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The ROAD to ICPS -- AGES 4 TO 12
I Can Problem Solve:
An Interpersonal Cognitive
Problem Solving Program
Expanded Version
| Early 1960s: |
George Spivack
and Murray Levine found that regardless of IQ, means-ends thinking, or
ability to plan sequenced steps toward an interpersonal goal (e.g., making friends),
and spontaneous tendency to weigh pros and cons to be superior in normal
adolescents compared to the diagnostically disturbed. Cognitive skills dubbed
Interpersonal Cognitive Problem Solving, or "ICPS." |
| Late 1960s: |
Among normal youngsters with varying
degrees of behavioral difficulties, Myrna Shure and George Spivack found deficiencies
in ICPS skills of alternative solution and consequential thinking to
be associated with impulsivity (impatience, overemotionality,
aggression), and social withdrawal (timidity, inability
to express emotions) as early as age four, and means-ends thinking as studied
through grade 6. ICPS competence predicted concern for others' feelings
and other prosocial behaviors. |
| Early 1970s: |
Myrna Shure began developing
interventions to test Spivack's theory that ICPS thinking skills can guide behavior,
rather than direct modification of behavior itself. First intervention - preschool. Recognized need for specifically selected vocabulary
words to help young children think the problem solving way, e.g., "is/is
not," "and/or," "same-different," "before/after,"
"might/maybe" etc.,), and developed lesson-games to associate
those games to questions designed for hypothetical children, e.g., "Can
you think of a different way that
(child) can get his brother to stop bugging
him?" "What happened before Rudy called his friend a name?"
"What happened after? "What
might happen next if .. ?"
etc.).
Recognized need to train teachers and parents
to carry over this line of questioning when real problems came up (e.g. "Can
you think of a different way to solve this problem?" "What happened
before you hit him?" "What happened after?" etc). -- a style
of talk Shure called "ICPS dialoguing" -- to associate thinking with
behavior.
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Mid-1970s -
present |
Continued
developing and refining ICPS interventions (now called I Can Problem Solve (also ICPS) for
preschool, for kindergarten and the primary grades, and for the
intermediate elementary grades for two purposes:
1) to conduct longitudinal research to evaluate the impact of varying degrees
of interventions an of different training agents (teachers and parents), and
2) to produce a set of easily absorbable manuals for the user - first published
in 1974, for schools, 1992. Over twenty five years of research, including several two- and three-year longitudinal
studies, and one five-year longitudinal study (reprints available from M. Shure)
has shown impact of ICPS interventions as primary prevention
of early high-risk behaviors (as those mentioned above), behaviors research
now shows predict later, more serious problems as violence, substance abuse,
teen pregnancy, and school drop-out).
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