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Cognitive Problem-Solving & Skills Training

Cognitive problem-solving and skills training attempts to address kids with problematic behaviors and poor coping mechanisms. It works with parents to help children learn better ways to cope. The child will ultimately gain the ability to better manage not only their problematic thoughts, but also their feelings, and handle difficult situations in a much more calm and rational fashion.

  1. Whom Does Cognitive Problem-Solving Treat?

    • Cognitive problem-solving and skills training (CPSST) introduces new ways of cognitive reprocessing in the minds of maladapting children. Many of these children may have been diagnosed with conduct disorder, have shown signs of an antisocial disorder, ADHD, or have been aggressive and have been acting out. CPSST is also studied in adults.

    What Is Cognitive Problem-Solving Like?

    • Cognitive problem-solving and skills training is done in an individual therapeutic setting. Sessions occur once a week, and last for one hour. This can last for as long as a year. Through therapy, the patient can help widen his perspective of the world, challenging the assumptions that underlie the unhealthy behaviors. The child learns to change his own perception of the world entirely.

    What Can Parents Do?

    • More than just therapy, changing the way children behave depends upon changing the way the people around her behave. This is the behavioral aspect to CPPST. Positive action can lead to positive behavior, which ultimately can lead to positive growth. Try role playing through realistic problematic scenarios that occur in everyday life to give a child a glimpse into alternative outcomes and help her learn how she can deal with situations differently than she has in the past.

    Modeling CPPST

    • Modeling cognitive problem-solving and skills training is imperative for children's development. When leaders model how kids should appropriately behave and reward improvement in behavior, children will start to develop more healthy alternatives to maladaptive coping mechanisms. Providing constructive feedback can be a powerful tool for children if done in a healthy manner. Coach the child to come up with a better way to handle situations than he has in the past. This will ingrain in him positive ways of dealing with life's difficulties.

    Results

    • According to Deborah Rosch Eiffert in the "Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders," "While individual results vary, problematic behaviors are reduced or eliminated in many children."

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