No More Meltdowns: Positive Strategies for Managing and Preventing Out-of-control Behavior

by Jed Baker, Carol Stock Kranowitz

Overview

It could happen at the grocery store. At a restaurant. At school. At home. Meltdowns are stressful for both child and adult, but Dr. Baker can help! Author of the award-winning Social Skills Picture Book series, Dr. Jed Baker offers parents and teachers strategies for preventing and managing meltdowns. His 20+ years of experience working with children on the autism spectrum, combined with his personal experiences raising his own children, have yielded time-tested strategies, and results! Dr. Baker offers an easy-to-follow, 4-step model that will improve your everyday relationships with the children in your life: 1) Managing your own emotions by adjusting your expectations, 2) Learning strategies to calm a meltdown in the moment, 3) Understanding why a meltdown occurs, and 4) Creating plans to prevent future meltdowns.
 
Helpful chapters include:

• Meltdowns: When rewards and punishments are not enough
• What are meltdowns made of?
• Accepting and appreciating our children
• De-escalating a meltdown
• Understanding why repeat problems occur
• Creating a prevention plan
• Demands
• Waiting
• Threats to self-image
• Unmet wishes for attention

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781932565621
Publisher:	Future Horizons, Inc.
Publication date:	04/01/2008
Pages:	150
Sales rank:	77,879
Product dimensions:	5.99(w) x 9.04(h) x 0.41(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Having earned his MA and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Albany, Dr. Jed Baker is a behavioral consultant for several New Jersey school districts where, nearly two decades ago, he organized a group to help children with social communication problems. That group expanded and ultimately became the Social Skills Training Project under Dr. Baker’s directorship. Dr. Baker also presents lectures all over the world on social skills training, and is on the board of directors of the Asperger’s Syndrome Education Network, Inc. (ASPEN). His work has been featured on ABC News and Nightline.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction

THE PROBLEM

Chapter 1: Meltdowns: When rewards and punishments are not enough

• What is a meltdown?
• The usual parenting advice: start with rules and consequences
• The limits of discipline: when rewards and punishments no longer work
• But aren’t meltdowns just manipulative behavior?
• Can we really expect no more meltdowns?
• An overview of the four-step model for reducing meltdowns

Chapter 2: What are meltdowns made of?

• Fight, flight or freeze response
• Temperament
• Difficulties with abstract thinking and perspective taking
• Inflexibility
• An explosive combination

THE SOLUTION

Chapter 3: Accepting and appreciating our children

• Controlling our own frustration
• Building competence
• Avoiding learned helplessness
• The 80/20 rule
• Anticipating frustration as part of learning
• When to avoid power struggles

Chapter 4: De-escalating a meltdown

• How to de-escalate a meltdown
• Distractions
• When too much distraction can make things worse
• Helping children find their own distractions and calming strategies
• Steps for creating self-calming strategies

Chapter 5: Understanding why repeat problems occur

Understanding the triggers

• The ABCs of behavior: Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence
• Getting the ABCs: Interviews and observations
• Seeing the pattern

Chapter 6: Creating a prevention plan

• The components of a good prevention plan
• A prevention plan for Kevin
• The four types of meltdown situations
• Plans for the Four Types of Meltdown Situations

Chapter 7: Demands

• Do your schoolwork
• Try it, it’s delicious
• Hurry up, the bus is coming
• Clean up
• Let’s go to the party

Chapter 8: Waiting

• Just wait
• You can’t always get what you want
• Okay, time to stop playing

Chapter 9: Threats to self-image

• Winning isn’t everything
• It’s okay to make mistakes
• But names will never hurt you

Chapter 10: Unmet wishes for attention

• I can’t play with you now
• Don’t be jealous
• Time to go to bed

Chapter 11: Closing thoughts: Finding your own way

• Prevention plan form

References

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Jed Baker, in this excellent book, gives us the tools to deal with and prevent out-of-control behavior. Wisely, he leads us grown-ups to understand how to change our own behavior in order to help our children change theirs." Carol Stock Kranowitz "Author of best-seller The Out-of-Sync Child"

Editorial Reviews

"Jed Baker, in this excellent book, gives us the tools to deal with and prevent out-of-control behavior. Wisely, he leads us grown-ups to understand how to change our own behavior in order to help our children change theirs."
Carol Stock Kranowitz "Author of best-seller The Out-of-Sync Child"

From the Publisher