Dr. Ross Greene

Can Reactive Attachment Disorder be understood (and treated) through the lenses of Collaborative Problem Solving? What's the best way to approach a co-parent who's not yet on board with CPS?  What's the best way to approach school staff who aren't on board yet either?

On today's program, we heard from a mom who's just starting to use Plan B (and having pretty good early success), as well as from a mom who's running into more trouble in her early efforts to use Plan B. 

Is spanking a kid ever a good idea? Not if you know why challenging kids are challenging (lagging skills) and are solving the problems (collaboratively) that are giving rise to their challenging episodes!

On today's program, the Parents Panel tackled video games...a very tough unsolved problem. 

That's what the Empathy step is for: really, truly, understanding what's getting in the way for a kid on a specific unsolved problem. Without that information, solving problems is a shot in the dark.

One of the biggest non-starters in the Empathy step of Plan B is trying to talk with a child about his behavior rather than the unsolved problem setting that behavior in motion. And one of our callers is trying to get over that hump.

On today's program, Dr. Greene heard about the efforts of a mom who was struggling to do Plan B with her son...and gave some (hopefully) helpful tips on how to fine-tune the effort (including some of the things mom was thinking that were getting in the way).

Are bullies lacking skills? How about the bullied? If so, then what do they really need from us? The Parents Panel weighs in!

On this program, Dr. Greene answered questions from emailers and covered a wide range of topics...including what to do when religious values and Plan B seem inconsistent with each other.

On today's program, we heard from two different parents who were having difficulty making sure their children were well-understood and well-treated at school. Our key theme: nothing takes the place of identifying a kid's lagging skills and unsolved problems prior to making placement decisions.

In this first program of the new school year, Dr. Greene responded to some of the email he received over the summer. Some familiar themes: the necessity of creating a (very specific) list of unsolved problems, prioritizing (so you know what problems you're working on right now and the ones you're not), and, most importantly, solving problems collaboratively and proactively.  It's very hard...but when parents do those things, over time, they get their energy back.

Is the CPS model compatible with Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)?  That depends on your definition of ABA. Is intervention "working"?  That depends on your definition of "working". 

Some behaviorally challenging kids don't like to be suprised by the topic and timing of Plan B, even when it's proactive. Better to make an appointment with the child...and even give the child the heads-up on the topic.

Parenting and teaching kids with behavioral challenges is really hard.  But there are things adults can do to make it even harder, and things adults can do to make it easier (not easy, easier).

Lots of callers on today's program, and we covered lots of key themes of Collaborative Problem Solving. One of the most important: when you're solving problems, you're not primarily trying to figure out what a child should do once he or she becomes upset...but rather solutions that will durably solve the problems that are causing the child to become upset in the first place.