Collaborative and Proactive From Day One

Recently I had the opportunity to talk to Dr. Ross Greene and share with him what we are building at Unique Minds Unite. Dr. Ross Greene is a psychologist, author, and internationally recognized expert on children with behavioral challenges. He’s most famous for his books The Explosive Child, Lost at School, Lost & Found, and Raising Human Beings, and most importantly for creating the evidence-based Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS) model that helps families, schools, and professionals resolve behavior challenges.

While the model does not have a shiny, glamorous name, I believe it is the most compassionate, collaborative, neuro-affirming behavioral change framework out there. It involves bringing the child into the conversation, understanding why an expectation cannot be met, and working together to solve the problem.

What does the research say? The CPS model is supported by over two decades of research across clinical and school settings. Studies have shown that when adults shift from viewing challenging behavior as willful defiance to understanding it as a signal of unsolved problems, outcomes improve significantly.

Research indicates that CPS reduces oppositional behavior, decreases disciplinary referrals and restraints in schools, lowers family stress, and improves adult–child relationships.

Importantly, it has been recognized by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) as an evidence-based practice. Unlike traditional compliance-based behavior systems, CPS emphasizes skill-building in areas such as flexibility, frustration tolerance, and problem-solving. These are skills that many neurodivergent children genuinely struggle with, not because they won’t meet expectations, but because they can’t yet.

Dr. Greene’s work circumvents punitive interventions that, he argues, often create a cycle of escalating behavior, power struggles, and damaged relationships. Instead of asking, “How do we make this child comply?” CPS asks, “What’s getting in the way, and how do we solve it together?”

His work is widely acclaimed by neurodivergent adults and neuro-affirming organizations because it preserves dignity, prioritizes collaboration, and recognizes that behavior is communication.

Dr. Ross Greene is famously quoted for saying, “Kids do well if they can.” This contrasts the idea that kids do well if they want to. When we meet kids where they're at and support them in addressing unsolved problems we have the opportunity to see our learners excel in ways that are true to them.

Many established schools are adopting Collaborative and Proactive Solutions, often by reworking it into existing systems and layering it onto long-standing practices. This can mean implementing pieces of the framework while navigating the complexity of structural change.

At Unique Minds Unite, since we are building from the ground up, we have the rare opportunity that allows us to lay the CPS framework as our foundation and intentionally as it was designed to be implemented.

To learn more about the CPS framework visit Lives in the Balance Org.