Mad River Behavioral Health

It's not the fault of the teachers. It's not the fault of the parents. It's not the students ...  ******************************************** You can always tell when a system is in trouble when blaming exceeds problem-solving. Let's stop blaming and get on with the work of solving. For many children, the public school system works just fine.  For some, the curriculum speed moves to slowly; for others, it moves too quickly. To solve this, how about if we match curriculum speed to each student's unique learning speed? Students should be able to gain 90%+ mastery on every single learning unit from kindergarten on before seeing the next learning unit. Children who move forward with less than 90% mastery have ever increasing learning gaps accumulating as they move through the grades. Can they get away with 80% mastery?  Yes, but it's not a preferred outcome.  Can students get away with 70% mastery?  Every now and then, but if kids are chronic B-C-D students, ...

Effective Discipline to Raise Healthy Children American Academy of Pediatrics Abstract Pediatricians are a source of advice for parents and guardians concerning the management of child behavior, including discipline strategies that are used to teach appropriate behavior and protect their children and others from the adverse effects of challenging behavior. Aversive disciplinary strategies, including all forms of corporal punishment and yelling at or shaming children, are minimally effective in the short-term and not effective in the long-term. With new evidence, researchers link corporal punishment to an increased risk of negative behavioral, cognitive, psychosocial, and emotional outcomes for children. In this Policy Statement, the American Academy of Pediatrics provides guidance for pediatricians and other child health care providers on educating parents about positive and effective parenting strategies of discipline for children at each stage of development as well as referen...

Never pay children for helping out at home. Being a cooperative and productive member of the family, making a contribution to the whole, is an expected part of life. Raising children according to a constructive value system is foundational to preparing children for a good, happy, healthy, successful life. Values: Clean up after your self Pitch in Be cooperative Be helpful Be respectful of self, others, property. All of these values are part of helping out at home. If kids want more money, they can help themselves and the family by earning it outside the family. Paying children to help out at home does not teach a valuable life lesson. Children come pre-wired to be good workers and you will teach them budgeting and purchasing skills as they are growing up.  The vast majority of young children want to help out at home; they want to load the dishwasher and washing machine, move laundry from washer to dryer, run the vacuum cleaner, etc. If they don't naturally want t...

Rule #1 Believe that “children do well if they can.”  If they aren’t doing well, wonder why that is - what is interfering.  Establish realistic expectations that the child is, in reality, capable of achieving.  Expecting something more than what the child can actually achieve is highly likely to result in failure, increased behavioral difficulties, and to foster a sense of ineffectiveness, helplessness, and worthlessness. Implementation Dip.  When you begin a new intervention .. expect things to get worse first.   It all works best if the process is entered into collaboratively -- with parent and child / teacher and child in agreement.  Let child know what is changing before beginning If you change your approach / style and they don't know why, it can make kids anxious and defensive.  Visualize Success.  What will success look like?   What are you trying to accomplish? What is your purpose? What are your short, mid-r...

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...

Coercive Transactions Imagine an argument you've had with either a child or significant other, one that spins out of control and get's pretty heated.  Keep this in mind while you are reading the interaction described below.  The interaction might be triggered by your child not doing something, not taking the trash out, or moving too slowly, like while getting ready for school.  The interaction can also be triggered by your child doing something undesirable. Do you recognize the  pattern?   “Coercion refers to a sequence of interactions between the child and parent. The sequence includes actions and reactions that increase the frequency and amplitude of angry, hostile, and aggressive behaviors. The sequence may begin with an argument over some action that has or has not been performed. It intensifies through verbal statements (e.g.: yelling, swearing) to more intensive actions (e.g., hitting, shoving). Ultimately, one person gives in or backs away from t...

When infants cry they are trying to communicate something important to you.   Ignore them and you begin establishing a non-responsive parent-child relational pattern.   Respond with annoyance and you begin establishing an inconvenienced parent-child relational pattern.   Engage in responsive listening and problem-solving and you begin establishing a nurturing parent-child relational pattern.  During the first three years of life, it is best if parents are available, responsive, and loving in meeting all of the child's needs.  Be responsive; warm and loving Be verbal; talk, read, and sing to your child Encourage safe explorations and play  Begin gently teaching and guiding  Recognize that each child is unique Take care of yourself Kenneth H. Little, MA / 135 Lee Brook Road / Thornton, NH 03285 / 603-726-1006 / Achieve-ES.com