1. Program Support PLC January 8, 2016
ALSUP
Part 2
Program Support PLC
January 8, 2016

2. Doing well is preferable
We’ve been focused on motivation (incentives) Greene suggests we should have been focused on skills. Challenging students are challenging because they are lacking the skills to not be challenging. They are delayed in the development of crucial cognitive sills, such as flexibility/adaptability, frustration tolerance, and problem solving.
Collaborative & Proactive Solutions: The Next Generation of Solving Problems Collaboratively
Ross Greene, Ph.D

3. Answer to the Question Why
Challenging students are not always challenging
They are challenging in conditions in which certain skills are being demanded
Consider it as a developmental delay
Challenging behavior communicates that the student does not have the skills to meet certain demands and expectations
Collaborative & Proactive Solutions: The Next Generation of Solving Problems Collaboratively
Ross Greene, Ph.D

4. What Skills are Behaviorally Challenging Student Lacking?{
More Grey thinking and less black & white
Executive Skills
Language Processing/Communication Skills
Emotion Regulation Skills
Cognitive Flexibility Skills
Social Skills
All are related
More thought and less emotion
Hindsight (past experiences) &
Forethought (think before you act)
Empathy, Honesty, Conflict resolution
Collaborative & Proactive Solutions: The Next Generation of Solving Problems Collaboratively
Ross Greene, Ph.D

5. Answer to the Question When
The Clash of the Two Forces
Challenging episodes occur when the cognitive demand being placed upon a person outstrip the person’s capacity to respond adaptively, best conceived as “adaptational failures” or “incompatibility episodes.”
Collaborative & Proactive Solutions: The Next Generation of Solving Problems Collaboratively
Ross Greene, Ph.D

6. The Clash! Environmental Demands Lagging Skills
Collaborative & Proactive Solutions: The Next Generation of Solving Problems Collaboratively
Ross Greene, Ph.D

7. Adult Roles in the Lives of Behaviorally Challenging Students
Identify lagging skills and unsolved problems
Solve problems collaboratively and proactively
Collaborative & Proactive Solutions: The Next Generation of Solving Problems Collaboratively
Ross Greene, Ph.D

8. The Assessment of Lagging Skills & Unsolved Problems
ALSUP!!!
Collaborative & Proactive Solutions: The Next Generation of Solving Problems Collaboratively
Ross Greene, Ph.D

9. The right side is where
you list the identified
unsolved problems:
“Difficulty…” {
On the left side is a representative list of the skills frequently found lagging in challenging students. {

10. ASLUP
It is meant to be used as a discussion guide… not simply a checklist or mechanism for quantifying
It helps us focus on things we can actually do something about (if we only focus on things we can’t do anything about, we are likely to come to the conclusion that we can’t help)
Correlation ≠ Causation
Collaborative & Proactive Solutions: The Next Generation of Solving Problems Collaboratively
Ross Greene, Ph.D

11. Using the ASLUP: Dos Participants receive a blank copy of the ALSUP
Start at the top
After checking off given lagging skills, identify the unsolved problems that come to mind in association with that skill
Unsolved problems are examples of expectations a student is having difficulty meeting. “Can you give me an example of a time when Theresa is having difficulty staying in the room?”
Come up with as many unsolved problems as possible for lagging skills
Using the ASLUP: Dos
Collaborative & Proactive Solutions: The Next Generation of Solving Problems Collaboratively
Ross Greene, Ph.D

12. Using the ASLUP: Don’ts
Don’t include the student in this part of the problem solving process
Don’t skip around
Don’t go down the entire list of lagging skills and then go back to identify unsolved problems.
Don’t identify unsolved problems first and then go back to decide which lagging skills apply to that unsolved problem.
Don’t write the same unsolved problem more than once.
Using the ASLUP: Don’ts
Collaborative & Proactive Solutions: The Next Generation of Solving Problems Collaboratively
Ross Greene, Ph.D

13. Using the ASLUP: Guidelines for Identifying Unsolved Problems
Unsolved Problems should be:
Free of challenging behaviors
“Difficulty….”
This decreases defensiveness
Free of adult theories
no need to explain anything
Theories don’t really help and are often wrong
Collaborative & Proactive Solutions: The Next Generation of Solving Problems Collaboratively
Ross Greene, Ph.D

14. Unsolved Problems should be:
Split, not clumped.
Specific (cannot say “All the time”)
Strategy 1: Who, What, Where/When… (not why, why=theories)
Strategy 2: What expectation is the student having difficulty meeting?
Clumped
Split
Difficulty Writing
Difficulty with writing vocabulary words.
Difficulty with writing short answers
Collaborative & Proactive Solutions: The Next Generation of Solving Problems Collaboratively
Ross Greene, Ph.D

15. How do we know we are doing it right?
We recognize that students have lagging skills
We recognize why prior interventions were ineffective
We regret how they were interacting with students
We become aware that unsolved problems occur under highly specific conditions (not all the time)
We recognize unsolved problems are predictable & are proactive
We ponder how we are going to create mechanisms for changing practices given what we now know about student difficulties
Collaborative & Proactive Solutions: The Next Generation of Solving Problems Collaboratively
Ross Greene, Ph.D

17. Read the case in small groups and complete an ALSUP form with the given information.
Conduct an ALSUP with your group for a student you work for (can be made up or real)
Consider how you could transfer the concept of lagging skills found in your ALSUP to a BIP
Discuss whole group, how was this difficult? Easy? Challenges? Questions?

18. At the next PLC we will learn how to help Joey…
Dr. Bridgman said, “We need to decide what we want to work on first. We can’t work on everything at once or Joey would be overwhelmed. Let’s start at the easiest place – the triggers – maybe being confused on some assignments and being embarrassed in front of peers. We could address those first.”
“But how?” asked Mrs. Franco.
At the next PLC we will learn how to help Joey…
Plan A, B & C