Empowering Underachievers: New Strategies to Guide Kids (8-18) to Personal Excellence

My child is so bright, why isn’t she doing better in school? Does she want to fail? parents ask. Peter A. Spevak, Ph.D., who has brought 2000 students from failure to success and is an often called upon expert on Good Morning America and contributor to Parents Magazine and the New York Times, explains that lack of emotional maturity is often the main problem in dealing with children who suffer from low self-esteem, poor self-confidence and are labeled underachievers. Parents and educators must actively engage underachievers in a transformation to become self-motivated and happy individuals. How can underachievers by motivated? First, you must understand the relationship between emotional maturity and chronological age. Dr. Spevak warns readers about accepting a diagnosis of ADD or ADHP being made too quickly. He focuses on the four emotional developmental stages—distant, passive, dependent, and defiant—explaining and demonstrating through examples how each type needs specific interventions and actions to get unstuck and stop the backsliding that results in failure. He shows the reader how to encourage emotional growth in a child, enabling him or her to become empowered and thus achievers. Spevak skillfully blends theory, explaining the problem, with a practical, doable action plan for solving the problem.

• Motivational expert reveals action plan which has helped 2000 underachievers succeed.

• New ways to understand and empower failing children.

• How to guide an underachiever to personal excellence.


About the Authors:

Peter A. Spevak, Ph.D., Founder & Director of the Center for Applied Motivation in Washington D.C., has appeared on Good Morning America and Dateline and has been featured in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek and the LA Times. He received his MA and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Maryann Karinch, a communications consultant in San Mateo, CA, and author of Lessons From the Edge, Boot Camp, and Telemedicine, holds an MA degree from Catholic University of America.