DISCLAIMER: We are Think:Kids certified
trainers using this material in collaboration
with Think:Kids. These slides were
developed by Think:Kids and are the
property of Massachusetts General Hospital
When we are finished today, you should:
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Understand the foundational philosophy of Collaborative Problem
Solving and how it differs from traditional wisdom
Understand the concepts of Assessment (redefining the Functional
Behavioral Assessment & Behavior Support Plan) through the CPS Lens
◦ Problems to be solved
◦ Skills to be trained
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Be able to identify where and how this philosophy and assessment fit
within the framework of PBIS philosophy and systems
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Understand why CPS as an intervention addresses the needs of our “red
zone” populations
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Understand some key concepts to implementation of CPS within a PBIS
district
…if they can’t,
something is getting in the way.
We need to figure out what
so we can help.
Your understanding of a problem
determines your solution ...
The most common over-simplified
understanding:
Because of poor (passive, permissive,
inconsistent) parenting, kids learn to use
challenging behavior to get things (e.g.,
attention) or escape / avoid things (e.g.,
work).
The most common over-simplified
solution:
Motivate compliant behavior through
intensive, consistent programs of
rewards, punishments and ignoring.
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List of Target Behaviors
(priority is compliance)
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Menu of Rewards and Punishments (differential
reinforcement)
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Currency System
Can facilitate extrinsic motivation (to perform behaviors one is
already capable of consistently performing). But …
◦ If a child does not yet have the skills to behave adaptively, adding
incentives is unlikely to accomplish the mission
◦ Motivational programs make the possible more possible, but they
don’t make the impossible possible
◦ Motivational programs have side-effects:
 The more extrinsic motivation is applied, the less intrinsic
motivation the child develops
 The more you motivate someone to do something, the more you
teach them that they aren’t trying hard enough
◦ It is highly likely that the child is already
motivated (not to be miserable)
◦ What does motivate people intrinsically?
 a sense of mastery, autonomy and purpose
What Operant Strategies Can Do:
- teach basic lessons / information
- facilitate extrinsic motivation
What Operant Strategies Can’t Do:
- help kids stay regulated (they activate the stress
response)
- facilitate intrinsic motivation (they actually demotivate kids)
Positive Behavior
Interventions & Supports
Where does CPS fit?
1-5%
Few
1015%
Secondary Prevention:
Social & Emotional
Teaching Strategies
***
Specialized Group
Systems
***
Students with At-Risk
Behavior
All
Primary Prevention:
Nurturing & Positive
Relationships
***
Supportive Environments
***
All students, staff, settings
Some
Tertiary Prevention:
Intensive
Individualized
Interventions
***
Students with HighRisk Behavior
80%- 90% of
Children
SUPPORT
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For teaching expectations clearly
For providing consistent acknowledgement to
students for efforts (which most students
respond very well to).
For reminding staff of the importance of
maintaining a positive school climate and
increasing the repetitions of positive
staff/student interactions
For informing system wide decisions based
on data (ie. Informed and thoughtful
decisions)
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Some people might say we are teaching skills at
the Universal Level…
CPS would say we are teaching expectations, not
skills at this level
Skills in the CPS Model refer to crucial cognitive
thinking skills that originate in the neural
networks of the brain.
Kids who have the skills to learn from clearly
taught and reinforced expectations, will do so.
Kids who are lagging in development in these
areas will not be able to. This is where our
traditional interventions are falling short for
some red zone students.
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What happens with the students who do not
respond to the PBIS structures?
Tier 3 interventions = individualized, more
intensive
Definition of Maladaptive Behavior
◦ PBIS (gain or avoid) may be true but over simplified
for some Tier 3 youth
◦ CPS = lagging skills
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Both strive to provide a positive,
compassionate and constructive school
climate.
Both are foundationally based on improving
the quality of relationship between student
and staff
Both seek to help students develop the ability
to experience more success in the school
enviornment
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Chronically challenging kids lack skill not will!
Research in neurosciences: these kids are
delayed in the development of crucial thinking
skills - in areas like flexibility/adaptability,
frustration tolerance, and problem-solving -- or
have significant difficulty applying these skills
when they are most needed
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Lagging skills alone do not cause challenging
behavior
Challenging behaviors occur when someone is
presented with a situation in which they lack
the skills to handle well
It takes two to tango: the pairing of a skills
deficit and a problem that those skills would be
required to solve
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Challenging episodes
occur when the
cognitive demands
being placed upon a
person outstrip the
person’s capacity to
respond adaptively.
The Clash of the Two
Forces = Unsolved
Problems
Unsolved Problems
Lagging Skills
Demands of Environment
Ross W. Greene, PhD
Because research has shown that challenging behavior is
the byproduct of a learning disability of sorts, the
emphasis should be entirely different…
◦ Assessment “raw material”: thinking skills and
problems to be solved (ie, unmet expectations,
precipitants), not behavior and aftermath
◦ Goals of intervention: teaching thinking skills and
solving problems while building relationship,
attunement and co-regulation, not teaching adults to
be more effective at imposing their will and ensuring
that kids have the incentive to comply
Goal of assessment is to create two lists:
1. Problems to be solved / unmet expectations
(over what is the child challenging?)
 The more specific the problem to be solved, the easier it
will be to:
 Help figure out which lagging skills explain the problem
 Start a problem solving discussion
2. Skills to be trained (why is the child
challenging?)
 Don’t obsess. Just hypothesize for now to promote a more
compassionate view and a collaborative alliance
Behavior
Problems to be Solved
Unmet Expectations
Skills to be Developed
Challenging behavior does not occur out
of the blue!
◦ Situational analysis: identify the situations
in which the child tends to have the most
difficulty
 Get specific
 Observable behavior is not “problem to be
solved”
◦ Also known as: precipitants, antecedents,
contexts, demands, unmet expectations,
setting events, triggers, issues
 Examples at school: circle time, recess,
gym, lunch, riding on the bus, getting
down to work, staying on task, writing, etc.
Challenging behavior is linked with
deficits in the following areas of
thinking skill:
◦
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Executive skills
Language processing skills
Emotion regulation skills
Cognitive flexibility skills
Social thinking skills
Refer to the Thinking Skills Reference Sheet
Focusing on the lagging skills helps adults get on
the same page to:
• understand maladaptive behavior is a form of learning
disability and not intentional, goal-oriented,
manipulative, or attention-seeking
• identify specific skills that need to be trained
• understand why incentive programs haven’t made
things better – and won’t
• understand why they need a different approach
• steer clear of dead-end explanations
McMinnville School District Example
You can’t solve a behavior.
But you can solve a
problem leading to a
behavior.
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When the development of the brain is delayed
in certain areas, what transpire are Lagging
Skills.
CPS as an intervention helps us identify where
a child’s skills are, in what situations they are
having a hard time applying those skills, and
then how to build the skills.
CPS as an intervention helps build new neural
pathways in the brain through a relational,
repetitive and regulatory process.
Establishing (teaching) clear and realistic expectations
is always important – this is something that PBIS is
terrific at…
◦ It is hard for a child to meet an expectation that
they aren’t aware of!
If your expectations are being met, you’re happy!
If your expectations aren’t being met, you’ve got a
problem and you need a plan
◦ First step is knowing what your options are and
what each option accomplishes (or doesn’t!)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Pursue high priority expectations
Reduce challenging behavior
Solve chronic problems so they don’t keep
coming up
Build skills, confidence (ie, intrinsic motivation)
and regulation
Create (or restore) a helping relationship
Plan A: Impose adult will
Plan B: Solve the problem collaboratively
Plan C: Drop it (for now, at least)
Plan A: Impose adult will
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What goals ARE being pursued:
◦ Pursuing expectations
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What goals are NOT being pursued:
◦
◦
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Reducing challenging behavior
Solving problems so they don’t keep coming up
Building skills, confidence, attunement
Creating (or restore) a helping relationship
Plan C: Drop it (for now, at least)
Being strategic – not giving in
 What goals ARE being pursued:
◦ Reducing challenging behavior
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What goals are NOT being pursued:
◦
◦
◦
◦
Pursuing expectations
Solving problems so they don’t keep coming up
Building skills, confidence, attunement
Creating (or restore) a helping relationship
Plan B: Work towards solving the problem in a
mutually satisfactory and realistic manner
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What goals ARE being pursued:
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
Pursuing expectations
Reducing challenging behavior
Solving problems so they don’t keep coming up
Building skills, confidence, attunement
Creating (or restore) a helping relationship
GOALS
Try to get your
expectation met
Reduce
challenging
behavior
PLAN A
PLAN C
X
PLAN B
X
X
X
Build skills,
confidence,
attunement
X
Solve problems
X
X
Build relationship
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The Plans aren’t needed unless you have an unmet
expectation
Setting an expectation is not the same as imposing
your will when your expectation isn’t met
Plan B is not “picking your battles” or the average of
Plans A and C
Plan B is not a “technique”
Plan B takes much less time than Plan A
“Any problem/unmet expectation that
can be handled using Plan A
can also be handled using Plan B.”
EMERGENCY B
Takes place in the midst of challenging behavior
occurring (yet again): crisis management/deescalation
PROACTIVE B
Takes place well before challenging behavior recurs:
(crisis prevention)
A prepared adult and a calm child are more likely to
understand and solve problems
1.
2.
3.
EMPATHY: Clarify child concern
SHARE adult concern
COLLABORATE: Brainstorm, assess
and choose solution
THE GOAL: Gather information to
understand the kid’s specific
concern or perspective about the
problem or issue
THE SCRIPT: Start with a neutral
observation like …
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“I’ve noticed that…”
“It seems like…”
“It looks as if …”
Followed by an inquiry:
◦
“What’s up?”
THE TOOLS: Detective work to clarify
concerns requires probing and drilling
down using a combination of 4 tools:
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clarifying questions
educated guessing
reflective listening *
reassurance *
* calming tools
How do you know when you are
READY TO MOVE ON?
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Do you have a clear understanding of
the child’s concern or perspective?
Can you envision some possible
alternative solutions?
Have you learned something new?
1.
2.
3.
EMPATHY: Clarify child concern
SHARE adult concern
COLLABORATE: Brainstorm, assess
and choose solution
THE GOAL:
To make sure the adult’s concern /
perspective is on the table
THE SCRIPT: Express your concern by
saying something like:
◦
◦
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“And the thing is”
“And my concern is”
“And what’s important to me is”
THE TOOLS: clarify your concerns /
perspective before initiating the
conversation. What specifically are you
concerned about:
◦
◦
◦
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Health?
Safety?
Learning?
Impact of behavior on others?
How do you know when you are
READY TO MOVE ON?
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You have two sets of concerns /
perspectives on table
Two sets of solutions = a power struggle
(“dueling solutions”)
1.
2.
3.
EMPATHY: Clarify child concern
SHARE adult concern
COLLABORATE: Brainstorm, assess
and choose solution
THE GOAL: to brainstorm solutions
together so as to address both concerns,
assess them and choose one to try
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THE SCRIPT: recap the concerns so as to summarize the
problem to be solved: “I wonder if there’s a way that”
or “I bet we can think of something so that … (insert
both concerns). Do you have any ideas?”
Collaborate: Brainstorm, Assess, Choose
THE TOOLS: Think it through together with
these questions:
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Does it work for you?
Does it work for me/us?
Is it doable / realistic (think skills!)?
If we do it, will it bring up any additional
concerns?
When can we talk again to see how it
worked?
How do you know when you are
READY TO MOVE ON?
-
When you have a mutually
satisfactory and realistic solution
And a follow-up plan to enact the
solution and revisit the problem
if the solution doesn’t work
Video
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Collaborative Problem Solving is skills training!
Skills are taught most effectively through a natural
and relational process:
1. The Empathy step trains identifying, clarifying and
expressing concerns, separating affect
2. Sharing adult concern trains taking another’s perspective,
recognizing impact on others and how one comes across,
empathy
3. The Collaboration step trains generation of solutions,
anticipating and considering likely outcomes, moving off of
original idea
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The entire process naturally trains organized,
reflective, flexible thinking and problem solving
•
Regardless of therapeutic modality, the best
predictor of success in helping people change is
the relationship between helper and helpee
•
Helping is messy and takes time
•
Helping is a working alliance, a two-way
collaborative process, a two-person team effort
•
Helping is not something you do to kids; rather, it
is a process that adults and kids work through
together
Effective implementation of an
Evidence Based Practice requires
changing behavior of staff and
climate, culture and structures of
the organization.
That’s all!
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Multi-year plan
Assessment of need in district
Allocation of resources
Administrator Support
Adequate training for staff and ongoing
coaching
Philosophical shift essential to success
www.thinkkids.org