Let's do this.
CHAPTER 3 PARADIGM SHIFT
Let's start thinking about the things you can do something about. We should start with your lenses. The lenses provided by the CPS model are encompassed by five paradigm‐shifting components. In chapter 1, you were introduced to two of them: kids do well if they can and doing well is preferable. Here are the rest.
COMPONENT 3: FOCUS ON PROBLEMS, NOT BEHAVIORS
You've actually read a bit about this component already. But here's another metaphor to further the discussion: concerning behaviors are what are happening downstream; the problems that are causing those behaviors are waiting for you upstream. In the CPS model, you're focused almost exclusively on what's going on upstream.
In other words, concerning behavior is late. And interventions that are aimed at modifying behavior are focused on what's late. By the time the behavior occurs, you're already in crisis management mode. The problems that are causing those behaviors are early. When you're solving problems proactively, you're in crisis prevention mode.
If concerning behavior is all we focus on in our discussions and meetings, then we will be led only to interventions that are geared toward modifying that behavior. And behavior modification strategies don't solve any problems.
“Everybody knows what the kid's challenging behaviors are—you can figure that out in two seconds—but you have to go deeper.”
—NINA, PRINCIPAL
This shift in focus has significant implications for assessment. Many of the assessment practices employed in schools—behavior observations, behavior checklists, functional behavior assessments (FBAs)—are focused on a student's behaviors. If we're going to change our lenses, we'll also need to change our assessment practices. More on this in chapter 4.
COMPONENT 4: THE PROBLEM SOLVING IS COLLABORATIVE, NOT UNILATERAL
If we're going to focus on problems, not concerning behaviors, then we next need to think about how we're going to solve those problems. Many adults tend toward problem solving of the unilateral kind. This is when the adult decides on the solution and imposes it on the kid. But that's not what you're doing in the CPS model. In this model, the problem solving is of the collaborative kind.
The CPS model operates on a very important assumption: if you want to solve a problem with a kid—any kid, but especially the ones with concerning behaviors—you're a lot better off if you have a partner, a teammate. Who's your teammate? The student. In other words, solving problems is something you're doing with the student, not to the student. Kids—and everyone else—are a whole lot more receptive to participating in solving the problems that are affecting their lives when you're solving problems with them rather than doing something to them.
And the kid will actually participate in the problem‐solving process? Just you wait. More on this in the ensuing chapters.
COMPONENT 5: THE PROBLEM SOLVING IS PROACTIVE, NOT REACTIVE
A great deal of the intervention that takes place with students with concerning behaviors occurs in the heat of the moment. But, as it relates to solving problems collaboratively, that's actually terrible (and unnecessary) timing. In the CPS model, 99 percent of intervention takes place proactively.
This theme, of course, often prompts a very important question: How can we solve problems proactively when we never know when the kid is going to exhibit concerning behavior and when the kid is so unpredictable? The answer: we actually do know when they're going to exhibit concerning behavior, and they're not unpredictable … if we put the hard work into identifying a student's lagging skills and unsolved problems on the front end. In schools—as well as everywhere else—timing really is everything.
Shifting from dealing with problems reactively to dealing with problems proactively can be quite paradigm shift. It may seem almost unimaginable, given how little time you have. Of course, the fact that you have so little time may speak, at least partially, to how you're currently dealing with concerning behaviors. We'll be discussing the time issue in greater detail later in the book.
UNHELPFUL LENSES
We're not quite done with your lenses yet. There are some very popular characterizations of kids with concerning behaviors that can interfere with your efforts to help students with concerning behaviors, including, but not limited to …
“They just want attention.”
We all want attention, so this characterization isn't very useful for helping us understand why a kid is exhibiting concerning behaviors. Maybe the student is lacking the skills to seek attention in an adaptive fashion? Maybe the concerning behaviors aren't for the purpose of seeking attention at all. Along these lines, one of the most frequently recommended interventions for kids who are seeking attention maladaptively is ignoring. The rationale there is that ignoring will deprive the kid of the attention that is reinforcing the concerning behavior. But what if the behavior is actually communicating that there's an expectation the kid is having difficulty meeting? You won't want to ignore that.
“They just want their own way.”
We all want our own way, so this statement doesn't help us understand why some kids try to get their own way in ways that are so maladaptive. Adaptively getting one's own way requires skills often found lacking in kids with concerning behaviors. And it takes two to tango: in every power struggle between a child and an adult, there's an adult who wants their own way, too.
“They're manipulating us.”
This is a very popular, and misguided, characterization of kids with concerning behaviors. Competent manipulation requires various skills—forethought, planning, impulse control, and organization, among others—typically found lacking in kids with concerning behaviors. In other words, the kids who are most often described as being manipulative are those least capable of doing it well.
“They're unmotivated.”
This is something that is frequently said about kids with concerning behaviors before their lagging skills and unsolved problems have been identified. But once those lagging skills and unsolved problems are identified, “unmotivated” doesn't even come close to capturing what's really going on.
“They're making bad choices.”
They're probably lacking the skills needed for consistently making good choices.
TWO ROLES FOR HELPERS
Let's now think a little more about your role as a helper. Here are the two most important roles a helper can play in the life of a kid who's struggling:
1 Figure out what skills the student is lacking and the expectations they're having difficulty meeting.
2 Start solving those problems, but do it in a way—collaboratively and proactively—that engages kids in solving the problems that affect their lives and creates a problem‐solving partnership.
These are the roles you'll be reading about for the remainder of this book.
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