The Explosive Child [Sixth Edition]: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children Paperback – August 17, 2021

Seven years ago I found the earlier version of this book and have been using it in my practice as a mental health counselor ever since. It is, by far, the most important book in my library and I urge all the parents of the kids I work with to purchase, read, and use the CPS method. I also urge teachers and school administrators to read the two book Dr. Ross Greene has written specifically for use in schools to eliminate corporal punishment, detentions, in-school suspensions, and out of school suspensions. If you want to stop behavior problems, READ THIS BOOK AND USE THE METHOD!

I cannot say enough good about this book. We adopted 2 boys, both having FASD, one presenting very explosive behaviors. Most times we wouldn’t know what provoked him. He was in therapy with a Dr for 7 years (he’s 10 now). We finally pulled him out of the useless therapy. Public schools gave up on him. (Actually a good thing). He was admitted to a therapeutic day school. The entire staff are therapists, and trained in behavior therapy. AMAZING. But after reading this book and implementing plan B, the improvement we saw at home has been amazing. We are now seeing behavioral issues way less often. I highly recommend everyone, parents and foster parents to read this book. It brings everything into perspective. Your family will be so stress free, just by not walking on eggshells constantly

Such a great book! This book is super eye opening. Though its still hard to try and implement the technique. Its a must read! Anyone who parents or works with children should mandatory read this. Therapists, teachers, parents, coaches

Parenting has evolved a lot since I was a child, and this book shed some insight into my troubled child’s mind and answering a lot of the “why” questions I have. My child is 7 years old and developmentally behind, so some of these techniques are a bit difficult even with visual queues, so I didn’t give 5 stars for that. I wish it had a little more help in the area of communicating with a young child with ADHD or other mental health conditions to help with the communication barrier. However it is effective when I’ve used it at times with my 7 year old and especially my 9 year old son. Good book, very insightful.

This book was enthusiastically recommended to me (along with Motivational Interviewing) when I was struggling with a teenage foster son. It has been a game changer with my elementary schooler, who is generally well-behaved but sometimes oppositional.The book teaches a simple recipe for working WITH a child to troubleshoot issues, called Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS). The focus is working with children who are oppositional, reactive, or stubborn to brainstorm and implement solutions that will satisfy both the child and the adult. Over time, CPS can help the child meet expectations, improve the overall climate of the relationship, and help the child develop better executive function. It's simple enough that even I can remember the steps, haha.I would make one observation: TBRI is a prerequisite for CPS; they complement each other. When a child is empowered through feeling safe and calm and having basic needs met, and is primed to learn through playful connection, then the door is wide open for CPS. And CPS will reinforce TBRI; it’s a corrective approach that will also further empower and connect the child. A great way to learn TBRI is to read The Connected Child or to watch the Karyn Purvis Institute videos. Watch the teen TBRI videos if that's your age group.

Excellent read for all parents and educators !! So much useful information and realistic tools that can be practiced and implemented.

I was so excited to learn that Dr, Ross Green updated the book to include updated information. This book has helped us look at behaviors in a different way to support our kiddos better. It should be a required reading for educators, families supporting loved ones with intellectual differences that exhibit challenging behaviors. My favorite takeaway from the book, “Children will do well IF they can,” a good reminder that children do not give us a hard time, they are having a hard time. This book doesn’t just highlight the struggles families or care givers might experience, it validates your feelings about them, let’s you know you are not alone, and the best part gives some strategies to try and see if you can work with kiddos to provide them with more tools so they can do well!

I will start with, I'm a therapist and I was looking for new ideas in dealing with a particular child.Things I liked:-It's a pretty easy read, user-friendly. I finished in 2 days. Language isn't overly clinical.-I did get some useable ideas that I hadn't considered before.Things I didn't like:-It's nauseatingly over-simplistic. The narratives were pretty cringey and unrealistic. The examples given were functional families with caring, invested parents. The example parents agreed with each other on the treatment plan. There was no mention of the complication of multi-household, co-parenting situations, or ones in which the parents disagree on treatment.-The behavior issue examples were pretty mild compared with the majority of kids and families I've worked with. There was barely any mention of trauma and how this impacts behavior. In my experience in 18 years of practice, many, if not most kids with behavioral issues, have dealt with significant trauma in their lives.-Upon reading the first couple chapters, I was looking forward to actual ideas on the skill-building portion. There was none of this. It was sort-of like "figure this part out on your own." I feel like many people will come away from this book not really knowing how to fully implement a major part of the model.Overall, this book is not a panacea. Take the things you can use, but it's okay if you don't agree with everything. Look for other solutions too, whether with other books or through your child's therapist.