All behavior has a purpose.

One of the coolest things about this work and working with kids with behavior, learning, and socialization challenges is doing the really fun, clinical work, but also in developing this brain-based lens and helping parents develop this brain-based understanding and lens to seeing that all behavior has a purpose.

Yes, all behavior has a purpose, even things like the way your child holds their pencil – are they trying to use gross motor or big muscles as opposed to fine motor? It’s not just something to be corrected. It’s something to be understood or how your child is constantly trying to push back and find a boundary.

This might look like defiant behavior.  They need to reduce the complexity of their world into something that they can control, and they may be having repetitive control like tendencies or play. That’s a window into what’s happening with that child and the way that they’re processing their world.  The way that they might not be processing well.  All of these things allow us having an understanding of what these things tell us.

In fact, they allow us to connect and advocate and help these children in a very different way, as opposed to just stopping or treating the symptom – but understanding it to help them progress and grow.