2016 Foxborough Summer Institute

Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) provides a way of understanding and helping kids who struggle with behavioral challenges. Challenging behavior is thought of as willful and goal oriented which has led to approaches that focus on motivating better behavior using reward and punishment programs. If you’ve tried these strategies in your classroom or school and they haven’t worked, CPS is for you!
At Think:Kids we have some very different ideas about why these kids struggle. Research over the past 30 years demonstrates that for the majority of these kids, their challenges result from a lack of crucial thinking skills when it comes to things like problem solving, frustration tolerance and flexibility. The CPS approach, therefore, focuses on helping adults teach the skills these children lack while resolving the chronic problems that tend to precipitate challenging behavior.
This session will provide a very brief introductory overview of the CPS approach to teaching and working with challenging kids (grades PreK-12).