Calming the Tempest :Helping the Explosive Child

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Starring: PhD : J. Stuart Ablon, PhD Ross Greene
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Type: DVD
Directed By: Hans Spatzeck-Olsen
Studio: Paraclete Press
Release Date: 2004-04-01
Many adults have faced a child's or teenager's explosiveness, unsure of how to respond. Do I punish him for the outburst? Should I try to be understanding of how she is feeling and ignore the ugly behaviour? In reality, many children who have difficulty managing their anger need to be taught the skills necessary for coping with frustration and situations that demand flexibility. It is the lack of cognitive skills that contributes to the angry outbursts. CALMING THE TEMPEST provides parents, teachers, and caretakers with an awareness and overview of how to teach these skills at home and at school.

Extremely helpful for parents, teachers and therapists
I have a 13 year old son who is very easily frustrated. He has several diagnoses, including ADHD, and takes some medication but these haven't taught him how to problem solve and avoid melt-downs. We knew he wasn't a mean kid. We knew he didn't like it when he got angry. We knew he wanted life to be easier for him, his family and all the others who wanted to be with him. He just didn't know what to do when he got "stuck" in that "rigid, shut-down mode" when things didn't go his way.

We read "The Explosive Child" and finally felt affirmed! We had been swinging back and forth with our parenting styles. We knew our son was different than our other children. In our hearts, we knew that consequences and strict rules weren't working, but felt pressure to "let him know who was boss" and not "be easy" with him. All of our behavior plans, reward charts, clear consequences, warnings, incentives, taking away screen time, not giving allowance, etc, etc did not help him stay calm and do things different the next time. He felt terrible about himself because he kept getting into the same frustrating rages and then disappointing his family. We knew we had to parent him differently, but felt guilty about it. "The Explosive Child" book helped validate what we felt we knew, but lacked the confidence to stick with.

Viewing "Calming the Tempest" was the next step, a significant one. The doctors explain the steps in "Collaborative Problem Solving" very clearly and expressively (not dull or boring). They also provide specific examples with a real family! The stories the parents told, and the words they said, could have been ours!! I was tearful watching the video because finally I did not feel alone in the struggle to cope with a child who is not flexible and is easily frustrated. The teenage son in the video was just like our son - smart, sweet, funny and NOT spoiled or willfully defiant.

I cannot recommend this dvd highly enough. I plan to get a copy to share with my son's school and with his therapist. It is only 35 minutes long and presents the problem solving challenges of explosive kids, and the proven techniques to help, in a manner that can reach any audience. If you see it, please write another review. I am confident that your review will be positive.

Not viewed by me
I sent this to my daughter who is struggling with an explosive child, in hopes that once her husband saw on video what he would never read in a book, he might be persuaded that conventional discipline does not work. Instead , HE exploded and stormed out of the house, hollering that no kid of his was "defective" etc. So it is likely that this family will not be getting any help for this tormented and tormenting child. Very sad for me.