On August 7 – 9, Dr. Ablon elaborated on his approach at Bank Street College in a training program attended by 140 educators, parents, and clinicians. The event was co-hosted by Flawless and Bank Street’s Continuing Professional Studies.
As detailed by Bank Street’s Nick Gray:
“The core belief at Think:Kids is, “Kids do well, if they can.” Rather than viewing bad behavior as an effort to test limits and get attention, Dr. Ablon sees it as a sign of “lagging cognitive skills”—the child simply doesn’t yet have the tools to deal appropriately with the challenges in their lives. Grasping that as the root cause of challenging behavior helps adults to adopt more positive, collaborative tactics to help a child learn those skills.
Participants challenged themselves to change their thinking about children with the most difficult behaviors. As Dr. Ablon wisely pointed out, these children know the consequences of their actions; reiterating the consequences isn’t necessary. Instead, implementing what Dr. Ablon calls a Collaborative Problem Solving Approach can identify the root cause of the problem behavior and create a plan for teaching the skills needed to handle similar problems in the future.
When a participant asked whether the approach was too lenient and perhaps didn’t prepare children for the “real world,” Dr. Ablon smiled. He replied that conventional wisdom using punishments and threats hadn’t work so far, and that it just created a cycle of repeat offenses. But when a collaborative approach was used, over time the child acquired the skills needed to handle the situation and similar situations in the future. Just as some children need additional help in reading and math skills, some children need help to express their needs or finding a solution to a challenging situation in their life.”
Please learn more about this wonderful event!
