Page 14 - Shifting the Outdated Behaviourist Paradigm. From Punishment & Control to Coaching & Self-responsibility
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SYSTEMATIC & PLANNED FOLLOW-UP:
From increasing ‘trouble’ to increasing support:
Follow up is not about the child getting ‘bigger and heavier consequences’ or in ‘more
serious trouble’. We know this just exacerbates difficulties and can spiral the child into
higher levels of stress, weaker Executive Functioning and increased unhelpful and dangerous
responses.
Instead, our staged follow-up focuses on the child receiving increasingly
intensive and specialised support and regular rehearsal of missing skills so
that weaker skills and unmet needs are addressed even more robustly.
This is not permissive – it is designed to hold children to account, helping
them become strong self-advocates with a high sense of responsibility
for progress.
Follow-up should be insistent, persistent and consistent, with a
bucketful of kindness.
Follow-up should help children DO BETTER, not FEEL WORSE.
