Tag Archives: Oppositional Defiance Disorder

Special Parents Confidential Episode 55 Collaborative & Proactive Solutions

Collaborative & Proactive Solutions.

In this episode we’re taking a look at Collaborative & Proactive Solutions, which was developed by Dr. Ross Greene and his Foundation, Lives In The Balance. Child behavior problems are always a concern for parents, and sometimes it can seem for parents of special needs kids that the behavior concern is a constant problem.

Punishments and Discipline Don’t Work. 

For as long as anyone can remember, the basic correction method for misbehavior was centered on punishment and discipline. However, that model often fails miserably, and we know this is true, because it’s evidenced by the fact that we have so many prisons full of the results of that failure. So why do we keep enforcing a system that doesn’t work?

Treating Causes Instead of Symptoms.

Over the past few decades a new model of behavior, called Collaborative and Proactive Solutions, or CPS, has been developed with a much greater rate of success. This model was founded by Dr. Ross Greene, who, while on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, began to take a different look at kids with behavior problems. 

Collaborative & Proactive Solutions.

From his organization’s website, Lives In The Balance: The model is based on the premise that challenging behavior occurs when the expectations being placed on a kid exceed the kid’s capacity to respond adaptively, and that some kids are lacking the skills to handle certain demands and expectations. So the emphasis of the model isn’t on kids’ challenging behavior, which is just the manner in which they are expressing the fact that there are expectations they’re having difficulty meeting. Nor does the model focus on psychiatric diagnoses, which are simply categories of challenging behaviors. Rather, the model focuses on identifying the skills the kid is lacking and the expectations he or she is having difficulty meeting.

To tell us more about how the Collaborative and Proactive Solutions model works and why it works, we’re being joined by Kim Hopkins who is the Director of Outreach for the official Collaborative and Proactive Solutions Foundation, Lives In The Balance.

Links Mentioned In The Episode

Lives In The Balance – the Official Foundation of Dr. Ross Greene

Lives In The Balance Facebook Groups 

Lives In The Balance Radio Programs

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Special Parents Confidential 50 ADHD Nation Alan Schwarz

ADHD Nation Author Alan Schwarz.

ADHD Nation, Children, Doctors, Big Pharma, and the making of an American Epidemic, is a new book by New York Times correspondent Alan Schwarz, that is putting a lot of focus on ADHD and the way it’s diagnosed and treated in the United States. Alan Schwarz is the Pulitzer Prize nominated investigative reporter who wrote more than 100 articles that helped expose the serious problems of concussions in football players of all ages. His work lead to movies and documentaries about the seriousness of concussions and to the NFL finally admitting the problem and making changes in how they deal with the problems.

Since then Mr. Schwarz has begun investigating ADHD diagnosis and medications, writing a new series of articles on the subject that lead to the publication of ADHD Nation.

Excessive Diagnosis?

Mr. Schwarz has done an intense amount of research in the hard statistical evidence that shows an often higher number of children and adults are being diagnosed with ADHD than what the established rate of diagnosis is supposed to be. In fact, it’s nearly three times the established number, which means millions of people more than expected are being diagnosed, or often misdiagnosed. He also profiles a number of the major names involved in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD all the way back nearly 200 years when the symptoms we now associate with ADHD were first recorded. Along the way we meet Dr. Keith Conners, who has been called “the father of ADHD”, and we learn his concerns about how his work has been misused.

A Fair Balance.

ADHD Nation is a very well balanced book, in that it doesn’t attempt to deny that ADHD is a valid medical condition. In fact the book opens with the statement, “AHDH is real.” Mr. Schwarz proves that in the correct circumstances ADHD medications work and are highly effective. But, as you’ll hear in this interview, far too many people, especially children, are being put on the medications when they clearly do not have ADHD and don’t need medications. This is an important book and you’ll learn how Mr. Schwarz researched the numbers and compiled the evidence that he presents in the book.

Links Mentioned In The Podcast.

ADHD Nation Official Website 

Alan Schwarz at the New York Times 

Alan Schwarz’ Profile on Wikipedia

 

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Special Parents Confidential 47 Nurtured Heart Approach

Nurtured Heart Approach.

What is the Nurtured Heart Approach and how can it help? For many kids with special needs the ability to concentrate, even to sit still in class, is challenging. We’ve given lots of names to these issues: Attention Deficit Disorder. Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Difficult Kid, Problem Child. The list goes on… and if you think about it, it’s a very negative outlook on these children.

A Paradigm Shift.

Now there is a relatively new process of working with kids who have these issues that tries to do away with all that negativity. It’s called the Nurtured Heart Approach. It consists of a set of strategies that assists children in developing their self-regulation, and transforming the way children perceive themselves and the world around them. And it has created a huge amount of success by concentrating on positive behaviors instead of all the negative behavior.

For this episode we’re joined by Dr. William Rowell, a retired licensed Psychologist with Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services of Grand Rapids Michigan who has spent the last  years training parents, educators, foster parents, social workers, and law enforcement personnel in the Nurtured Heart Approach. He explains how the Nurtured Heart Approach works, why it’s more successful than other strategies, and how making a paradigm shift in your thinking will make all the difference for your special needs child.

Links Mentioned In This Episode.

The Children’s Success Foundation The website dedicated to the Nurtured Heart Approach and Howard Glasser, creator of NHA.

Children’s Success Foundation Practitioner’s List – Information on NHA certified trainers in America and around the world.

 Dr. William Rowell’s Page at Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services. 

Dr. Rowell’s Email:  william . rowell @ pine rest . org.  – be sure to remove the spaces.

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