A father emailed me, “I never hit my child, but I would get so mad at him, it was like I would get spiteful: I would tell him I was going to put him up for adoption if he didn’t behave. It would make him cry. I know he couldn’t help his behaviors at times [...]
August 17, 2011
Why It’s Wrong To Always Be Doing Something For Someone You Care For
When was the last time that you were able to slow down, relax, and simply enjoy the relationship with the one you care for? It’s no secret that many of us who provide care for someone we love feel like we’re living a 36-hour day! Toileting, bathing, grooming, dressing, daily routines, the list of things that caregivers have to help do for the ones [...]
August 15, 2011
Book Review: Positive Discipline…
Discipline is a difficult and important aspect of child rearing – for kids with and without special needs. So when I ran across Jane Nelsen’s new book, Positive Discipline for Children with Special Needs, and read the subtitle – Raising and Teaching All Children to Become Resilient, Responsible, and Respectful – I was hooked. After [...]
August 12, 2011
Don’t Use This Technique To Gain Compliance!
Cedric, an 11-year old boy with a developmental disability, was restrained for refusing to sit in his chair. His teacher, instead of being willing to use Positive Support Strategies, opted for “compliance” and the use of force to bring it about! Where does this type of response to “noncompliance” leave us with Cedric? Is it possible that [...]
August 10, 2011
7 “Must Do’s!” For Reducing Challenging Behaviors
We have all heard, ‘I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine.’ This is often the case in a variety of social interactions and is a great example of The Golden Rule or social reciprocity in action. Let me quickly synthesize the research on social reciprocity in marital therapy for you because I believe that the application [...]
August 4, 2011
Here’s A Proven Way To Prevent Crisis Behaviors!
Want to learn a safe and effective way to prevent challenging behaviors? It’s never too late to learn new and effective ways to minimize and even prevent many crisis behaviors! Dr. Ross Greene, author of the Explosive Child, discussed the importance of identifying “situational factors” that can fuel crisis behaviors. I’d like to add to [...]
August 1, 2011
One Way To Decrease Crisis Behaviors: Setting Events
As I stated in a previous post, an understanding of “setting events” can help you to prevent or de-escalate crisis behaviors! In fact, in the field of crisis prevention the concept of setting events is an important consideration in problem-solving challenging behaviors. If you were to only learn one important thing from this post, this would be [...]
July 29, 2011
Caregiver Success Story: Julia
A mom was sharing with me about the challenging behavior her son, Gavin, exhibits when it comes to cleaning up his room. “I’ll ask him to put his Xbox games, MP3, puzzle books, and clothes away at the end of the day,” said Julia. “I think that it’s fair to ask a 10-year old boy [...]
July 25, 2011
It’s Time For A Change
One of the best things that has happened over the last 10+ years in the field of human services is called person-centered planning. Person-centered planning is a process-oriented approach to empowering people with disability labels. It focuses on the people and their needs in order to produce a better quality of life. This process is being used in [...]
July 22, 2011
8 Strategies For Reducing Stress and Strengthening Relationships
For those of you who have had the privilege of accompanying people on life’s journey who have a diagnosis of autism or dementia, you know that it is not always easy being with them. Their challenging behaviors are often a reflection of inner distress and what they need most is a relationship with someone who is willing [...]
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How To Weaken Challenging Behaviors By Building Stronger Relationships
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Why It’s Wrong To Always Be Doing Something For Someone You Care For
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Book Review: Positive Discipline…
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Don’t Use This Technique To Gain Compliance!
Michael Woods, M.A.
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August 26, 2011
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