Robb Falls

Child behaviour consultant |
Writer of The Misfit Memo |
Transform child behaviour at home and in school |
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[Robb Falls @RobbFalls]

A chart that pays for a vague good day, forever, is just buying compliance.

Banning reward charts because some of them fail is like banning lesson plans because some lessons flop. The tool was never the issue. The teaching around it was.

[Robb Falls @RobbFalls]

A teacher at my last workshop told me she had binned every reward chart in her classroom. They don't work, she said. The kids only behave for the sticker. She was half right.

[Robb Falls @RobbFalls]

The tool worked fine. Nobody built a system around it.
Your staff are asking whether reward charts work. The sharper question is what a given chart is teaching, and what the plan is to fade it out. A chart tied to one specific skill, removed once that skill runs on its own.

[Robb Falls @RobbFalls]

Challenging behaviour is not defiance.
It's also not personal.
It is a social status strategy that is not working (or maybe it is, but you just don't like it)
The student is trying to win something. They just do not have a better way to do it yet.
Decode what they are after first. Then teach the skill. In that order.

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[Robb Falls @RobbFalls]

Getting morning light within 30 minutes of waking is one of the most evidence-based things you can do for your child's focus, mood, and sleep quality that night.

Free. Takes 10 minutes. Works.

Same at night, watch a sunset to reset.

Circadian rhythms have been around a while

[Robb Falls @RobbFalls]

One of the most common reasons a child is referred for ADHD assessment:

They're exhausted.

Not laziness. Not disorder. Exhaustion.

Check the sleep before you check the box.

Get those right and bedtime sorts itself.

[Robb Falls @RobbFalls]

@FixingEducation An effective behaviour policy is number 1. The rest doesn't matter because students are spending most of their day at school and it's well known social groups have the biggest effect on students decisions. Fix the system and the rest follows.

[Robb Falls @RobbFalls]

Symptoms of too much screen time:

— Poor impulse control
— Low frustration tolerance
— Can't tolerate boredom
— Emotional dysregulation

Symptoms of ADHD:

^see above^

Worth ruling one out before diagnosing the other.

[Robb Falls @RobbFalls]

@FixingEducation So what do you do about these kids? Leave them to fall by the wayside?

[Robb Falls @RobbFalls]

@Nithya_Shrii So give up on the 1?

[Robb Falls @RobbFalls]

The gaming industry's entire R&D budget is focused on one thing:

How to keep children's attention as long as possible.

Knowing that should change how you set the rules.

[Robb Falls @RobbFalls]

"Discipline beats motivation every time.
It makes you do things even when you don't want to."

— Jocko Willink

Discipline is a skill. Children are missing this skill. It can be taught.

[Robb Falls @RobbFalls]

@MrDanielBuck Living that in schools at the minute. Any personality quirk, hint of defiance or lack of focus. Diagnose asap. Medicate asap.

[Robb Falls @RobbFalls]

Your child isn't badly behaved.
They're underdisciplined.
And that's not the same thing. 🧵

[Robb Falls @RobbFalls]

@flowidealism We're 9 months in to parenthood. It's harder for sure but definitely not worse. Big difference.

[Robb Falls @RobbFalls]

@AdaAdvocates_ @catcrogers @HippyMomPhD Eventually did she know her maths facts cold? I don't think the route is the issue it's the outcome. Reading and maths fluency is essential but is agree there are many roads to get there

[Robb Falls @RobbFalls]

@HippyMomPhD Agreed. All the students who struggle have poor reading or maths fluency. Usually both.