Tom and Pam have been married for 40 years and have 4 children and 8 grandchildren. Tom became interested in behavioral parenting skills after experiencing problems with teenagers. He obtained help from his bishop, a family counselor, a psychotherapist, and finally a psychiatrist where medication was prescribed for his child with “Oppositional Defiant Disorder”. After a short while, things got much worse. One Sunday a friend showed up with the book, by Dr. Glenn I. Latham. The friend heard Dr. Latham speak at a seminar. This remarkable book looked at parenting troubled teens from a behavior science perspective. Dr. Latham’s claim (based on over 30 years of experience) was that if we fixed our home, we would have a 95% chance of having our child return to the family value system. With the help of Dr. Latham, Tom and Pam made changes. It took time, but the wayward son did return.

In 2001 tragedy struck… Dr. Latham died of a heart attack. Tom looked around for someone else who could help him, who incorporated the basics of behavior science in their work, but he found no one. In 2003, Tom went back to college in the field that Dr. Latham used as the basis for his parenting work. Tom received a graduate certificate in Behavior Analysis from the University of North Texas in 2004. He became a Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (behavior scientist), and is a certified parenting instructor for, “Parenting Tools for Positive Behavior Change” which is used in Florida to train Foster Parents. (Dr. Latham was the consultant for the team who wrote this course). Tom is a devoted student of the behaviorally based, positive parenting methods of Dr. Latham, author of “The Power of Positive Parenting.” Tom was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree with Highest Honors from the University of Texas at Austin in 1975 and had a successful engineering career lasting over 30 years. Tom retired from his engineering career, and now works as a “behavior engineer” to help parents with their struggles. Tom was awarded his Masters of Science in Behavior Analysis and the Family in May 2012 from California State University, Stanislaus, and in September passed his Board Certified Behavior Analyst exam. For his graduate project, he developed an online behavioral parent training program about parenting infants. It is available free at 3LParenting.com. Since then, he developed a parenting course for parents of young adult children which is at 3LParenting.com and on DVD. Tom continues to develop and release video parenting classes in the Love,Laughter, and Limits parent training series.

Tom has taught parenting classes in the Livermore area since 2003. Each semester he teaches numerous parenting classes for several adult education programs in the area. 70% of parents rate the skills taught as “Extremely Effective.” He is the owner and parenting coach of Guaranteed Parent Training, which promotes and teaches positive parenting skills with a “satisfaction or money back” guarantee. Tom also holds a California Adult Education Teaching Credential.

Tom’s goal is to provide families the help they need to succeed. If you need help, he is glad to help you, whether in person or by phone. His behavior science understanding of child behavior problems generally provides insight and predictably effective solutions.