SOS: Help for Parents, Third Edition [Paperback]

Lynn Clark (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2005

SOS Help For Parents improves the behavior and emotional adjustment of children, ages two to twelve. Used internationally by parents, educators, and counselors, this parenting book is translated into 10 languages and was updated in 2008. You learn the best methods for improving your child s behavior and for reducing stress in your life. You learn essential child rearing rules, how to avoid four common child rearing errors, primary methods for increasing good behavior, major methods for stopping bad behavior, active ignoring, Grandmas Rule, how to avoid nine common time-out mistakes, time-out for toys that misbehave, how to handle children who rebel against time-out, using points and contracts, logical consequences, natural consequences, behavior penalty, and helping your child express feelings, Additional behaviors dealt with include noncompliance, not minding, strong-willed behavior, oppositional and defiant behavior, aggression, ADHD, dressing problems, sibling conflict, tantrums, attention seeking, immature behavior, avoidance of chores, homework resistance, communication problems, and managing bad behavior away from home. Also, you will learn how to partner with your child s teacher to improve school adjustment. Your relationship with your child will improve. The Menu of Solutions for 46 Problem Behaviors guides you in selecting the best methods for handling the most challenging behaviors. Video clips of SOS Help For Parents is at sosprograms. Parents world wide are using SOS Help For Parents. It is translated into Spanish, Turkish, Japanese, Chinese (Beijing Normal University Press), Korean, Chinese (Taiwan), Hungarian, Arabic, Icelandic, Portuguese, Dutch (The Netherlands), and Russian. Visit the Amazon Lynn Clark author page.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Lynn Clark drew on his 20 years of working with Parents and children when he wrote SOS Help For Parents. --USA Today

SOS is an extremely comprehensive book...an excellent book. We highly recommend it. --Journal of Clinical Child Psychology

SOS .... empowers parents with the tools for child rearing using a positive, consistent and simple-to-follow program . . . . will enable parents to feel more competent and confident in their parenting skills as well as in their communication skills with their children. --National Association of School Psychologists Communique Newsletter

About the Author

Lynn Clark, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist with more than 30 years of experience working with children and families. He is the author of SOS Help For Parents, How To Use Time-Out Effectively CD program, the DVD SOS Help For Parents Program, and SOS Help For Emotions: Managing Anxiety, Anger, And Depression (adult self-help book). Internationally used, his books have been translated into 10 languages. Visit the Amazon Lynn Clark author page.

Product Details

• Paperback: 254 pages
• Publisher: SOS Programs & Parents Press; 3 edition (October 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0935111212
• ISBN-13: 978-0935111217
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,300 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lynn Clark, PhD. Author, Clinical Psychologist, and father of two sons

Do you want to see interesting video clips of my SOS books on YouTube? Copy and paste the link www.sosprograms.com/video_audio_clips.html Then click on the YouTube video clips.

SOS Help For Emotions: Managing Anxiety, Anger, and Depression (an adult self-help book in 7 languages) and SOS Help For Parents (in 11 languages) are two books that I have written based on my professional experience and on research studies of others.

I live in Bowling Green, Kentucky and am Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky where I taught in the Department of Psychology for over 30 years. Also, I have taught counseling courses in Germany and Italy as an Adjunct Professor of Education for Boston University. For a year I traveled the country giving seminars for mental health professionals and educators.

I have used most all of the techniques described in SOS Help For Parents with my own two sons as they were growing up. When they were older, I taught them the principles of cognitive behavior therapy (including the ABC's of Emotions), now described in SOS Help For Emotions.

My professional experience includes work in community mental health centers, hospitals, counseling centers, and community agencies. I am licensed as a clinical psychologist in Kentucky. Also, I am listed in the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology and am a member of the American Psychological Association, Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, and Association for Behavior Analysis.

My Ph.D. is in Counseling Psychology from The University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, a program approved by the American Psychological Association. I received traineeship and internship training in Veterans Hospitals in Topeka, Kansas, Leavenworth, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri. SOS Programs & Parents Press is a publishing company which I founded.

SOS Programs & Parents Press publishes SOS books and programs for adults, older teens, parents of young children, mental health professionals, and educators to help improve emotions and behavior. SOS programs for both laypersons and mental health professionals include books, DVDs, CDs, and self-help resources. These programs and resources are derived from evidence-based techniques and principles of behavior therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, and additional approaches for improving emotions and behavior.

My professional interests include teaching, offering seminars, helping children and adults, behavior therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, rational emotive behavior therapy, etc. Additional interests include travel, canoeing, snorkeling, hiking, and Corvettes.

The DVD SOS Help For Parents, an educational program that I produced, is used by many educators and mental health professionals and is in four languages. Currently, I am producing "DVD SOS Help For Emotions: Managing Anxiety, Anger, And Depression With Cognitive Behavior Therapy." It is intended for adults, teens, educators, and mental health professionals.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Toddler Taming 101, Parent's Best Friend!, April 2, 2004

By 

Colorado reader & parent (Colorado Springs, CO) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: SOS: Help for Parents (Paperback)

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.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for the Desperate!, February 16, 2005

By 

Jodie M. Flashman "Josh's Mommy" (Orlando Floirda) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SOS: Help for Parents (Paperback)

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

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SOS Help for Parents saved my sanity!, December 1, 1999

By 

Penny Paskoff (Durham, North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SOS: Help for Parents (Paperback)

This excellent book was given to me by another parent when my son was three. I was pulling my hair out and yelling and nothing I tried worked. This book helped me understand my child and gave me a method for dealing with undesirable behaviour without yelling or losing my temper or losing control of the situation. Just having a strategy in advance was helpful. And I used it with my second child. This is the best book for parents to have, in my opinion.