oppositional defiant disorder

The title pretty much says it all...do listen!

It's that time again...time for us to hear from four educators who've been implementing Collaborative Problem Solving in the schools and classrooms...and all the hurdles and successes they've experienced along the way. Don't worry...you can still call in to ask questions or comment!

In this program, Dr. Greene discusses the difference between a popular school intervention -- Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) -- and Collaborative Problem Solving. The biggest difference begins with your definition of the "function" of challenging behavior, and that definition has tremendous implications for how you go about trying to help.

For the first half of this program, Dr. Greene focused on a common question: to what problems can Collaborative Problem Solving be productively applied? (Hint: it would be easier to identify the unsolved problems to which CPS can't be applied.) Then he focused on an email he received from a teacher trying hard to help his/her colleagues embrace the CPS model, and had some suggestions for how to move things forward.

In this program, Dr. Greene answered some important questions about Collaborative Problem Solving. At what age is it appropriate to try to solve problems collaboratively with kids? Can you really solve a problem collaboratively with a student if s/he doesn't think there's a problem to solve? How do you organize the effort within a school building? A very informative program!

Today was the first edition of a new feature for this program: the Educators Panel, which airs the first Monday of every month. Dr. Greene was joined by two educators (two more will be joining in next month) to talk about behaviorally challenging kids, the difficulties in helping them effectively in schools, and what's going in their own schools to move things in the right direction.

Today's program aired live from the Child Assessment Unit at Cambridge City Hospital...a unit that has eliminated its use of locked-door seclusion and virtually eliminated the use of physical and chemical restraint. There's a major initiative to eliminate the use of restraint and seclusion in our public schools, and the effort requires the same ingredients in a school as it does in a restrictive therapeutic facility. Restraining and secluding kids doesn't solve the problems or teach the lagging skills setting in motion challenging episodes, and doesn't keep staff or classmates safer. We've learned too much about why challenging kids are challenging -- and have alternative interventions that are far more humane and effective -- to continue using these archaic procedures. A must-listen program!

In this program, Dr. Greene responded to emails he'd received from parents who were running into difficulty with school discipline programs that were inconsistent with Collaborative Problem Solving. Should adult-imposed consequences still be given when problems are being solved collaboratively? What do such consequences accomplish? How are they counterproductive?

In this program, Dr. Greene responded to an email he received from an educator who'd done her best to help a challenging student, against some tall odds. He also discussed how solving problems (collaboratively) teaches kids many of the skills they're lacking.

Alright, summer's over and it's time to get back to the challenge of implementing Collaborative Problem Solving at school so that we're understanding and helping kids with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges -- and their classmates and caregivers -- better than ever. Implementing the CPS model is hard work...but nowhere near as hard as NOT implementing the CPS model! In this first program of the school year, Dr. Greene answered a lot of the emailed questions that he received over the summer.