bx

When you teach a group where half the participants work with younger kids (under 11 ish) and the other half work with older kids (teens) there is a clear dichotomy in responses around problem behaviour. It all comes back to the issue around the distractor versus the reinforcer. When asked the question - who would give the child a chocolate biscuit when the child is kicking a door the adults who work with younger children say no as they do not see this as a positive move as it returns to the is...

I have posted about home education and wanted to highlight a point from the quote at the top of this post on adult children looking back and thanking you. At one point my youngest was probably 16ish years old and the Explorer Scouts he was a part of were all going to this awards evening with the scouts from all over the county. This was a big deal and a big event. Prior to me getting ready to take him, a evening I did not personally yearn for, I was informed by my wife that he did not want to g...

In her book - Get out of my life, Suzanne Franks mentions what a parent may get out of all this in the end. I started to wonder if I had attained this level of accomplishment? And so I decided to write this small post and ask for comment from my boys, who are now aged 19 and 24 for those who do not know. There is a pleasant irony to all this. If parents can hang on through the teenage years, they may get all that they ever wanted at the end of the process: an adult child who genuinely likes an...

One of the things that are commonly said is that those famous people who achieve great things are usually early risers. I have always found that when I can get up at a reasonable time in the am the day has more in terms of achievement. I also feel better. When working away I have got into the habit of arriving at the venue 90 mins or more early, even on days when I do not need the set up time. This lets me get some work done and frankly I feel much better and sleep much better. There are many r...

The 100 day challenge? What on earth are you talking about? That seems like a stupid thing to consider. Well - I posted yesterday, and I was reading about it on listed.to... So I am not going to take the 100 day challenge however i am going to consider the idea of posting something 100 times before I reach my next birthday and this should be considered day 2. The mere fact I am considering this couples in with the post I did yesterday on the subject of procrastination - a subject I know needs...

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of" - Benjamin Franklin I have spent my life trying to get too much done - too many lists and lists of lists everywhere. So much so that ACT has helped me realise that I actually use, the need to provide more efficient ways of being productive for me and my small team, as a way of procrastinating from the actual work. As an example I run a company providing training and consultancy. As the foundation traini...

originally published on D8: https://de-escalate.com/post/behind-the-mask I have wanted to do a post about Hanlon's Razor for a while and the mask issue has led to me combining that here. Our non verbal communication being misinterpreted or misunderstood should not be considered intentional. I have now taught almost every day for 3 months. This is unusual on 2 fronts. Firstly I had never meant to do so many training days in any given month and secondly that we had just finished a full lockdown...

My son challenged me to do 21 days - Ha! It is amazing how daunting these things seem at the start and how easy they seem when looking backwards. My wife just made toast and as I had had a drink (tipple) and it was late I suddenly thought I could do with some toast. Then it made me think of the fact I really do not need toast and actually am not really craving it. I am even writing about it now, just after it happened and still thinking about it. The project started on August 9th - this was...

There is an old adage that it takes 21 days to form a habit. Well, my son has put me to the following task and I thought it would be interesting to blog a few times as I go. I am technically obese and have been since I was a small child. Not so small :-) My BMI throughout lockdown has run just under 34 which puts me in the obese category. To get down to the overweight category I would have to have a BMI of below 30. There has only been one time in my life I have achieved this and it was sho...

how come? So I have blogged about weight and elsewhere I have blogged about a year of data collection which I did around weight. However in recent past a Netflix film, called Game Changers, took us on a journey about the virtues of a plant based diet. Just to stress we do not mean vegan - we mean plant based. I rejoiced in a new way of thinking and was very happy with my health - but - the big change is I have put a load of weight on. So is this healthier or not? During this pandemic I am no...

real world experience I have discussed elsewhere the support needed for an individual to maintain and develop a supportive relationship for those they support. I have experience of this from both sides of the coin however the last few weeks has placed a spotlight on the training we deliver around this. I am incredibly glad my wife has had the training. [side note - due to lock down she is socially distanced from us and does not live in the house - discussed elsewhere] As a trained person ap...

I have been ranting on for years about "circle of influence" to anyone who would engage me in a conversation, well almost. However it always astonishes me how people are so affected by situations that are well beyond their control. I ended up in a long conversation 20+ years ago with a man who was adamant that the team he supported, I believe this was football, had to win at the weekend. Apparently football is the one with the spherical ball :-) I questioned this in various ways. He elaborated...

I am fully aware a lot of people are going through a serious and concerning time. Obviously there are many tragedies unfolding in the lives of you the reader or someone you know. The amount of trauma that is happening in all areas of the world - writing this feels that I am being petty. I am in a position that may not be unique but has elements that may not be current for anyone else in the country, probably. While in real terms our lock-down experience is not a tale of wow - we are in good ...

More musing in weight gain / loss I have blogged on this before and it is almost a year later. https://listed.to/@bx/2766/loosing-weight So the results are not good so far. I decided there was no point going to the Doc for a weigh in on my birthday as I had not managed to shift the weight. I rationalised this as having had a very stressful few months leading to my birthday however while this was true it is not about that alone. Thinking about the resources I have for coping with my stress ...

A house transformed A number of years ago we looked into getting insulation - who hasn't. However due to the nature of our old building we were unable to have internal wall insulation so we looked into, you guessed it, external wall insulation. My wife explained to me that this would mean the house would end up being wrapped in a woolly blanket like a duvet. I am not sure my wife accepts that I can have a conversation at a higher level than a 4 year old however that is a thought for another d...

Loosing Weight update https://listed.to/@bx/7288/more-weight I wanted a bx goal of loosing weight and as part of the initial training in behavior I learnt about taking data. "What gets measured gets improved" - Peter Drucker Therefore I religiously (almost) took data once a day (when at home) on my weight on the same scales I have used for many years - certainly over a dozen and more like 20. Over the first 6 months I lost enough to have broken the first goal. However I ploughed on and m...

Originally from: http://dc13.com/2016/02/raising-safeguarding-concerns-a-risky-business/ Raising safeguarding concerns a risky business? by desc | Feb 25, 2016 A guest post about the issues around whistle-blowing in a modern care world …… I am surprised to find myself writing a blog post, but maybe this is actually perfect for me; the modern day alternative for the middle aged woman who for some unknown reason suddenly feels compelled to write letters of concern once they hit 40. On a more ...

published on D8: https://de-escalate.com/post/challenging-behaviour-outdated Challenging Behaviour is a term the healthcare sector has misused for years. When the term was originally introduced, it was an attempt to move away from the then widely used term "behaviourally disturbed". The healthcare sector recognised that the term had become associated with some very negative connotations and therefore should not, in good conscience, be given to an individual. Labelling in this manner, we under...