Continuing Education Provider Professional Development Resources Publishes New Home Study Course on Treating Explosive Kids

JACKSONVILLE, FL, May 01, 2013 (Press-News.org) Professional Development Resources has announced a new addition to its online continuing education (CE) curriculum for mental health professionals: Treating Explosive Kids. The course is designed to help psychotherapists learn to treat poorly regulated children, whose behavior is marked by non-compliance and explosive episodes.

The authors of the course textbook, Drs. Ross Greene and J. Stuart Ablon, sum up the problem this way: what we are looking at here are "behaviors causing upheaval, instability, and frustration in these children and in their adult caretakers, namely, severe resistance to the imposition of adult will and corresponding explosive outbursts." They add that these children are "among the most poorly understood child and adolescent populations."

In the course of child development, it is normal - even necessary - for children to grow through stages in which they assert themselves and refuse to comply with adult requests. Typically, this occurs between the ages of about 2 and 5 and again during adolescence. Although these phases are not pleasant for parents and teachers, this a normal and healthy process by which youngsters develop their own sense of self and start building the self-reliance and independence that will serve them well in their adult years.

On the other hand, when oppositional and defiant behavior persists and explosive outbursts become habitual for children outside of the normal independence stages, it can threaten the healthy development of the child and be cause for great family turmoil. In addition, such behaviors are obviously not conducive to classroom structure and usually result in serious disruptions to the child's educational progress.

"The key to success in treating these kids and their parents is in the understanding that these are children who have lagging skills in the areas of flexibility/adaptability, frustration tolerance, and problem solving," says Leo Christie, President and CEO of Professional Development Resources. "This course offers new ways for therapists to understand and treat this population, which can be as much of a headache for clinicians as it is for parents."

There are four themes that form the basis for the innovative approach to the management of explosive children detailed in this course:

1. Explosive children are not all alike; they are a heterogeneous group.
2. One's understanding of the factors underlying a child's explosive behaviors directly influences the selection of interventions employed to address those behaviors.
3. There is no "one size fits all approach" to the treatment of explosive children and their adult caretakers.
4. Intervention options are most potent when they are well matched to the needs of those persons for whom intervention is being designed.

Treating Explosive Kids includes many vivid examples and Q&A sections that show how to identify the specific cognitive factors that contribute to explosive and noncompliant behavior, remediate these factors, and teach children and their adult caregivers how to solve problems collaboratively. The book also describes challenges that may arise in implementing the model and provides clear and practical solutions. Two special chapters focus on intervention in schools and in therapeutic/restrictive facilities.

About Professional Development Resources, Inc.

Professional Development Resources is a Florida nonprofit educational corporation founded in 1992 by licensed marriage and family therapist Leo Christie, PhD. The company, which is accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA), the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB), the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) - as well as many other national and state boards - has focused its efforts on making accredited continuing education units more cost-effective and widely accessible to health professionals by offering online home study coursework. Its current expanded curriculum includes a wide variety of clinical topics intended to equip health professionals to offer state-of-the art services to their clients.

Contact:
Leo Christie, PhD, CEO
Professional Development Resources, Inc.
904-645-3456
http://www.pdresources.org/

Professional Development Resources is a national provider of accredited continuing education units for psychologists, social workers, counselors, and marriage and family therapists.