From Publishers WeeklyRiley (The Defiant Child and The Depressed Child) offers answers as to why some children are especially prone to violent meltdowns, paired with techniques that train a child to avoid such outbreaks. According to Riley, a clinical psychologist, there are several reasons a child may explode: a kid with road map issues may become unglued when confronted with anything unexpected, while a child with unknown allergies can be adversely affected by certain foods. A child may be defiant and in need of discipline, or suffering from ADHD and in need of special handling. Once parents determine why a little one explodes, the book offers appropriate solutions for modifying the behavior. Riley's approach for dealing with explosive children is sympathetic without being overindulgent. A certain amount of hard work is required by the parents, who will generally have to change the way they respond to their offspring's outbursts. That said, Riley is not a particularly charismatic writer; even his case studies of epically explosive children read rather drily. Still, his sensible, well-structured, age-appropriate advice may be able to help many frustrated parents. (Sept.) Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.About the AuthorDr. Douglas A. Riley is a clinical psychologist whose practice focuses on children and adolescents who are explosive, oppositional, depressed, or have difficulties with concentration and learning. He is the author of The Defiant Child: A Parents Guide to Oppositional Defiant Disorder as well as The Depressed Child: A Parents Guide for Rescuing Kids. what genre is the name of this book is secret What Your Explosive Child Is Trying to Tell You: Discovering the Pathway from Symptoms to Solutions
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. FinallyBy D. RonquilloI've been looking for a book that's less about blaming the parents, and more about finding solutions, or alternative ways of dealing with children that are just a bit more emotional than the norm. Every book I've seen has frustrated me with taking too much time in the book to describe what I'm going through, just blame me for why they are acting that way, and then leaving next to NOTHING to help remedy or change the situation. They also usually have very little on the small children, and or focus too much on an age group that doesn't apply.This book was great. Not only did it go into all the various possible explanations of why the children might be acting this way, but then also came up with action plans, reference books, and even tips on when a therapist should probably step into it.I finally have a book that helped me with my difficult 3 1/2 yr old, and 5 year old who challenge me with all the emotional tantrums that often seemed unexplainable.Since picking up the e-book, I've seen a marked improvement with both of them. No, they're still not tantrum free, but at least I can come back to this book and pick it up when I get stuck again and hopefully won't need the chapters about the older groups of children!17 of 18 people found the following review helpful. You Own Everything. All Your Child Owns is His/Her Attitude.By K. NashGreat book for us parents of "strong-willed" children! My four year old is quite spirited so we purchased an arsenol of books that could offer suggestions about WHY she acts the way she does and HOW to get her under control. This book is well written, offers case studies on various ages, and is a fairly easy read!I have an "oppositional chld" and fell victim to MANY of the tactics that the author described in the book. My daughter would wear us out from daily tantrums and moodiness until we had enough. His suggestions are very age-appropriate and we have been using them to curb the outbursts pretty successfully! Much of the information is common sense, but when you have been doing the same thing over and over again, its a good reminder to check your methods as much as the child's behavior.I would have LOVED to see a summary at the end of each chapter so I didn't have to flip back to my highlighted sections, and I felt that alot of the information was geared towards older kids.The chapter on food allergies and behavioural problems is worth checking out - interesting theories!Overall, worth the money you will save on buying asprin from listening to screaming children!93 of 94 people found the following review helpful. Is this the right book for your situation?By ShopperAs the parent of a child with special needs and a therapist who works with children with special needs, I've been around this block a few times. I know a lot of people LOVE this book and I am not trashing it. I just think it would be helpful for potential buyers to know a little more about what this book covers and what it doesn't so that they may decide if this is a book that will be helpful for their situation.PROS: The book does an excellent job of explaining that there is no one single cause of a child's explosive behavior, and that the parents, teachers, and therapists must become detectives and consider all possible causes for the explosive behavior, which may include road map issues (i.e., being unable to cope with unexpected changes to a child's expectations), defiance (power and control issues), sleep issues, allergies, anxiety, depression, ADHD, bipolar disorder, learning disabilities, and sensory processing disorder. The author does a good job of describing various frameworks for understanding each issue and providing a few strategies for each one.The author also explores the differences between an explosive child and a defiant child and explains why these terms should NOT be used interchangeably. This is a very important point, and addresses my frustrations with some of the other books out there that assume that all explosive behavior is due to oppositional personalities, power struggles, and defiance.CONS: The book does not talk about Asperger Syndrome or Autism Spectrum Disorders. I was quite surprised to see that a book published in 2008 would not mention ASDs as at least a possibility for a child's explosive behaviors. Although many of an ASD child's explosions can be explained with "road map" issues or sensory issues, there are a lot of other issues that cause a child with an ASD to explode, and these are not addressed in the book. The book needs at least a checklist of ASD red flags and the advice to seek further assistance if your child has any of these concerns. Intense early intervention is key for these children, and I cringe to think someone dealing with a child on the spectrum who is having explosive behaviors would finish this book without even a hint that ASD was a possibility and that they need to seek further assistance. This took away one star for me.A second concern comes from some of the consequences he suggests. These include an earlier bed time, time out, and making a child do extra chores. What's wrong with these? They set the parent up for yet another power struggle. If the child is defiant and refusing parental orders, you simply cannot force a child to do these things. For children like this, all consequences should be the loss of privileges and experiences and the removal of a parent's "services" (for example, driving the child to a friend's house). In other words, you don't have to have the child's compliance to enforce the consequence, and you don't set up a power struggle that you are either not going to win or rewards the child's need to argue with adults. I was quite surprised that the author did not explain this basic principle when talking about consequences. This took away another star.CONCLUSION: If you have a child that you are sure is not on the autism spectrum, and you are able to design consequences that do not require his/her compliance, then I think this could be a very helpful book. If you are not sure about ASD and don't know the red flags, you might find some helpful advice, but please be sure to read other books that at least tell you what to be on the lookout for. And if your child is known to be on the autism spectrum? Just be aware that the book is not written with ASDs in mind. Another reviewer with a child on the spectrum found this book to be very useful, but I did not find it as useful for my child on the spectrum. Tony Attwood's book on Asperger's was much more helpful for our situation.