Dr. Ross Greene: Recent Episodes
Ross Greene PhD
Along with four school principals, Dr. Ross Greene -- originator of the Collaborative Problem Solving approach (now called Collaborative & Proactive Solutions) and author of The Explosive Child and Lost at School -- helps teachers and parents better handle behaviorally challenging kids in the classroom and at home through implementation of his approach to solving problems collaboratively. This program airs on the first Monday of each month (September through May) at 3:30 pm Eastern time.
Lots of helpful topics covered today including adjusting the model for kids with language difficulties, drilling for information, wording unsolved problems, and more!
On the first Monday of every month at 3:30 pm Eastern time, from September through May, Dr. Ross Greene and four principals from schools in the U.S. and Canada cover a wide range of topics related to behaviorally challenging students and school discipline in general and Dr. Greene's Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS) model in particular. You can call into the program to get your questions answered or submit them via email here. And, if you can't listen live, all the programs are archived in the Listening Library on the Lives in the Balance website or through i-Tunes.
Well, we finally had our first program of the school year, and our primary focal point -- led by our newest co-host, Heidi O'Leary, Special Education Director in Topsham, Maine -- was on how to write a CPS-flavored IEP, driven by the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems (ALSUP). This is big...
Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is very commonly applied for behaviorally challenging kids in schools these days...but is ABA compatible with CPS? Are we just talking different languages?
Lots of territory covered on today's program, including a discussion about school values...but at the end of the program we discussed whether reward programs work for anyone in the building. We thought not...
Kids with trauma histories may need Plan B even more than most, as it's where their concerns are heard and addressed and they begin to feel that they can influence outcomes. Of course, all kids need to feel that way.
Pardon the repetition, but crisis prevention is far superior to crisis management, and there are lots of things about Collaborative & Proactive Solutions that make crisis prevention more feasible.
If a student is highly volatile, unstable, reactive, and unsafe, there are a few things to bear in mind: (1) s/he didn't get that way overnight; (2) there must be many expectations the student is having difficulty meeting; (3) reducing those expectations -- Plan C -- is a very good way to get things stabilized; and (4) even if takes a lot of time and energy to stabilize that student, it's a lot less time and energy than that student is consuming when s/he's unstable.
What happens when class size, systemic issues, and the overwhelming needs of students outstrip a teacher's capacity to respond adaptively? It can't be good...
If your school is implementing PBIS, you may be wondering which "tier" is the best fit for Collaborative & Proactive Solutions. The truth is, CPS is relevant to all three tiers. If that's the case, how important are the tiers?
Our first program of the new school year was recorded live at Waterville (Maine) Junior High School, which had massive numbers of disipline referrals, detentions, and suspensions during the 2015-2016 school year. This year, led by principal Carole Gilley and assistant principal Doug Frame, they'll be implementing Collaborative & Proactive Solutions, with the goal of dramatically reducing those numbers. On this program, they received some guidance from school leaders who've been there and done that.
On the last program of the school year, we were able to respond to some callers and some emailers...including one teacher who's very frustrated by her school system's approach to students' challenging behaviors and is having difficulty changing the system on her own.
"I'm bored" could mean many different things, all of which await discovery in the Empathy step of Plan B. What are the odds that "I'm not motivated" is the student's concern? Slim and none.
Many schools have mission statements, but not an explicit description of values. Many schools have delineated values but don't pay attention to them. But values are what should guide every decision and intervention, so it's a good idea to know what they are.
On today's program, our panel responded to an email from an anguished teacher who was looking for some guidance on what went wrong with one of her students and his parents.
As always, we covered lots of territory on today's program...including how CPS can help students who are in fight or flight mode and how to help kids who have very tough lives outside of school.
Goodness, there sure are a lot of ways to stray from the CPS model...and we heard about a lot of them on this program!
Those adult-imposed consequences that are so popular in schools these days...do we really need 'em? You can probably guess the answer...
What happens when parents and teachers skip concerns and jump straight to solutions? Probably nothing good.
On this final program of the school year, one of our principals told us about a student whose behavioral challenges have been making life very difficult...for himself and her. How best to get things on track?
Schools abide by a least restrictive environment standard in placing kids in classroom settings...shouldn't schools also adhere to a least toxic response standard in helping students with behavioral challenges?
Are there students who are simply unmotivated to do well, or is it always more complicated than that? Is motivation the engine or the caboose? Alas, this was a very interesting discussion...
Susan described a new student with some interesting and unexpected points of view...and the discussion started rolling from there...
Dr. Greene and the principals focused on a variety of topics, but probably the biggest: the importance of shifting away from focusing on behaviors (and modifying them) and toward the problems giving rise to those behaviors (and solving them).
It's that time of year again...the students are back, and the problems that were unsolved at the end of last school year are probably still unsolved now (except in British Columbia, where school hasn't started yet due to mitigating circumstances). Today's program focused on assumptions about why students have difficulty meeting expectations, and whether we should start by assuming that they really can meet those expectations or immediately leap into solving problems collaboratively to find out why they're not. An omen of programs to come...
Our guest on today's program was Tim Graves, Superintendent of Schools and Programs in the Near North District School Board in Ontario, Canada. He has some interesting ideas about the characteristics of schools that successfully implement the CPS model (and those that struggle), and those ideas sparked a very interesting discussion among our group of principals.
The Educators Panel shared their thoughts on an article that recently appeared in the Christian Science Monitor (click here) in which recommendations for improving school discipline from the Discipline Disparities Collaborative were described. And they had some thoughts on a bunch of other things too!
On this month's program, the Educators Panel tackled the question of how to ensure that CPS outlives a principal's tenure in the building...and then got an update from (and had some guidance for) Mallett School in Farmington, Maine, one of the schools implementing CPS building-wide.
What's crystal clear is that the CPS model is really helpful for behaviorally challenging (and other) students. But, among the various resounding messages from today's program, it's also clear that educators get a lot out of it too.
Our group of educators has grown to four -- Susan, a school principal from Surrey, British Columbia has joined the Educators Panel -- and not only did they have guidance for schools just getting started with the CPS model...they also had their own New Year's Resolutions for moving the ball forward in their buildings.
Dr. Greene and Educators Panel answered some email questions from listeners this week who are in the beginning stages of implemention. Topics included the patchwork of behavioral techniques, how to convince colleagues to change their lenses and the pros and cons of having a principal involved in the core group (which both panelists are heavily in favor of).
The Educators Panel are joined today by Ryan Quinn, principal of Kennebunk Elementary school, a school that is currently in the early stages of implementing the CPS model. Ryan discusses how the implementation process is going thus far, adding that by using the model as part of the spectrum of interventions used at the school has already captured all of the kids that weren’t being understood and helped before. The Educators reflect on their respective experiences and offer advice on many aspects of implementation, such as how to move forward once a core group has been established, handling staff members who are nervous about implementing a new method of discipline, the importance of communication with parents regarding Plan B, and how the CPS philosophy reflects a shifting paradigm among current research and best practice in education.
How do we do a better job of understanding and helping students with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges in our schools...while simultaneously feeling like we're "holding kids accountable"...while attending to the diverse needs of other students...while trying to make sure they all do well on high-stakes testing? Not by simply increasing detentions, suspensions, and expulsions or referring behaviorally challenging kids into the judicial system! In this program, Dr. Ross Greene -- author of The Explosive Child and Lost at School, and originator of the Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) approach -- helps you view challenging behavior in a more compassionate, accurate, productive manner and intervene more effectively. If you want to learn more about his model, have questions about how to get the ball rolling on using the model in your building or classroom, or are having difficulty using the model with a particular student, this is your opportunity to get your questions answered and listen to how other educators are overcoming obstacles and aplying the model. You can join in live -- the program airs every Monday at 3:00 pm Eastern time -- or listen to archives of past programs.
On today's program, Dr. Greene was joined by Lisa, a high school special education teacher who's been leading the charge for Collaborative & Proactive Solutions in her school. Lisa told us about how she got the ball rolling in her building, how the core group was formed, and the challenges that lie ahead.
"It all starts with the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems". Identifying lagging skills ensures that adults have the right lenses on. Identifying unsolved problems that are congruent with the four guidelines helps adults and kids know what problems they're trying to solve. Both are indispensible.
On today's program, Dr. Greene provided feedback to a caller on the wording of the unsolved problems she'd written for a student on the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems. That feedback might be helpful to you too!
The students are back, and so is the Educators Panel! Our principals shared what they're doing at the beginning of this school year to further implementation of Dr. Greene's model (now called Collaborative & Proactive Solutions), with some exciting developments at Nina's school and some strategizing at Carol's new school. Tom had some difficulty avoiding the term "collaborative problem solving" (Dr. Greene is now legally prohibited from using that name to refer to his model), but made excellent progress on that during the program.
On this program, we listened to an example of the Empathy step of Plan B recorded by the very brave staff at Anytown Elementary. Then we heard their self-assessment: Nice job of engaging the student in the discussion and with reflective listening...but cut back on the amount the adults are talking and theorizing.
Lots of ground was covered on this last Educators Panel of the current school year, including how to prove to kids and adults that we're taking challenging behavior seriously...and whether Plan B does the job.
On this program, we listened to our first recording of a Plan B from the staff at Anytown Elementary...and, as with any first attempt at Plan B, some things went well and other things didn't. But the ball is now rolling...
On this program, we listened to another recording of a meeting at Anytown Elementary in which the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems was being used...and this one was really good! A sign that a little feedback can go a long way...
Our good friends at Anytown Elementary sent in a recording of a meeting in which they used the Assessment of Lagging Skills for one of their students. It was a great first try, but they made some of the same mistakes that many folks make early on in their use of the ALSUP. Feedback was provided!
Well, the Educators Panel covered lots of ground today -- including why we're now breaking records for the diagnosis of ADHD in kids in the U.S. -- but we also discussed how to break free from from the "Tyranny of the Urgent" and actually take the time to think about school discipline and focus on the individual needs of behaviorally challenging students. Good program!
The sheer number of behaviorally challenging students and unsolved problems can be quite overwhelming as a classroom teacher is just getting started on solving problems collaboratively. So start small...the faster you try to go, the longer it's going to take...
On today's program, Dr. Greene interviewed Matt Carlson, Principal at Georgetown Central School, one of many schools in Maine learning how to implement Dr. Greene's model of solving problems collaboratively through project funded by the Maine Juvenile Justice Advisory Group. Mr. Carlson's has some very useful insights for anyone determined to transform discipline practices in a school.
Dr. Greene responded to a variety of emailed questions on today's program, including several related to difficulties wording unsolved problems on the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems. Relevant (and hopefully helpful) guidance was provided!
If you're solving problems collaboratively with students, how will they know their behavior is unacceptable? Is punishment the only way to get the job done? Is the Empathy step only for the "really challenging" students. All this and more on today's Educators Panel.
If you're familiar with Dr. Greene's model, then you already know that understanding and helping behaviorally challenging students begins with the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems. On today's program, the staff at Anytown Elementary received some assistance in using this instrument.
You can get away with Plan A with students who have the emotion regulation skills to handle it, but why would you want to? And if you've used Plan A with behaviorally challenging students without setting them off, consider yourself lucky.
On today's Educators Panel, one of our panel members indicated that some of the staff in her school have lately been calling for a return to traditional discipline for students whose behavior problems have persisted despite the use of Plan B. Other Panel members helped her think through why Plan B may not have been achieving the desired outcomes with those students, and all signs pointed toward the need to be using Plan B proactively rather than emergently.
Today we began a new feature on this program: Dr. Greene is going to begin working with an elementary school in western North America to help them solve problems collaboratively...and the best part is that they'll be recording their use of Plan B and Dr. Greene will be playing the recordings and providing feedback live on the program! Today we got to know them a little...they've been working very hard with their behaviorally challenging students already and trying to overcome many of the hurdles (time, doubts) that go along with transforming school disciplinary practices. Welcome aboard, Anytown Elementary!
How do we do a better job of understanding and helping students with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges in our schools...while simultaneously feeling like we're "holding kids accountable"...while attending to the diverse needs of other students...while trying to make sure they all do well on high-stakes testing? Not by simply increasing detentions, suspensions, and expulsions or referring behaviorally challenging kids into the judicial system! In this program, Dr. Ross Greene -- author of The Explosive Child and Lost at School, and originator of the Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) approach -- helps you view challenging behavior in a more compassionate, accurate, productive manner and intervene more effectively. If you want to learn more about his model, have questions about how to get the ball rolling on using the model in your building or classroom, or are having difficulty using the model with a particular student, this is your opportunity to get your questions answered and listen to how other educators are overcoming obstacles and aplying the model. You can join in live -- the program airs every Monday at 3:00 pm Eastern time -- or listen to archives of past programs.
The Newtown tragedy has affected us deeply. On this program, Dr. Greene interviews Officer Jon Shapiro from the Maine State Police, Kathy Busquet, a finalist for Teacher of the Year in Maine, and Nina D'Aran, a principal in Maine, for their perspectives on the tragedy, how it has affected those around them, and what can be done to prevent future tragedies.
Dr. Greene's model is a breath of fresh air for some folks, but for others it's quite a leap from what they'd been thinking all along. Some skepticism is to be expected from the latter group, because seismic shifts in lenses are rare. The most persuasive way to get people moving in the right direction? Engage them in a discussion of students' lagging skills and unsolved problems with the ALSUP as the discussion guide.
With two of our three Educators Panel members pulled away because of schedule conflicts and emergent unsolved problems in their buildings, this was still an interesting, informative disucssion...including an answer to the following question: Why would we want to deprive any student -- including the not-so-challenging ones -- of the benefits of Plan B? This program is sponsored by Lives in the Balance (www.livesinthebalance.org).
On today's program, Dr. Greene covered the key themes of his model...a great refresher for those familiar with the model and great place to start for the unfamiliar. But before he got to the key themes, he had a very interesting discussion with a classroom teacher who was having some difficulty working toward a mutually satisfactory solution.
Having a productive meeting using the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems should take about 50 minutes...assuming the participants aren't spending lots of time theorizing, hypothesizing, and story-telling. Are there other reasons the meeting could take longer? You'll have to listen to find out!
Now this was an interesting discussion! On the November Edcuators Panel, the discussion centered on whether, in a school that is oriented toward solving problems collaboratively, there's still a place for traditional discipline practices with some students. OK, this is one worth a listen.
Lots of questions to answer, and that's exactly what Dr. Greene did on this program...including one from an resource room teacher who badly wants to solve problems collaboratively with one of his students...but felt that the student wasn't letting him help. Plus lots more...
Dr. Greene responded to lots of questions on this program. Can a school nurse help a behaviorally challenging student who has alienated all of the other adults in the building (and is well down the path toward alienation as well)? Can adults solve problems collaboratively with students with significant delays in communication skills? Can a student with behavioral challenges do well in a school emphasizing obedience to rules and regulations...or is it time to consider a different school?
What should the school's response be when students bring weapons to school? Does Plan A get the job done? How about Plan B? The Educators Panel weighs in.
Lots of good questions were discussed on this program, including how to determine whether a child would benefit from extra assistance from, for example, an occupational therapist or speech/language therapist...and how to use Plan B to address problems affecting the entire class.
It was back to the email today on Collaborative Problem Solving at School, and Dr. Greene responded to some very interesting questions, including the most effective approach to fighting at school (such as fighting).
What better way to start the new broadcast season than with our Educators Panel...and they're assessing where their schools stand with implementation of the CPS model and what their goals are for moving the ball forward this year.
Dr. Greene tried to catch up on email during this last program of the 2011-2012 school year, and covered various topics such as how to incorporate lagging skills and unsolved problems into a Functional Behavior Assessment, and whether the "Kids do well if they can" mantra applies to not-so-challenging students too.
In this, our final Anytown High School program for this school year, one of our core group members asked about whether she drilled far enough on the unsolved problem (skipping class) of one of her students. Both Dr. Greene and the other core group members were happy to pitch in on that. (By the way, Dr. Greene unknowingly had himself muted at the beginning of the program, so you'll need to wait a minute after the introduction before the program begins.)
Central School in South Berwick, Maine, has been implementing Collaborative Problem Solving as part of a study funded by the Maine Juvenile Justice Advisory Group. School Counselor Nina D'Aran, one of our Educators Panel members, talks about the hurdles they faced (and overcame), the kids they've helped, and the work left to be done.
Which takes more time? Applying "uninformed" solutions to students' behavior problems, based on little or no information about the factors truly underlying the behavior...or spen ding the time to gather that information so as to work toward "informed" solutions?
The magic isn't in what schools do after a student is sent to the office...that's reactive intervention. The magic is in what schools do before a student is sent to the office in the first place...that's proactive, and it works a lot better.
Effective implementation of Collaborative Problem Solving in a school usually starts with a core group of staff who are mastering the model first...school-wide implementation comes later. Which kids should you start with? Your frequent flyers, of course.
Another great discussion, highlighted by the fact that a student called into the program and received an unexpected orientation to Collaborative Problem Solving.
By request, Dr. Greene devoted this program to providing an overview of the Empathy step of Plan B. A good review for the already-familiar...a good introduction for those new to the CPS model.
Amazing what adults learn about kids in the Empathy step...especially when the adults leave their preconceived notions at the door.
It was a tough topic for the Educators Panel, but a discussion worth having...and listening to.
Dr. Greene's guest today on CPS at School was Julie Benay, prinicpal at Mallets Bay School in Colchester, Vermont. A great discussion about...well, the title pretty much tells the tale...
On today's program, one of the educators at Anytown told us about a Plan B she'd attempted with a student in which the Empathy step became contentious. It turns out she had entered the Empathy step with a theory about the unsolved problem she was discussing...and that theory made it hard for her to achieve the primary goal of the Empathy step: information gathering (rather than theory verification).
CPS is coming along rather nicely in the schools of the members of our Educators Panel...of course, there's still more work to be done.
A very interesting discussion today about "clumping" versus "splitting" unsolved problems. Listen in to see what that means!
Dr. Greene promised to do an entire program on how to use the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems (ALSUP), and here it is!
Have you filled out the School Discipline Survey on the Lives in the Balance website yet? The Educators Panel members did that very thing on today's program.
Is it a good idea to identify and track at-risk students? Of course! And the CPS model provides the paperwork to help schools do it: the ALSUP, Plan B Flowchart, and Plan B Cheat Sheet.
Our friends at Anytown High School have been doing a lot more Plan B lately...and that means they're gathering a lot of information about what's making it hard for their students to learn and behave appopriately, and getting a lot of problems solved. That's about as exciting as it gets in the CPS Territories.
If we spend all of our meeting time talking about things about which we can do nothing, staff will emerge from those meetings assuming they can do nothing to help the behaviorally challenging students we're discussing. But what if we spend our meeting time talking about lagging skills and unsolved problems with the ALSUP as our discussion guide?
Thanks to a caller, this program focused on the difficulties that can pop up when Collaborative Problem Solving is being implemented. A very informative program!
On today's program, the Educators Panel covered wide-ranging topics related to implementation of CPS in their respective buildings. Things are really coming along!
The title of the program pretty much says it all, though it's not the only topic Dr. Greene covered.
Very interesting discussion about why it's so important to understand a student's concern or perspective on a given unsolved problem...if we don't achieve that understanding, then we'll be relegated to solutions that don't address the student's concerns (and that don't solve the problem either).
Anytown High School has arrived at the "hump": the point at which the lenses of Collaborative Problem Solving are starting to feel right and they're now clear that a lot of their students need CPS...but they're just getting good at Plan B...and they're starting to feel a little overwhelmed. A tempting time to go back to what wasn't working all along...but rather the time to prioritize, systematize, and help more staff become proficient at Plan B.
This show serves as a reminder of the incredible insights our Educators Panel offers on a wide array of topics related to school discipline in general and behaviorally challenging kids in particular. If you only listen to only one program, listen to this one.
Another great session with the staff at Anytown High School today...we reviewed aspects of the CPS model the members of the core group were still struggling with and began talking about a new student who they feel would benefit from CPS. We also spent some time talking about what happens when you assume...
Today was our first session of the new school year with the staff at Anytown High School. We met the new members of the core group, provided them with an overview of the CPS model, and answered some initial questions. A good start...
Welcome back to Collaborative Problem Solving at School! On this program, Dr. Greene highlighted some of the stories about school discipline practices that made the news over the summer. There's bad news...and good news. How's your school doing in its efforts to transform school discipline?
What better to do on the final program of the school year than to spend one last session with the staff at Anytown High School? We discussed the progress Anytown has made in implementing the CPS model this year, along with some goals for where to pick things up again next year.
On today's program, we revisited the necessity of working on unsolved problems proactively and systematically, rather than dealing with problems (emergently) when they pop up on a particular day. We also focused on how to get past some of the things kids say (we called them "show-stoppers") that seem to stall the process of drilling for information.
On today's program, the staff at Anytown reported on their progress in using Plan B with two of their challenging students. One student responded quite well to Plan B. But it was the other student who helped us learn about some of the ways in which the process can run aground.
Here on our last Educators Panel of the school year, the crew tackled that four-letter word again (TIME), discussed the potent effects of another word (empathy), and thought about what can be done now (at the end of the school year) to hit the ground running with CPS next year. Don't worry...the Educators Panel will be back next school year!
The staff at Anytown had a new student to talk about today. So we did the usual: we identified lagging skills and unsolved problems, thought about whether the unsolved problems were specific enough, figured out who was going to take primary responsibility for solving each problem, and still had time left for some role-playing. Next comes the hard part.
Can a new principal get a school moving toward a more humane, compassionate, effective approach to understanding and helping students with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges? On this program, you'll hear about how Carol Davison -- Principal at Forsyth Road Elementary in Surrey, British Columbia -- is doing just that.
On today's program, the staff at Anytown High School reported on their initial attempts at using Plan B with a behaviorally challenging student...and get some feedback so they can do it even better the next time.
Our Educators Panel tackled the problem of bullying today. This may not be surprising, but they concluded that bullies are lacking important skills and have unsolved problems...and the bullied are, too.
If things aren't going so well with the students with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges in your school, you're not alone! Helping challenging kids in a classroom...while attending to the diverse needs of the other students...and trying to make sure they all do well on high-stakes testing...can be a daunting challenge. In this program, Dr. Ross Greene -- author of The Explosive Child and Lost at School, and originator of the Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) approach -- helps you view challenging behavior in a more compassionate, accurate, productive manner and intervene more effectively. Want to learn more about the CPS model? Do you have questions about how to get the ball rolling on using the model in your building or classroom? Are you running into trouble in your attempts to use the model with a particular student? This is your opportunity to get your questions answered and listen to how other educators are using the model and overcoming some of the hurdles involved in responding more effectively to the needs of behaviorally challenging kids in schools. You can join in live -- the program airs every Monday at 3:30 pm Eastern time -- or listen to archives of past programs.
In this program, the staff at Anytown High School learned about the Empathy step of Plan B, and plan to take things for a trial run before the next program.
Our school principal, Tom, came very close to using Plan A with one of his challenging students. But then, at the precipice, he went back to Plan B...and lived to tell the tale.
In this program, Dr. Greene will continue helping the staff at Anytown High use the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems to understand one of their most challenging students and identify the unsolved problems that are contributing to her challenging episodes.
In this program, the staff at Anytown High School got some practice using the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems to view the difficulties of a challenging student through new lenses and identify specific problems that need to be solved. To be continued...
"The foundation of understanding is the willingness to listen." We don't know who said this, but it's what we discussed today on the Educators Panel.
A new feature for Collaborative Problem Solving at School! Listen in as Dr. Greene helps the staff at Anytown High School (a real high school in the U.S., location undisclosed) implement the CPS model in their school...with real discussions that may help you implement the CPS model in your school.
What's the best way to respond when colleagues say a student is "choosing" to behave inappropriately or is being "manipulative"? That's what the Educators Panel tackled during today's program.
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.
If things aren't going so well with the students with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges in your school, you're not alone! Helping challenging kids in a classroom...while attending to the diverse needs of the other students...and trying to make sure they all do well on high-stakes testing...can be a daunting challenge. In this program, Dr. Ross Greene -- author of The Explosive Child and Lost at School, and originator of the Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) approach -- helps you view challenging behavior in a more compassionate, accurate, productive manner and intervene more effectively. Want to learn more about the CPS model? Do you have questions about how to get the ball rolling on using the model in your building or classroom? Are you running into trouble in your attempts to use the model with a particular student? This is your opportunity to get your questions answered and listen to how other educators are using the model and overcoming some of the hurdles involved in responding more effectively to the needs of behaviorally challenging kids in schools. You can join in live -- the program airs every Monday at 3:30 pm Eastern time -- or listen to archives of past programs.
Today's program featured an interview with System Principal Lori Pamplin from the Calgary (Alberta, Canada) public schools. Lori's been helping the assistant principals in her school system learn about Collaborative Problem Solving, and reported that folks were positive buoyant when first learning about the lagging skills and unsolved problems setting the stage for social, emotional, and behavioral challenges in students. Naturally, the challenge is to maintain the buoyancy when learning how to do Plan B and trying to apply the CPS model to the many different kids in the system whose unsolved problems and lagging skills have gone unattended for so long. Lori will keep us posted on progress in her school system next school year...but, in the meantime, this is a very informative, hopeful program. Do listen!
Today's program featured a caller who had questions about a variety of aspects of the CPS model, including: How does working on unsolved problems teach lagging skills? What do we do about the other 28 kids in a classroom when a challenging student is shutting down/acting out? How can we justify spending that much time with one student? How can we justify giving one student exemptions for assignments or making concessions for disruptions when we need to set a precident for other students? Answers, of course, were also provided! But you'll have to listen to the program to hear the answers and find out how the theme for the day -- landfill -- are related.
Teachers and students are running on fumes at the end of the school year. The weather is warmer and the finish line is in view. What should your Collaborative Problem Solving efforts look like here in the home stretch? Well, you want to start preparing for how you're going to improve your implementation of CPS next school year, and there are lots of things to focus on...all the focus of today's program. Listen to the recorded program at your convenience.
The theme for today's program was "Making a Difference"...and that's pretty much what it's all about.
Today's program was broadcast from Harpswell Island Elementary in Maine, where staff are in the early phases of learning about and implementing Collaborative Problem Solving. They had some questions about how to move things further along and make CPS an integral part of their way of doing things, and you can listen in!
The theme for this program was CONTINUITY, so it's fitting that Dr. Greene spent the program interviewing Thomas Ambrose, principal at Lafayette School in Sanford, Maine. Mr. Ambrose -- who's a first-year principal -- and the staff at Lafayette have been putting lots of energy into implementing the CPS model at the school, and Mr. Ambrose talked about where that energy came from, how things have gone, and the challenges they've overcome along the way. It's an ongoing effort, and it's paying off. Listen to the archive!
This was a very interesting program. A special education teacher called in to try to get a better handle on the behavioral challenges being presented by one of her middle school students. After first considering whether the student needed to be evaluated for a psychiatric condition, the discussion turned in the usual direction: toward consideration of the student's lagging skills and unsolved problems. Slowly but surely, the unsolved problems that require further exploration became clarified, and some of the questions that might be asked in further "drilling for information" became clearer as well. Definitely worth listening to!
We went with a more technical topic today, but one that comes up frequently in schools: how to incorporate the CPS model in general and the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems (ALSUP) in particular into a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) and a Behavior Plan. First, you may want to reconsider your definition of "function"...it's not that the student's challenging behavior is helping him get, escape, or avoid, but rather than the behavior communicates that he's lacking the skills to deal with the demands being placed on him in a more adaptive fashion. After that, the ALSUP pretty much gives you all the information you need to write your Behavior Plan...except that you might want to change the name of that document and call it a Problem Solving Plan instead. Helping kids with their challenging behavior isn't about altering their behavior through use of incentives...it's about collaborating on solutions to the problems that are setting in motion their challenging behavior. Listen to the recorded version of the program!
If things aren't going so well with the students with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges in your school, you're not alone! Helping challenging kids in a classroom...while attending to the diverse needs of the other students...and trying to make sure they all do well on high-stakes testing...can be a daunting challenge. In this program, Dr. Ross Greene -- author of The Explosive Child and Lost at School, and originator of the Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) approach -- helps you view challenging behavior in a more compassionate, accurate, productive manner and intervene more effectively. Want to learn more about the CPS model? Do you have questions about how to get the ball rolling on using the model in your building or classroom? Are you running into trouble in your attempts to use the model with a particular student? This is your opportunity to get your questions answered and listen to how other educators are using the model and overcoming some of the hurdles involved in responding more effectively to the needs of behaviorally challenging kids in schools. You can join in live -- the program airs every Monday at 3:30 pm Eastern time -- or listen to archives of past programs.
The topic of this program was the much-neglected but really-important Invitation step (these days, referred to as the "Brainstorming ingredient") of Plan B. But woven into the discussion was another topic: time. In other words, it's one thing to learn how to do Plan B, to appreciate the need to do Plan B proactively, and to become proficient at the three ingredients of Plan B. But when are you going to do all this in the ongoing stream of a school day? Probably by devoting 15 minutes a day, every day, to helping kids solve problems. Listen to the recorded version of this program at your convenience.
Dr. Greene thought he was going to focus on the seldom-talked-about Invitation step of Plan B in this program. But -- and this is always a welcome development -- a caller shifted the agenda. So instead Dr. Greene helped a teacher who is very devoted to using Plan B -- but is just beginning to learn how -- sort through the possibilities for why a student didn't provide much information in the Empathy step of Plan B. So maybe we'll focus on the Invitation step in the next program. In the meantime, this one is definitely worth a listen!
Educators often blame parents for students' behavior problems at school, and often feel that a student's difficulties at school can't be resolved without parental involvement. While working collaboratively with parents is certainly a goal, some unsolved problems don't require parental involvement...and some parents aren't available to help anyway. Listen to the archive of this program and lots of others at your convenience!
In this program, Dr. Greene initially spent some time reviewing several ALSUPs that were completed by teachers of actual students so as to examine whether the items listed in the Unsolved Problem section were too vague (and to provide suggestions for information that would be more specific). Then he spent some time with a classroom teacher who called in to inquire about doing full-class Plan B with her group of students. A very informative program! Listen to the archive (or archives of other past programs) at your convenience.
In this program, Dr. Greene had the pleasure of talking with Alfie Kohn, author of Punished by Rewards, Beyond Discipline, and many other critical books. This was a fun and enlightening discussion about a variety of school-related topics, including school discipline, socially healthy classrooms, high-stakes testing...the whole gamut. Listen to the archive!
In this program, Dr. Greene helps a group of educators -- who are trying to re-engage a student academically so he doesn't drop out of school -- figure out why they've been "going around in circles" in their efforts to resolve the student's concerns using Plan B. A few of the common ways in which Plan B can go awry -- difficulty "drilling" for information in the Empathy step, and proposing solutions before the concerns and solutions of both parties are well-understood -- were the focal point of this discussion. A great, real-life example of how Plan B can veer off...and how to get it back on track.
Who's supposed to do Plan B with a behaviorally challenging student? Should it be a person -- like the assistant principal -- who is totally removed from the unsolved problem that set a student's challenging behavior in motion? Or should it be someone with whom the student has a good relationship and/or the adult who's part of the unsolved problem? Should Plan B take place in the heat of the moment or should it be proactive? What do we need to do in our schools to ensure that Plan B takes place at the right time and with the right people? These questions...and more...are answered during this program.
In this program, Dr. Greene discusses how to help school staff who are having trouble "buying into" Collaborative Problem Solving. He describes some of the misconceptions and concerns people may have about both the conceptualization of challenging behavior as a developmental delay and the idea of solving problems collaboratively with students. Dr. Greene notes that concerns about CPS are actually a good thing: they show that people are thinking about and digesting the different facets of CPS and imagining what it would look like to implement the model.
This program focused on why interactions between teachers and parents have a high potential for going awry and what it takes to help things go better. It turns out that collaboration between parents and educators involves the same ingredients as collaboration between adults and kids: making sure that the concerns of both parties are well-clarified and understood (before generating solutions) and working toward solutions that are realistic and mutually satisfactory.
This program focused extensively -- and almost exclusively -- on the Empathy step of Plan B, and on "drilling" in particular. For the unfamiliar, drilling involves probing for additional information about a particular unsolved problem so that the concern or perspective of the student is well-understood. Drilling can be quite challenging, and especially so if the adult is more focused on potential solutions than on what to ask to clarify the student's concern or perspective. Dr. Greene described what drilling looked like with one of the students with whom he did Plan B in the past week. Thanks to a caller, an example of "tough drilling" was also discussed. Don't forget: you have a better chance of getting the Empathy step rolling if you're as specific as possible about the unsolved problem you're trying to discuss.
In this program, Dr. Greene interviews Dr. Craig Murphy, school psychologist in the Newton, Massachusetts Public School system. As part of a 3-year, federally-funded project overseen by Dr. Murphy, many of the elementary schools in Newton have been implementing the Collaborative Problem Solving approach. Dr. Murphy describes the challenges and successes in helping classroom teachers understand challenging behavior as a form of developmental delay and embrace Plan B as a viable option for helping students with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges.
In this program, Dr. Greene talks about the importance of having a "vision" for what discipline should look like in a school building. Having a vision starts with understanding that challenging behavior is a form of developmental delay...continues with using the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems (ALSUP) in a school's assessment procedures...and continues with creating mechanisms for school staff to become skilled at using Plan B. Along the way, it's also necessary to create mechanisms for school staff to communicate well about at-risk students.
How do you get the ball rolling on implementing Collaborative Problem Solving in your school? That depends on where your school is at in terms of recognizing that the students with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges -- and their teachers and classmates -- aren't being well-served by disciplinary programs that rely heavily on rewarding and punishing. In this program, Dr. Greene describes some of the key ingredients for achieving a more accurate, compassionate, productive understanding of these students' difficulties and responding to those difficulties in ways that are more effective.
This is Dr. Greene's first program, so be prepared for some pauses as he adjusts to new technology! But this program provides a nice overview of the Collaborative Problem Solving approach -- first articulated in Dr. Greene's book The Explosive Child and more recently in his book Lost at School -- and what it takes to implement Collaborative Problem Solving in a school.