Page 3 - Course 1 Shifting Mindset Series_Neat

Key Messages: Shifting Mindset

1. The traditional behaviourist approach relies on the child having sufficient

desire for the reward and fear of the punishment.

2. It also needs the reward or punishment to remain at the forefront of the

child’s mind.

3. The behaviourist approach assumes the child has the skills to manage in

the moment; it assumes their difficulty is a matter of ‘will not skill’.

4. Using ‘carrots’ and ‘sticks’ can seem effective in the short-term, but it does

not address unmet needs and missing skills and thus secure long-term,

sustainable improvement. Children’s difficulties can keep ‘popping’ up.

5. Expectations of children can still be kept high in a therapeutically and

neurodiversity-informed approach. We can be ‘insistent, persistent,

consistent, with a bucketful of kindness’.