Dr. Ross Greene Educators' Podcast

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.

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?

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Those adult-imposed consequences that are so popular in schools these days...do we really need 'em? You can probably guess the answer...

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?

Susan described a new student with some interesting and unexpected points of view...and the discussion started rolling from there...