Supporting Positive Behavior in Children and Teens with Down Syndrome: The Respond but Don't React Method

This is a great book for several reasons. It gives a spot on description of physical and intellectual traits of a person with Down syndrome. It hits the nail on the head in its stategies of proactive interventions to avoid negative behaviors. Elopement, stop and drop and transitions are some of the items addressed.Book is not too long and hits on all of the important tools for positive behavior formation.

This book filled a great need for our family. It has given us strategies for the difficult moments that happen (some daily) with our preschooler with DS. Transitioning from activity to activity, enlisting her cooperation with tasks she doesn't want to do, dealing with doctor appointments that cause extreme anxiety, encouraging behavior we want repeated, and discouraging unsafe/embarrassing behavior are just the highlights that come to mind. The author explains how the brain of a child with DS is different, so now we can understand and have empathy for our child in her difficult moments, instead of assuming she is just being stubborn and defiant. Right away we have worked as a team to put the suggestions into action and the results have been immediate and positive. The strategies are simple and easy for our other children to implement, who are excited to share what they have learned with other family/friends/babysitters. I have a stack of books on DS, but this one is truly unique in that it gives practical advice for smoothing out the difficulties of today and helping prepare us for new difficulties that may come as our daughter ages. This book has solved the mystery of some of her behaviors that mirror autism that we have not been able to get an explanation for from books or professionals. The only topic not covered that I was hoping to see was potty training; however, I hope to try the general strategies and see if they work. Bottom line, the book is helping us to bring out the best in our daughter, to foster a close and joyful relationship with her, and to advocate for her and her needs with others who care for her.

Hope smokes, best Down Syndrome book ever. My child runs off and has behavior that has got to stop. Everything I've tried has not worked. Wow, this book was helpful. It is not intuitive at all how to train these kids and I'm 3/4 of the way through and already learning lots. I'm ordering a copy for her teacher and grandparents! Easy ready too.

Perfect advice! Over the last 2 years our son has started to learn to communicate a bit better, but his behaviors have gotten worse! It's so puzzling and sometimes it seems there is no rhyme or reason. In only 130 pages, this book has put 99% of it into a workable framework for me!Some of the statements are things I already knew instinctively -- he hits classmates because he is trying to interact with them socially and doesn't know how. Other techniques are new, or explained in a much more practical way - a token economy doesn't have to involve complicated "if/then" schemes.Now if I can just get the school staff to read this - a professional, specialized therapist who provides good, simple, practical advice and totally backs up much of what I have been saying for months. I'm buying a second copy now to provide as a first day of school gift!Probably too much if a highlight it and mark with sticky notes. Right?

Very explanatory book for anyone who has or works with a child/children with DS. I especially appreciated the author’s explanations about how a child who has DS has a brain that processes information differently, and the more we talk “at” them (even with the best of intentions), the less we are actually helping them. The author provided strategies to begin using immediately for common struggles (the “stop and flop,” elopement, etc.), and those alone make any cost of the book more than worth it. I love that the author tied the strategies together with why they work. I cannot recommend this book highly enough! I think it will be a game changer for those of us working with children with DS in order to help them in the best possible way!

Love love love this book!! I wish I would have had it when my daughter was born!! She’s now 13.. but it’s still the most and best help and understanding that I’ve learned since she was born!! It’s a must read for anyone that knows anyone with downs !!

This book is the BEST! I really think all parents should have it because the techniques work for my daughter without DS as well! My son (with Down Syndrome) was having major behavioral difficulties (throwing, hitting, pushing, banging his head, etc) and the techniques in here used consistently dramatically changed his behaviors in 3 days! I was shocked! The first couple of days I received major push back, but that's normal for all kids as they test everything new. As soon as he found it was consistently used, which for him was 3 days, he had a major transformation! I still can't believe how easy things are now! My guy is stubborn too like me, that says A LOT!

This book was what I've been looking for. The information in it was clear on behaviors that could arise and possible behavioral helps. It went into depth on examples for each behavior, what is possibly making it occur, and found a positive reinforcer. I wish there had been a few more possible reinforces given if the ones given don't work. Overall, I recommend this book to other parents.

When the book first arrived I was a little surprised at how small it was, especially considering the price, but don't be fooled by the size. This is a brilliant book, that I would highly recommend to any parent, teacher or carer of a child with DS. As a parent of a child with DS, I found that a lot of the type of behavioural problems Dr Stein writes about really resonated with me, and that he is clearly someone who knows about his subject matter from a practical, as well as academic point of view. Dr Stein has a very easy writing style, and explains clearly the reasons why a child might be displaying a certain type of behaviour trait, and why the techniques that you may have successfully used with a 'neurotypical' child won't normally work for a child with DS. The book also contains helpful strategies on how best to manage each type of behaviour trait (e.g. Avoidance, flop and drop, running away etc). I was so impressed with this book that I have ordered extra copies for my child's teacher and TA.

Easy to read, in depth, clear explanations and practical advice on how to approach different senario's. Having encountered various situations described in this book I know beyound doubt that this book was written by an expert with a passion for supporting children and young people with Down Syndrome.

This book is a real game changer in parenting a child who has DS. The book is straightforward, simple and packed with sensible advice and common sense approaches based on the learning profiles of people who have DS. Its not rocket science, but gives a back to basics approach focussed on supporting every child or young person to reach their potential and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Great book. Talks about specificities of our children with down syndrome and good tactics to address behavior. I am yet to finish the book but so far the message I got is pictures, pictures, pictures. If you want something to be done make sure to use a pictogram. Recommend for parents and professionals working along/ with individuals with Down syndrome.

Very informative easy to read bit repetitive but good