seconds

Dr. Lara Honos-Webb, host of The Sweet Spot, interviews Dr. Lawrence H. Diller, M.D., author of The Last Normal Child: Essays on the Intersection of Kids, Culture, and Psychiatric Drugs published by Praeger Publishers.

Dr. Lawrence H. Diller, M.D.

Dr. Lawrence H. Diller M.D. is a behavioral/developmental pediatrician in Walnut Creek, CA and on the clinical faculty of the University of California, San Francisco. 

Dr. Diller is the author of many professional articles and the books,  Should I Medicate My Child? Sane Solutions for Troubled Kids with and without Psychiatric Drugs and Running on Ritalian: A Physician Reflects on Children , Society and Performance in a Pill.

He has offered testimony to a House Congressional Subcommittee and was an expert witness to the President's Council on Bioethics.  Dr. Diller has appeared on every major talk show several times and is called reguarly to speak on TV and radio whenever children's psychiatric medication is in the news. Visit his website.

Sleepless in America: Is Your Child Misbehaving...or Missing Sleep?

Length-22 minutes, 28 seconds

Dr. Lara Honos-Webb, host of The Sweet Spot Podcasts, interviews Mary Sheedy Kurcinka, MA author of Sleepless in America: Is Your Child Misbehaving...or Missing Sleep? published by Harper Paperbacks.

Mary Sheedy Kurinka, MA

Mary Sheedy Kurcinka, MA, is a best-selling author and internationally recognized lecturer and parent educator. Her books Raising Your Spirited Child, Raising Your Spirited Child Workbook; Kids, Parents, and Power Struggles; and Sleepless in America: Is Your Child Misbehaving or Missing Sleep have been translated into ten languages.

As director of parentchildhelp.com, Mary provides training nationally and internationally for families and professionals, including medical personnel, educators, and social service providers who serve families. Licensed as a parent educator and early childhood teacher, she has pioneered efforts to bring topics such as temperament, neurobiology, the importance of sleep, and emotion coaching into homes, schools, medical practices, and businesses. She is as comfortable as a keynote speaker for major professional conferences as she is working one on one with families in their homes or teachers in their classrooms.

Known for her real-life examples, Mary links research-based information with typical challenging behaviors and provides practical solutions that really work. Her presentations have helped hundreds of thousands of parents and professionals to understand children better, and themselves as well.

Mary’s work has been featured in The New York Times, Parenting magazine, Good Housekeeping, Parent Magazine, Working Mother, First for Women, and Speaker Magazine and on Good Morning America, National Public Radio, Good Morning Canada, Fox Nine News Good Day, and many other national and local television, radio, magazine, and newspaper venues.

She has also presented at the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, National Conference.

A former director of one of Minnesota's largest Early Childhood Family Education programs, Mary is the founder of the Spirited Child and Kids, Parents, and Power Struggles workshops. She also provides individual parent consultations for families and professionals.

Mary graduated with honors from the University of Minnesota with a master's degree in Family Social Science and from Iowa State University with a Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education.

Born on a third-generation dairy farm, Mary lives with her husband in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is the proud mother of one son and one daughter — now adults with whom she loves to spend time.