There's legislation pending in Massachusetts that would ban suspension for students in grades K-3. An admirable effort, but it drew some very ineresting responses from readers of The Boston Glove, which reported on this effort. Those responses tell us we still have a lot more work to do to ensure that caregivers understand the true factors that cause kids' concerning behaviors...and why a suspension would do far more harm than good.

In the March edition of the CPS Podcast, we take a deep dive into Plan C (in the CPS model, Plan C refers to putting an expectation on hold, at least for now). While those familiar with CPS recognize that Plan C is a very important part of prioritizing expectations -- and stabilizing some kids -- putting expectations on hold is frequently misinterpreted as "giving in" and "giving up," and some caregivers have pressures being placed on them that make it very difficult to put ANY expectations on hold.

On this month's program, we took a deep dive into "new" Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and whether its emphasis on assent and compassion really changes anything. Featuring guests Cindy Andree-Bowen and Shani Mandel.

The special topic on today's program was Coping Strategies: Are We Teaching Kids to Be Early or Late? Unfortunately, many of the coping strategies we're teaching kids these days teach them to cope once they're already frustrated. That's late. What should we be empahasizing instead? Teaching kids how to identify, anticipate, and solve the problems that are causing them to become frustrated in the first place. That's early. And we were also able to respond to an email and help out a mom who called in with a difficult situation with her son.

Today's program -- Voices of the Neurodivergent Community: What We Need You to Know -- features an interview with Jenny Hunt, a published multidisciplinary researcher that focuses on medicine, medical law, and ethics. Recently, they shifted their interest to Neurodiversity and go by the online name Autistic Sighentist.

Our guest hosts, Alex Spencer (formerly principal of the Alternate Learning Centers in the New York City Public Schools) and Ben Jones (Director of Legal and Policy Initiatives at Lives in the Balance) described their personal experience with and data related to the disproportionate use of punitive, exclusionary discipline with Black and Brown students and those with with disabilities.

On the first Tuesday of every month, at 11 am Eastern time, from September through May, Dr. Ross Greene and Lives in the Balance Director of Outreach Kim Hopkins cover a wide range of topics related to how we understand and treat our kids -- especially those with concerning behavior -- and the Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS) model. Whether you're a parent, a grandparent, an educator, a mental health clinician, or just someone who cares about kids, 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 on i-Tunes. Today's program topic: De-escalation is not crisis prevention.

We had an update from one previous caller (Plan C for the win!), an email about how to use the model with toddlers, and another caller who is worried about her 18 year-old son who seems to have regressed considerably.  Check out the advice given about the CPS Model across a range of ages!  We will be back in September - 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 on i-Tunes.

We were able to clear some of our email backlog in today's episode and talk through how a grandparent could bring up CPS to her daughter who is parenting a challenging child, what to do when solutions don't work, and using the model with a kiddo who appears to be cognitively rigid.  Have a listen!

Interesting discussion about how step 1 - the Empathy Step - of the CPS Model helps us to understand the inner worlds of our children and how they perceive things...which often can be very different from how we adults perceive things.  Important not to skip this step if we are going to help them durably solve problems!  Hear the surprising information our caller learned when she talked with her child about what makes it hard to engage in CPS and problem solve things that are not going well.  We also briefly answered an email regarding sensory issues.

Thanks to two callers, we were able to talk through some of the key things that get in the way of Plan B getting off the ground - have a listen!

Happy New Year!  Thanks to a caller, we were able to visit many important aspects of the CPS Model by hearing about an early attempt at Plan B with her 15 year old son.

Amazing discussions with our two callers today, both parents whose kids are struggling with school. We covered many of the nuances of solving problems collaboratively, but it all starts with making sure you're clear on what's making it hard for a kid to meet a particular expectation.

There's always some detective work to be done when Plan B doesn't go as well as hoped. Our team responded to some inquiries about that on today's podcast, but -- as is often to case with Plan B -- the team needed more info to be maximally helpful. The team was in rare form today...

Thanks to a caller, we got a wonderful gift by helping to restore her hope, perspective, and energy for Plan B!  Lots of good info about how to go from Plan C to Plan B, plus ALSUP and drilling tips.

On our last program before the Summer break, we talked with two callers about what to do when solutions aren't truly mutually satisfactory.

We covered a few emails on today's program, including one from a parent that sparked a great conversation about whether Plan B is a way to get the adult's expectation met - the answer is "possibly" - listen for details!  Also, trouble shooting screen time-related Plan B.

An abbreviated (30 minutes) program today, but lots of territory covered...including how to apply Plan B to disrespectful behaviors. (Hint: you won't be working on the disrespect directly.)

You can't solve everything at once, so you'll have to be selective in choosing problems to start solving first. The algorithm: safety, frequency, and gravity. Thanks to a mom who called in, you'll get a real-life example on this program.

The standard advice is defuse, de-escalate, and keep everyone safe. But Collaborative & Proactive Solutions goes further than that. It's crucial to identify and solve the problem that caused the child to become physically aggressive in the first place. Once the problem is solved, the child won't become physically aggressive in response to it anymore. And if you're only defusing, de-escalating, and keeping everyone safe, the problem won't get solved.