Welcome to this online version of Think:Kids introductory training entitled, Parenting, Teaching and Treating Challenging Kids. In this training, I describe our version of the collaborative problem solving model we’ve been developing for years for working with very challenging kids. I also present research and some of the evidence base supporting our model.
I’m the Director of Think:Kids in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital. I’m also Associate Clinical Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Thanks for checking out our online learning place. If you get into it, I’m sure I will be reading, observing and commenting on your work. I look forward to learning alongside you.
Stuart
Congratulations, you have discovered our growing base of quantitative evidence supporting this, ultimately, philosophically-based approach to working with some of the most difficult children.
To help you focus on the areas of greatest of interest, material is organized by setting, including statewide roll-outs, such as Project Oregon. Wherever possible, the brief video discussion is paired with the relevant written material (PDFs) for in-depth consideration.
[read more...]The first empirical study on the approach was a randomized, controlled clinical trial conducted in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital. This study compared the approach, referred to in the study as Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS), to a commonly used and empirically supported treatment called Parent Management Training.
Dr. Stuart Ablon discusses the study in the video segment, below.
Here is a pdf version of the results published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. A large-scale replication study of the approach in outpatient treatment is currently underway at Virginia Tech through a R01 grant from NIMH.
Remember, you can select the headline above or [read more ...] below for a larger version of this video. There you can also raise a question or post a comment.
Three empirical studies on the approach examined changes in a child inpatient psychiatry units that implemented the model.
Dr. Stuart Ablon discusses them in the video segment, below.
Here is a pdf version of the report from the Child Assessment Unit at Cambridge City Hospital, which achieved amazing results.
Here is a pdf version of a five-year prospective study conducted by independent investigators interested in determining whether these results could be replicated at Yale – New Haven’s Childrens Hospital.
Here is a pdf version which includes an in-depth description the process of implementing the collaborative problem-solving approach as a child-centered alternative to point and level systems at the Yale Child Study Center
The final report to the Centre of Excellence in Children’s Mental Health at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario documents the effectiveness of the Think:Kids approach in a residential setting.
Dr. Stuart Ablon discusses the findings in the video segment, below.
The report is extremely exciting not only because it is the first systematic study to demonstrate effectiveness in residential treatment, but also because it documented improvement in child functioning across several areas including significant gains in the development of specific social skills through implementation of the approach.
This is the first such study to validate the skills training aspect of the approach empirically. Other exciting findings: children and adolescents in the study showed enhanced participation in their communities after treatment and many gains were maintained at six-month follow up including a further reduction in behavioral outbursts.
Here is a pdf version of the report
[read more...]The most recent published research comes from two of Think:Kids certified trainers, Averi Schaubman and Erica Stetson, who work in the Cherry Creek Schools in Colorado. They piloted using the approach in an alternative middle school setting and showed significant reductions in teacher stress and office referrals for disciplinary reasons.
Dr. Stuart Ablon discusses the findings in the video segment, below.
Here is a pdf version of the report