Lost At School

Ross W. Greene
Hajera Ahmed

Central Premise

Kids with behavioral challenges lack thinking skills

Thinking skills involved are not in traditional academic domains

But rather in domains such as regulating ones emotions, considering

outcomes of ones actions, responding to change, etc.

If conventional school disciplines are not working for kids with social,
emotional, and behavioral challenges, then the only reason to keep
using it would be because it is working for kids who do not have
these challenges

Well-behaved kids arent behaving themselves because of school

discipline program.

Diagnosis

Diagnoses are not especially useful for understanding kids with

behavioral challenges or helping adults know what to do next.

Two aspects: the child lacking skills and environment

Must focus both on the child and on the people in the childs environment
who need to understand the true nature of the childs difficulties and
provide opportunities for the problem to be solved and skills to be learned
and practiced.

Diagnoses do not reflect that reality, they simply pathologize the child.

Shifting Cognitive Set

The difficulty of handling transitions, shifting from one mind-set or

task to another.

When you tell a child what to do, that also requires a shift in
cognitive set, especially if what youre telling him what to do is not
what he was doing in the first place.

Kids who have difficulty shift cognitive set are more likely to struggle
when life demands that they shift cognitive set.

Assessment of Lagging Skills and

Unsolved Problems (ALSUP)

Mechanism for assessing and keeping track of lagging skills and

unsolved problems that are setting the stage for challenging
behavior.

Helps adults focus on a students lagging skills and unsolved

problems, rather than on the behavior's that are cause by those
lagging skills and unsolved problems.

Doesnt help come up with a percentile score to determine if a child

needs help.

Helps achieve consensus on the students lagging skills and unsolved

problems.

Plan A, Plan B, Plan C

Three options for addressing for unsolved problems

Plan A: adults solve problems unilaterally by imposing their will

Plan B: adults solve problems collaboratively, as partners

Plan C: setting aside a given unsolved problem for a temporary period of time.

Plan B

Plan B, problem is being solved collaboratively and Plan A is

unilaterally.

Helps adutls clarify and understand a childs concerns about or

persepective on a particular unsolved problem.

Helps child understand the adults concern about the problem.

Helps adults and kids work together, toward solutions so that both
parties concerns are addressed, problem gets solved, and lagging
skills get taught.

Fair Does Not Mean Equal

Because every child in a classroom has different needs, treating

them all exactly the same would mean no ones needs are being met.

Helping kids with social, emotional, and

behavioral challenges is not a
mechanical exercise. Kids arent robots,
adults arent robots, and helping them
work together isnt robotic. The work is
hard, messy, uncomfortable, and
requires teamwork, patience, and
tenacity, especially as the work also
involves questioning conventional
wisdom and practices.

END