Lost at School Summary

In *Lost at School*, psychologist Ross W. Greene argues that students who repeatedly act out are not seeking attention or testing limits but are instead lacking the cognitive skills needed to handle ordinary demands. Greene, who also wrote *The Explosive Child*, builds the book around his Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS) model, which he developed at Massachusetts General Hospital and later promoted through the nonprofit Lives in the Balance. The book follows a fictional but composite student, Joey, a fifth grader whose explosive behavior has led to repeated suspensions and a placement in a self-contained classroom, and uses his case to illustrate why conventional discipline—detentions, stickers, escalating consequences—fails these children. Greene's central claim is that "kids do well if they can," not "kids do well if they want to," so the real task is identifying the specific situations and demands that outstrip a child's skills. He calls these unsolved problems "lagging skills and unsolved problems," and he asks adults to abandon reward-and-punishment plans in favor of a three-step process: the Empathy Step (gathering the child's concern), the Define Adult Concerns Step (stating the adult's worry), and the Invitation Step (brainstorming a solution both parties can actually do). He contrasts this with Plan A (adult will imposed) and Plan B (collaborative problem solving), noting that Plan C—temporarily setting aside low-priority expectations—can reduce conflict while skills are built. The book also describes the Assessment of Lagging Skills and Unsolved Problems (ALSUP), a checklist tool for pinpointing where a student gets stuck. Throughout, Greene criticizes zero-tolerance policies and the school-to-prison pipeline, urging teachers and administrators to shift from "what consequence will teach him a lesson" to "what's getting in his way." The 2014 revised edition adds material on trauma-informed practice and restraint reduction, reflecting Greene's later work advising schools on discipline reform.