Skills Training for Struggling Kids

Challenging kids don't behave badly on purpose—they are simply struggling with the demands on their psychological development.

Many tens of thousands of child mental health professionals and parents have already turned to Dr. Michael Bloomquist for essential guidance on understanding acting-out kids and getting them back on track.

Now, for the first time, Dr. Bloomquist presents his bestselling skills training program in a book written specifically for parents.

This clear, compassionate guide is packed with tried-and-true, thoroughly researched ways to help kids follow rules, get along better with family members and peers, express their feelings productively, and succeed in the classroom. Loads of worksheets, troubleshooting tips, and role-play activities give parents the tools to become their child's best teacher.
 

CONTENTS
Introduction: How to Use This Book
Getting Started and Staying with It
1. The Struggling Child: Understanding Your Child’s Behavioral–Emotional Problems
2. Getting Back on Track: Coming Up with a Skills-Building Plan for Your Child and Family
3. Taking Care of Business: Getting Going and Following Through

Enhancing Your Child’s Behavioral Development
4. Doing What You’re Told: Teaching Your Child to Comply with Parental Directives
5. Doing What’s Expected: Teaching Your Child to Follow Rules
6. Doing the Right Thing: Teaching Your Child to Behave Honestly
7. Staying Cool under Fire: Managing Your Child's Protesting of Discipline and Preventing Angry Outbursts

Enhancing Your Child’s Social Development
8. Making Friends: Teaching Your Child Social Behavior Skills
9. Keeping Friends: Teaching Your Child Social Problem-Solving Skills
10. That Hurts!: Helping Your Child with Bullies
11. Hanging with the “Right Crowd”: Influencing Your Child’s Peer Relationships

Enhancing Your Child’s Emotional Development
12. Let It Out!: Teaching Your Child to Understand and Express Feelings
13. You Are What You Think: Teaching Your Child to Think Helpful Thoughts
14. Stress Busters: Teaching Your Child to Manage Stress

Enhancing Your Child’s Academic Development
15. Surviving School: Teaching Your Child to Manage Time, Organize, Plan, Review, and Stay on Task
16. Teaming Up: Collaborating and Advocating for Your Child at School

Enhancing Your Well-Being as a Parent
17. You Parent the Way You Think: Thinking Helpful Thoughts to Enhance Parenting
18. Cool Parents: Managing Your Own Stress to Enhance Parenting

Enhancing Your Family’s Well-Being
19. Let’s Get Together: Strengthening Family Bonds and Organization
20. We Can Work It Out: Strengthening Family Interaction Skills
Resources

Reviews

These innovative books are effectively grounded in evidence-based practices, with useful integration of parent management training, social competence and cognitive-behavioral interventions, and behavioral family skills training. The practitioner guide includes sophisticated tips and strategies for engaging clients and tailoring interventions for specific families. The parent guide has a notable emphasis on how parents can overcome barriers they encounter—such as a child's protests against following rules—and how they can learn to cope with their own emotional reactions. Bloomquist speaks frankly to parents and treats them as thoughtful participants and collaborators in the change process."
-John E. Lochman, PhD, ABPP, Director, Center for Prevention of Youth Behaviour Problems, University of Alabama

"Bloomquist draws on a wealth of experience in both research and applied settings. Strengths of these coordinated manuals for parents and practitioners include a focus on children's and teens' competencies across a broad age span; the inclusion of strategies to enhance parental well-being and family functioning; and the many practical suggestions to aid in implementing evidence-based practices in real-life settings. These volumes will be welcome additions to the libraries of parents and practitioners. Highly recommended!"
--Robert J. McMahon, PhD, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, and Child and Family Research Institute, Canada

The Author

Michael L. Bloomquist, PhD, a child psychologist, is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota, where he conducts research and trains practitioners. Through a part-time forensic psychology consultation, he also conducts juvenile psychological evaluations. Dr. Bloomquist has worked with struggling kids and teens and their families for over 25 years