Harvard Medical School, on the professional staff at Cambridge Health Alliance, adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Virginia Tech, and Senior Lecturer in the school psychology program in the Department of Education at Tufts University. Dr. Greene has authored numerous articles, chapters, and scientific papers on the effectiveness of the CPS model, the classification of and outcomes in youth with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges, and student-teacher compatibility. He consults extensively to general and special education schools, inpatient and residential facilities, and systems of juvenile detention, and lectures widely throughout the world. Ross W. Greene
Advanced Training in Collaborative Problem Solving: Treatment of Kids with Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Challenges
July 2-6, 2012
If you’ve never heard Dr. Greene describe the approach to helping kids with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges he described in his book, The Explosive Child, this is a great opportunity. This training will be begin with a review of the basic underpinnings of Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS), an evidence-based model that has transformed our understanding and treatment of challenging kids and then move on to advanced training in the specific assessment and treatment components of the model.
Drawing from research in the neurosciences, and focusing on development (rather than motivation), the CPS model posits that challenging behavior emanates from lagging cognitive skills, especially in the domains of flexibility/adaptability, frustration tolerance, and problem-solving. Based on this understanding, the CPS model is focused on helping adults and challenging kids resolve the problems that reliably and predictably set in motion challenging episodes, so as to reduce the frequency and intensity of such episodes and teach lagging skills (rather than ensuring that kids have the incentive to behave adaptively).
The CPS model has been widely implemented in outpatient settings, general and special education schools, and inpatient, residential, and juvenile detention facilities, often with dramatic effect. Studies have shown the model to be a highly effective model of intervention in outpatient populations; in schools settings, the model has been shown to be effective at significantly reducing discipline referrals and the use of detention, suspension, and expulsion; and, in restrictive therapeutic settings, the approach has been effective at appreciably reducing the use of restraint and seclusion procedures and at significantly reducing rates of recidivism.
Dr. Greene will provide maximum opportunities for practice and questions, and will augment the training with videotaped examples of the CPS model in action. This workshop is appropriate for mental health clinicians and educators who have had minimal prior exposure to the model, as well as for those who have already attended one of Dr. Greene’s one-day introductory trainings.
Monday
Three important questions • Kids do well if they can • Your explanation guides your intervention • Limits of motivational explanations for challenging behavior • A new explanation • Limits of diagnoses in understanding and treatment challenging behavior • Assessment of lagging skills and unsolved problems
Tuesday
Three Options for Approaching Unsolved Problems: Imposition of Adult Will (Plan A), Collaborative Problem Solving (Plan B), and Dropping the Problem (Plan C) • Overview of Plan B
Wednesday
In-depth description of and practice in the use of the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems (ALSUP)
Thursday
Diving into Plan B: Videotaped Examples, Role-Play and Discussion
Friday
More Examples and Role-Plays on Plan B • “Bad Habits” in the Use of Plan B • Special Considerations in the Use of Plan B in Specific Settings (Outpatient/Families, Schools, Restrictive Facilities), Special Populations (e.g., kids with communication delays), and Difficult Families • The Role of Medication
