Excerpt from Backtalk by Audrey Ricker, Carolyn Crowder, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

SUGGESTIONS FOR USING THIS BOOK

Try to read the whole book through in one sitting. Just skim it, if that's all you have time to do.

Then write down the four steps so you'll be more likely to remember them:

• Recognize
• Choose
• Enact
• Disengage

These words may not be meaningful to you now, but once you master the Four-Step Program, you'll want to keep these cues handy.

During the next backtalk incident, apply the four steps immediately. Perhaps you'll stop the backtalk on the first application; perhaps you'll lose your nerve and give in. In any case, the hardest thing about using this book -- taking immediate action -- will have been initiated. You'll be on your way to establishing a norm of communication in your home.



WHAT THIS BOOK WILL NOT DO

Backtalk assumes your children are like Mary and John Jones's children: of normal intelligence, brought up to consider the feelings of others, and blessed with family members who, for the most part, behave well toward one another. This book will not tell you how to deal with neurologically impaired children, delinquent behavior, substance abuse, or physical attacks. This book will not diagnose or suggest cures for children who have psychiatric problems.

Copyright © 1998 by Audrey Ricker, Ph.D. and Carolyn Crowder, Ph.D.