Rethinking Challenging Kids-Where There’s a Skill There’s a Way | J. Stuart Ablon | TEDxBeaconStreet

Note: In this video, Dr. Stuart Ablon, Director of the Think:Kids program in the Department of Psychiatry at MGH, describes the general tenets of a model of care called Collaborative Problem Solving, which was originated by Dr. Ross Greene in his book The Explosive Child. In 2008, Dr. Greene was forced to end his tenure as the original Director of the Think:Kids program when the Chief of Psychiatry at MGH, Dr. Jerrold Rosenbaum, demanded that he relinquish his intellectual property to MGH. Dr. Greene refused to do so. Since that time, Dr. Ablon and the Think:Kids program have disseminated a variant of Dr. Greene’s work. In 2013, MGH took successful legal action to prohibit Dr. Greene from referring to the model he originated by the name Collaborative Problem Solving. Dr. Greene now refers to his work as Collaborative & Proactive Solutions, and his new non-profit, Lives in the Balance (www.livesinthebalance.org) provides a vast array of free, web-based resources on his model.

Dr. Stuart Ablon is a child psychologist who specializes in working with challenging children and their families, teachers and helpers.
He serves as the Director of Think:Kids at Massachusetts General Hospital Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School.

Challenging behavior exhibited by children and adolescents is a common concern and frustration for parents, teachers, and other helpers. In this talk, Dr. Stuart Ablon of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School will challenge the conventional wisdom about what causes challenging behavior and as a result what we should do to help. Drawing from research in the neurosciences, Dr. Ablon will suggest a revolutionary way of thinking about challenging behavior and a corresponding process by which kids of all kinds can be taught skills of flexibility, frustration tolerance and problem solving.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx