A difficult to teach child slows down the learning for others and accentuates the burden of teaching a group of diverse learners that often looms heavily on the teacher. What if  disruptive children are actually facing challenges that result from the lack of critical “to not be challenging” skills such as adaptive flexibility, frustration tolerance, and problem solving?

On this episode, renowned author, clinical psychologist,  documentary producer, and adjunct professor in the Department of Psychology at Virginia Tech, Dr. Ross Greene, discusses the dilemma of teaching that requires a set of prerequisite learning how to learn skills that facilitate the acquisition of new knowledge but are far less ubiquitous. By prioritizing the building of executive function and self-regulation first,  educators are likely to yield greater cooperation from children and far more success in learning engagement.

About Ross W. Greene, Ph.D
Ross W. Greene, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and the originator of the innovative, evidence-based approach called Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS), as described in his influential books The Explosive Child, Lost at School, Lost & Found, and Raising Human Beings. He also developed and executive produced the award-winning documentary film The Kids We Lose, released in 2018. Dr. Greene was on the faculty at Harvard Medical School for over 20 years, and founded the non-profit Lives in the Balance in 2009. He is currently adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychology at Virginia Tech and adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Science at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia. Dr. Greene has worked with several thousand behaviorally challenging kids and their caregivers, and he and his colleagues have overseen implementation and evaluation of the CPS model in hundreds of schools, inpatient psychiatry units, and residential and juvenile detention facilities, with dramatic effect: significant reductions in recidivism, discipline referrals, detentions, suspensions, and use of restraint and seclusion. Dr. Greene lectures throughout the world and lives in Freeport, Maine.

Websites:

• http://www.LivesInTheBalance.org
• http://www.TrueCrisisPrevention.org
• http://www.TheKidsWeLose.com

Books:

• The Explosive Child
• Lost at School
• Lost & Found
• Raising Human Beings 

About Host, Sucheta Kamath
Sucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.

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