Mad River Behavioral Health

A Guide to Behavioral Intervention Assess intellectual, instructional, learning, and situational factors and how they affect / contribute to the behavior problem. Develop and utilize a decision-making tree. Identify specific problem behaviors and their source / function. Conceptualize positive alternative behaviors. Progressively teach, coach, and support the student in developing and utilizing the positive alternatives: healthy, value-system-based behavioral and coping strategies in support of school / community / family success. Encourage the practice and progressive growth of positive alternative behaviors with coaching and positive, proactive behavioral planning. Scaffold: provide more support, encouragement, and behavioral skill instruction until the child begins to show some sense of competence, then wean and monitor.   Alter academic / instructional components as needed in accordance with assessment data and educational best practices. Establish realistic exp...

You can't. Don't do it. Ok, so we can a little bit, to a point. Some behavioral gestures are so common, like smiling, laughing, etc., that we can safely infer meaning. But, if we go past the basic observation, we can also get our selves into some pretty deep trouble ... pretty quickly ... by over reaching - interpreting more complex behaviors, one's that matter a bit more. We can see that a client is angry, but we cannot know what specifically she is angry about -- even if we observe a conflict in action. The client may have been angry about something that happened early in the day, last week, a few years ago, and / she may be trauma reactive (more on this another time), and then brought her pre-existing condition into a current situation. Note: We all bring our pre-existing condition into current situations. The problem with interpreting behavior is ... it requires us to become psychics, to read minds. We can observe a behavior, but we cannot know what it m...

No, not swear words. There are certain words we use to describe children and their behavior that are counter-productive; one of the most destructive of which is the word "manipulative". Bad words!  Bad!  Words matter.  To keep one's head straight, it's important to think about and describe behaviors in a constructive manner that makes success more likely.   Using the wrong words makes success less likely. Have you ever had a phone call from someone trying to sell you something, during which you felt like you were being manipulated? If yes, what did you do?   I hang up, cut the call  off   . Bam!  Discussion over. Problem solved. As parents and mental health professionals, the last thing we ever want to do during our work with a child is to "hang up on them".  We can take breaks , this is sensible, but we never want to cut the conversation off.   Try this.  Re-conceptualize "manipulative" behavio...

Consequences are not what we think they are.   Consequences are simply the variety of results or outcomes that naturally occur in the wake of a behavior. For example, you step out onto thin ice and fall through.  The consequences of which could be that you get wet, get cold, drown, swim, laugh and have fun, etc. You may be rescued by a stranger -- fall in love, get married, have children, and so on. The variety of natural outcomes can be all negative, all positive, or a mixture.  Consequences can be experienced immediately following the behavior (fall through ice - get wet) or be experienced many years later (rescued by stranger - have children).   Smoking cigarettes can have immediate positive consequences (calming) and negative long-term consequences (cancer). As the responsible adults working to manage behavioral situations, we typically have little or no control over the consequences that occur and no control over how they are perceived by th...

Win-win or no deal is borrowed from Stephen R. Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This is a fantastic resource that I strongly recommend. I've incorporated Covey's idea into the collaborative process developed by Ross W. Greene and described in The Explosive Child , another resource I strongly recommend. More about Dr. Greene's approach can be found at his " Lives in the Balance " web site. I strongly encourage you to study these resources thoroughly. Think Win-Win, Whenever Possible We are working toward a parent-child collaborative process; outcomes that are mutually agreeable are preferred whenever possible. Win-lose and lose-win outcomes are not sustainable solutions.  These types of inequitable outcomes will contribute to growing mistrust and resentment; increasing frustration, anger, hostility — ever acting-out behavior. Avoid Win-Lose and Lose-Win outcomes as much as possible. Remember “No Deal”. Rather than accept a win-lose or l...

 All rights reserved by  Alex-de-Haas Flip negative behaviors into their positive opposites; maladaptive behaviors into their adaptive opposites. Example: "tantrum" is flipped into "using words".  Children at times use tantrums to get needs met.  This is a negative, maladaptive skill. The positive, adaptive opposite skill is to use words to get needs met. As we move forward we will begin to focus our attention on enhancing skills and abilities, the capacity to manage in and navigate a complex world. Whenever we encounter a problem or concern we will begin the work of "flipping" the negative behavior into its positive opposite behavior or skill. From here, we will teach, coach, and encourage the use of the positive behavior or skill in the difficult situation. Difficult situations require adaptive skills in order to navigate successfully. Skills require a lot of practice to master.  Please keep in mind that all children ... will learn th...

A Sledgehammer is ...  Not ... a Behavior Change Tool. Constructive Feedback Behavioral kids and teens*, typically get absolutely inundated by crushing waves of criticism.  Pause for a moment right here.  Read this again to establish a deep empathic connection with this reality.  Imagine crushing waves of criticism inundating you every day for years and years.   Close your eyes. Breathe gently and deeply.  Imagine how it would feel. Not only do behavioral kids tend to get subjected to frequent negative feedback on their problem behaviors, but they are very typically hyper-criticized for ordinary behaviors as well. Behavioral kids tend to get scrutinized frequently, in everything they do.  Many behavioral kids know this and say it very clearly. This is extraordinarily destructive to the child and very counter-productive. Imagine for a moment, being hyper-criticized at work; moment to moment, day-in-and-day-out, for y...