The top question we get at our busy Live Expert Help area of our web site where we answer youth professionals' queries on almost any topic, is "How do I get kids-- especially hard-to-manage ones-- to behave?" Teachers and other educators are especially troubled that their training has not even begun to prepare them to manage the severe misbehavior that they see more and more every year. But, we hear from youth professionals and para-professionals from all disciplines, that their training has not "kept up" with the changes in the kids. Those of you in the trenches consistently tell us your training prepared you to work with Beaver Cleaver, but Beavis and Butthead continue to show up.



Here at Youth Change, we have spent the last 13 years attempting to prepare youth professionals for Beavis and Butthead-- or whoever is assigned to your classroom or case load. Through our general session, on-site and video classes, we attempt to update youth professionals' skills to fit contemporary youth. This internet magazine is part of that effort, and we want to see how we-- and you-- are doing. So, get ready, here is a pop quiz to see if you have been paying attention to this ezine the past couple years. Let's find out if you have the updated skills youth professionals need to best work with contemporary youth.

This is not an open book quiz so you can't go and try to find the information somewhere. When that fist is heading towards your face, you will need these answers ready-to-go, so let's simulate some of the surprise and pressure you face every day, and have you take this quiz right now. To maximize the pressure, allow yourself just 3 minutes. To make this quiz work best, we want you to feel some of the stress and pressure you face each day, and see if the information you need, will be there when you need it.

1. Often, discipline doesn't seem to work. What are the 3 areas that you must teach before discipline can work?

2. Counselors have a special mental health term to describe your most severely misbehaved kid. You must work with this child differently than all others. Name the term and one way you must work differently. Hint: This answer is all over our web site and workshops. Do you know it?

3. What are the only 3 ways kids can respond to an adult direction, and which is the only one that works? Hint: You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink...

4. If you work in a school setting, you may see a lot of sour, negative attitudes. One way to begin to chip away at the attitudes is to show students the importance of school. So, how much more does a high school grad earn than a dropout in their lifetime? Hint: Look at the posters on our web site for the answer. It's a 6 digit number.

5. School shootings are among the scariest possibilities that school staff face. Three types of kids may be at highest risk of such serious behavior and must be offered the highest degree of supervision. Remembering this information is critical. Name the 3 types of kids. Hint: Our "Must Know Violence Prevention" article in our Solution Center at our site delivers the answer.

6. Teachers often want ways to provide conflict resolution but we offer something better. Name it.

7. Name the youngster that you must never give second chances to, and describe why it could be dangerous. Hint: See Question #2.

If you don't know the answers, that may give you one explanation for why your classroom or group poses serious management problems. Your training didn't give you real-world methods for today's youth. The answers are below, but visit our site for details and to update your skills to fit contemporary students. Working with difficult students doesn't have to be so difficult with our updated answers:

1. Skills, motivation and attitude

2. Conduct disorder

3. Be oppositional, capitulate or comply (acceptance)

4. Get the answer (and some great interventions) by looking at these awesome motivation posters: http://www.youthchg.com/postersmotivation.html#motivation

5. Conduct disorder, thought disorder, extreme agitated depressed

6. Conflict prevention

7. Conduct disorder-- read our "Must Know Violence

Prevention" article at our site (link above) to find out why this is so very dangerous-- a short sentence can't do justice to this serious safety issue.