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Summary: SOS Author's Comments
Review: As a clinical psychologist I wrote SOS Help For Parents to help parents to help children (2 to 12) to grow out of behavior problems. Over 20 practical methods for helping children are described. SOS is internationally used and recommended by both parents and counselors. Over 200,000 copies have been sold and SOS is available in Turkish, Taiwan Chinese, Mainland Chinese (translated at Univ. of Beijing), Korean, Hungarian, and English. Positive reviews are found in USA Today, various professional journals, and parents publications. Hundreds of hospitals and clinics for children use SOS including Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins University, etc. In writing SOS I focused on how to achieve behavior change. Two amazon.com reviewers stated that they don't like behavioral psychology and token rewards to change behavior. SOS devotes only two pages to token rewards. Used correctly and as only one part of a behavior change program, tokens can be effective in initiating positive changes in four and five year olds. SOS is the most complete description of time-out available. From working with parents, I describe nine common time-out mistakes parents make and how parents can avoid them. Parents Press, the Publisher of SOS Help For Parents, offers money back to any parent who doesn't find SOS useful in improving his or her child's behavior. Written by Lynn Clark, Ph.D., author and clinical psychologist
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Summary: Why I wrote SOS Help For Parents
Review: As a clinical psychologist I wrote SOS Help For Parents to help parents to help children ages two to twelve to grow out of behavior problems. The 20 practical methods for helping children described in SOS are used daily by child psychologists who help parents to help children. SOS is internationally used and recommended by both parents and counselors. Over 300,000 copies have been sold in English and SOS is also available in Turkish, Chinese (both Taiwan & Beijing Normal University), Korean, Hungarian, Arabic, Icelandic, and Spanish. Positive reviews are found in USA Today, various professional journals, and parent publications.
Hundreds of hospitals and clinics for children use the SOS Program including Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins University, etc. In writing SOS I focused on how to help parents help their children make positive changes in behavior and emotion. It is based on well-established clinical practice, on research, and on my 30 years of professional experience
Written by Lynn Fred Clark, Ph.D., author and clinical psychologist
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Summary: Superb and to the point
Review: As a psychologist who has taught my share of parenting classes, I can say that Clark's instructions are among the clearest and most useful I've found for parents. In addition to cogent what-to-do instructions, the frequent use of realistic dialog, too, helps the reader know what to say. Nice work, Dr. Clark!
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Summary: simplistic and dangerous
Review: BF Skinner would love this one. It imagines that children are little rats in mazes who will respond to tokens and need no love or encouragment. Very useful for the parent who wishes to abdicate responsibility for their child.
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Summary: Informative
Review: I found this book to be quite informative. Of particular interest to me were: Grandma's rule and the use of tokens.
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Summary: Great for the Desperate!
Review: I have a 4 (going on 5) year old who is what you might call "strong willed" he has been a constant challenge and I have even entrolled him into counceling. I saw the TV show super nanny and looked at her book and this one was on the shelf next to it. It looked easy to read, and was fun...i had read 2 chapters before I left the store.
Some of these reveiws bash the token system, but I have to tell prior to this book, I used to threated my son and say negative things all the time, and half the time he turned a deaf ear on me. When I read about the tokens, I wasn't sure, but I was desperate. My son and I went to the store and bought the good kind of clay chips they use for gambling and then decorated them with stickers. He gets a token when he goes to bed without an argument and if he does something especially good during the day.
My son had 1 time out in the past 2 weeks. We use his timer to keep him on schedule so he never feels like he is being pulled away from something without notice. Finally, when we do have any signs of agression, we simply mention that tokens are earned for good behaviour and he stops almost immediatly. I never thereaten him with time out, or taking away toys or anything like that...I want to buy a ton of these books and hand the out to everyone i know...THIS IS A GREAT book...it will help you if you follow the concepts and learn that you kid isn't bad, its his behaviour, and that can be changed!!! Good Luck
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Summary: This is a great and useful book esp. on giving "time-outs."
Review: I have found SOS: Help for Parents to be an incredibly useful guide on how to help teach our child good behavior. It is the best book we have seen on how to effectively and sensitively use time-outs with children. This book is very instructive for any parents with a child who they consider spirited and full of energy and personality, especially if using time-outs as a method of discipline is one which you believe in and wish to use. The format and style of the book is pretty bland but is useful nonetheless. My wife and I have learned a lot and now have more successful time-outs (and behavior) as a result!
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Summary: The most through time out instructions for parents
Review: I have used this book as part of my practice since I first found the book 4 years ago. It is simply written, amuzingly illustrated, and covers ALL aspects of using time out with children. It does not deal with adolescents, or the other methods of child management as throughly, though reward systems, contracts, and a few other tips are covered. I have found it most usefully for parents of limited reading ability (or who simply don't like to read) in teaching them how to correctly use time out. For this it has been invaulable. I try to always keep several on my self to loan out!
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Summary: The most through time out instructions for parents
Review: I have used this book as part of my practice since I first found the book 4 years ago. It is simply written, amuzingly illustrated, and covers ALL aspects of using time out with children. It does not deal with adolescents, or the other methods of child management as throughly, though reward systems, contracts, and a few other tips are covered. I have found it most usefully for parents of limited reading ability (or who simply don't like to read) in teaching them how to correctly use time out. For this it has been invaulable. I try to always keep several on my self to loan out!
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Summary: Toddler Taming 101, Parent's Best Friend!
Review: I purchased this book because of a friend-of-a-friend's recommendation. I have been pleased from the start. First I'll describe our household, then the book, then our use of Dr. Clark's SOS tools. You can decide if it would work for you. Our situation: Our 2 year old is a very head-strong and loudly opinionated gal. She's clever and knows what she wants, and gets frustrated when she can't make us understand or obey. So, she screamed and hit when things didn't go her way - of course! (grrr) I was mortified, humbled, and determined to keep my cool and not give in to her demands, no matter where I was. But, resolve wasn't enough, and although I think she would have eventually gotten the message that tantrums don't work, I don't know if I could have kept my hair, friends, and sanity until then! I don't think our tot is unusually easy, hard, or headstrong. She is unusually loud ! The book:
Is simply written and illustrated. You won't find glossy pictures or professionaly produced graphics. Don't worry about it, you don't need them.
There are 3 basic sections of the book, plus additional resources. Section 1: Fundamentals of Behavior and Improving Behavior
Discusses misbehavior, communication, improving good behavior, introduction of time-out, and different methods of stopping bad behavior. Provides good guidelines for what methods are best for different ages and behaviors. Discusses spanking and why not to use it - if you are looking for a book on how to use corporal punishment, this is not it. I was glad to see that. Section 2: Basic Skills of the Time Out Method
Complete discussion of how to implement time out, how to deal with common problems that occur in time out (such as the child not staying in time-out place), and what to do after time out. This is a very clearly written and effective set of chapters. Section 3: Further Application of Your Parenting Skills
Discusses different ways to extend time out, use it away from home, rewarding good behavior without bribing, and communication. This set of chapters is very useful - you don't have to read it before you start implementing time-out, but once you feel confident with implementing time out and using the principles from section 1, you should read it. Section 4: More Resources For Helping Your Child
Additional information - good resources if you need them. The index is careflly arranged by behavior with SOS methods listed underneath. A very thoughtful addition to the book.
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I read the book, discussed it with my husband, and we began using SOS tools. I was skeptical that time-out could be used effectively on a 2 year old. I was wrong - it began working immediately. I don't mean that she turned into an angel overnight - but time out clearly has a positive effect on her behavior. Dr. Clark even predicted her responses to time-out, and had described situations and methods for dealing with them. I've used time-out twice away from home, and it worked. We no longer feel helpless when confronted with a screaming kicking tot. When we follow consistent steps that she can predict, it helps her regain control quickly as well. Even better, she understands what time out is, and can often tell us why she was in time out when we ask her. I happy that we read this book NOW! I think any parent can use this book effectively and quickly. Dr. Clark recommends not starting time out if your child is older than 11 - so you might want to consider other books if your child is older. Bottom line: Easy to read and implement. Very effective tools. Applicable to many behaviors and ages. We are very pleased.
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