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Home > Collaborative Problem Solving

Collaborative Problem Solving™ (CPS)

Collaborative Problem Solving™ (CPS) was first articulated as a treatment model for explosive kids in the book, The Explosive Child, by Dr. Ross Greene, and subsequently in a book for mental health clinicians, Treating Explosive Kids: The Collaborative Problem Solving Approach, by Dr. Greene and his colleague, Dr. Stuart Ablon. Over the last ten years, the model has been applied to children with a wide range of social, emotional, and behavioral challenges and in a wide range of settings: families, schools, and restrictive therapeutic facilities (including inpatient units, residential facilities, and juvenile detention facilities). The model has also been applied to “ordinary” kids as well as to adults.

As applied to challenging kids, the model sets forth two major tenets:

  • first, that these challenges are best understood as the byproduct of lagging cognitive skills (rather than, for example, as attention-seeking, manipulative, limit-testing, or a sign of poor motivation); and
  • second, that these challenges are best addressed by teaching children the skills they lack (rather than through reward and punishment programs and intensive imposition of adult will).

While challenging kids let us know they’re struggling in some fairly common ways (screaming, swearing, defying, hitting, spitting, throwing things, breaking things, crying, withdrawing, and so forth), they are quite unique as individuals when it comes to the mix of lagging cognitive skills that sets the stage for these behaviors. This means that prior to focusing on the teaching of cognitive skills, one must first identify the skills that are lagging in each individual child or adolescent.

We hope to immerse the community of Sanford in this model so that they can work together to help challenging kids to learn the skills that they are lacking.

Work done to date with community and schools:

  • 2 trainings with police; they are currently attempting CPS
  • Initial training w/ schools occurred in January
  • Weekly consultation (individual and/or small group training, live CPS demonstrations with kids) offered to all schools with teachers participating on a voluntary basis by contract; rough estimates of participation:
    • Junior High 90%
    • Lafayette 100%
    • Emerson 80%
    • MCS 70%
    • Lamb 50%
    • Willard 40%
    • Alternative School 100%
    • High School 20%
  • Two book clubs afterschool with a total of 30 participants