Corrective thinking La Crosse Tribune April 27, 1998 Reprinted with permission

By Gayda Hollnagel

La Crosse Tribune

Trouble used to follow Mike Holter. The La Crosse teen-ager got into fights, got arrested, skipped school and got poor grades in school.

Then Holter had his thinking adjusted by a process known as Corrective Thinking. Now, he knows what it takes to stay out of trouble.

"Now I think things through before I act, rather than just on impulse,'' Holter said.

Thinking before you act is a basic tenet of Corrective Thinking, a program started in La Crosse County two years ago to help troubled and troublesome kids to get on the right path.

"What we teach is there's positive and negative consequences for everything you do,'' said Larry Winter, a La Crosse County Human Services social worker who heads up the county's program.

The program also teaches that individuals can choose which direction to take, but that whatever they choose, they will have to live with the consequences.

The concepts of choice and consequences are foreign to many youngsters and adults who engage in criminal or irresponsible behavior, Winter said.

Such individuals frequently don't think the way responsible members of society think, he said.

For that reason, a big part of Corrective Thinking involves teaching what Winters calls "key values in our moral universe.''

Justice and fairness, caring, respect, responsibility, honesty, loyalty and liberty are concepts that have one meaning for responsible members of society, but may have other meanings to irresponsible thinkers, he said.

"When you look at fairness, fairness means doing what I want, not checking in to what society wants. When you look at freedom or liberty, it means doing what I want, not what society wants,'' Winter said.

Once individuals know society's thinking, they can choose whether to follow societal wishes or not. But if the choice is not, it is the individual who must live with the consequences.

For the 16-year-old Holter, who said he used to not care if he got in trouble, choosing society's path has made a big difference.

"It's a lot easier,'' he said.

Holter said he has gained better control of his emotions and his temper as a result of going through Corrective Thinking. He said he hasn't been arrested or in a fight for more than two years.

``I just had a lot shorter temper than I do now,'' Holter said.

He said he attends school regularly and has boosted his grades from mostly "F's'' to a grade point average of 2.85. He also was on the Logan High School junior varsity wrestling team this year and was voted most valuable player by his teammates.

He's talking about entering the Marine Corps after high school, and has his eye on law school at some future date.

"It's really made a big difference,'' said Holter's mother, Pam. "It's like living with somebody else. He's thinking about his actions, he's taking responsibility for himself.''

Although her son did well in Corrective Thinking, he didn't enjoy the process, Pam Holter said.

"Michael hated Corrective Thinking. He said it's something he doesn't want to do over,'' she said.

Winter, who has been working with troubled kids for seven years, said the Corrective Thinking program seems to work where other therapies or remedies have failed.

Kids, who are referred to the program by juvenile court, are required to stay in Corrective Thinking for a minimum of six months or until they earn the required 500 points for positive behaviors that it takes to get out.

Some youngsters earn their 500 points quickly. Others have been in the program since it started in October 1996 and still haven't earned them, Winter said.

The Corrective Thinking group meets for an hour at a time three days a week. The kids earn points for being there, for showing up on time and for completing all assignments. They are required to write reports on what they learn, keep logs of their thinking, attend school regularly and keep up with homework. Points also are earned for demonstrations of responsible thinking within the group, at school, at home and in the community.

Kids who have earned their 500 points move on to a continuing care program which meets twice a week and lasts a minimum of 90 days.

Those who continue to make progress eventually get off supervision and are released from the program, Winter said.

The program, which has a waiting list of 26 kids, has 12 students in the main group and eight in continuing care. Since the program was started, 12 students, including Holter, have graduated or "commenced,'' Winter said.

"The reason we say commenced is because graduation is an end,'' he said. "This is lifelong learning. It's just commencing.''

Some goals of the program are to get another group started. Winter said he also would like to see the program expanded to area schools to help kids before they get into trouble.

The Corrective Thinking program already works closely with schools that have students in the program, and there is some interest among school staff for getting groups set up in their schools.

Jim Rowe, director of guidance at Logan High School, said he's seen considerable improvement in students who have gone through Corrective Thinking.

"It actually teaches them a better way of thinking,'' Rowe said. "Instead of focusing on what's causing their behavior, it's focusing on a solution for the problems.''

Rowe said many outside factors, including family situations and upbringing, influence how a child thinks or acts. Most of those factors can't be changed, but the way a youngster thinks about the situation can be changed.

Kevin Lee, supervisor of exceptional needs students at Onalaska High School, said he's also seen improvement in students who are attend Corrective Thinking.

"There's a lot less avoidance and manipulation, and they're more able to discuss and self-analyze,'' Lee said.

Lee, who plans to attend a May 13-14 seminar on Corrective Thinking, said he believes it is important that parents, educators and social workers all speak the same language so students hear the same message consistently.

Much of the theory behind Corrective Thinking goes back to the common sense idea that people, no matter who or what their circumstances in life, are responsible for their actions, Lee said.

"The shades of this are the values that I was thought, my mother holding me responsible and accountable,'' he said.

Posted May 1, 1998