Pendulum Center

Florida teachers flee county with 'egregious' student behavior, like spitting, biting, drug use, theft

The Pendulum has swung too far to one side (again)! Our society went from mentally and physically abusing children to teach them right from wrong, to letting them get away with just about anything (to teach them what?). When working in schools, daycare centers, and behavioral health centers as an ABA therapist, I was struck (and concerned) by the lack of leadership and authority exhibited by many of the educators and therapists. Unfortunately, many of these educators and therapists were taught in college that being assertive and placing firm expectations on children damages their self-esteem and is detrimental to their development.

The result of children being deprived of strong leadership and appropriate consequences for extreme maladaptive behaviors are an alarming number of children are aggressing, destroying property, refusing to comply with instructions, and lacking basic respect for others. College educated professionals operate under the notion that aggression & property destruction, for one example, are attention seeking behaviors and should be ignored. Neither behavior should ever be ignored or minimized, regardless of whether a child is neuro typical or not. * Only in very extreme and rare cases is a child truly incapable of not aggressing. *

Many educators and therapists let young children hit, kick, and spit on them with little to no consequence, sometimes for years. They will let children destroy their property and cave to extreme behaviors and tantrums. However, when these kids grow into teenagers, these same therapists become fearful of them AND REFUSE SERVICE. I’ve been asked to take over for therapists refusing to continue therapy with clients they’d been letting aggress on them for years. The same thing happens in schools. I took on a teenage client expelled from his school district after he’d spent years doing what they eventually expelled him for.

Right now, a lot of educators and therapists aren’t willing to concede that this new age approach isn’t extinguishing extreme behaviors. If your child is exhibiting any of the behaviors mentioned, you can’t count on traditional therapies and schooling get it under control, especially in a timely fashion.

Pendulum Center is here to help and can help you implement effective strategies to reduce maladaptive behaviors. Send us a message to set up a free session.

Brand Lynn,
Parent/Child Coach, Registered Behavior Technician, and founder of Pendulum Center

https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-teachers-flee-county-egregious-student-behavior-like-spitting-biting-drug-use-theft?fbclid=IwAR1AnQZsbHB6BNQC8Wsae7mq0Xz64Vj7DnuA_axSE-1QKBS-dxOqWrQVgio

Florida teachers flee county with 'egregious' student behavior, like spitting, biting, drug use, theft A group of educators, parents and staff convened at a Brevard County, Florida, school board meeting on Thursday to discuss what many are saying is a spike in student misbehavior.

This boy who has autism is so creative 👏

Love it!

This boy who has autism is so creative 👏

We couldn’t agree more!!!

Among the first things I noticed about non-verbal and neuro-divergent children exhibiting behavioral issues? BESIDES BEING VERY UNDERESTIMATED, they have the STRONGEST WILLS! I'm talking next level will power and tenacity. They also have SUPERIOR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, which is frequently overlooked, and therefore not considered by teachers and behavioral health professionals, when dealing with their maladaptive behaviors.

So like the EXTREMELY emotionally intelligent children they are, they use what is overlooked to their advantage. Many of them manage to gain total control over their households, and fool teachers and therapists into thinking their bad behaviors are just a part of the diagnosis. NOT TRUE!!!

With great power comes great responsibility...

When it's your iron-willed child using his superior (and rare) emotional intelligence to successfully gain control, the traits don't come across as admirable. That's only because they're misusing their GIFTS because few are recognizing them. Pendulum Center recognizes these gifts and can help!

Contact us for more information or to schedule a FREE CONSULTATION.

Let’s work together!

As a Registered Behavior Technician, I understand that ABA therapy and counseling has its place for children diagnosed with Autism and other clinically significant issues. However, my experience has shown that it doesn’t effectively deal with or resolve the more extreme behaviors, such as hitting, spitting, tantrums, property destruction, resistance to direction, and some children’s deep-seated desire to control. Many parents, in concert with their children, would greatly benefit from parent coaching. It is directive and brief with mutually agreed upon goals.

While ABA Therapy offers parent training, it’s often not required, or pushed (as it should be). Parents are the KEY to unlocking the door to improved behaviors from their child across ALL SETTINGS.

Pendulum Center parent coaching can help with:

▪️ Transition issues (marriage, death, adoption, familial changes)
▪️ General behavioral issues
▪️ Lack of following rules / Resistance to direction
▪️ Aggression
▪️ Property Destruction
▪️ Disrespectful communication (“talking back”)
▪️ Addiction (screens, video games, va**ng)
▪️ Autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
▪️ Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct problems
▪️ Reactive attachment disorder (RAD)
▪️ Adolescent substance abuse
▪️ Parent in recovery
▪️ New parents
▪️ Adaptive communication

If you’re dealing with parental issues, we’re here to help! Let's get started!

We're about to launch our website! Exciting!

I wish we saw this sooner! What a great meme full of tips to keep in mind when handing out candy.

The Destructive Power of Pity

Parents of children diagnosed with Autism and other communication/behavioral disorders are often reluctant to discipline, restrained by a strong (but understandable) feeling of pity and protectiveness toward their neuro-divergent child. Complicating that is a growing number of teachers and behavioral health professionals setting, what I’ve witnessed to be extremely low expectations for these children. This affirms parent's reluctance to implement discipline that they’re on the right path overlooking and or minimizing certain maladaptive behaviors that should never be overlooked or minimized (except in rare cases).

I’ll never forget the therapy session that opened my eyes to how significantly underestimated these children were by the professionals in their lives. When I first became a therapist, I was assigned a client, an 11-year-old boy, non-verbal, and severely impacted by Autism. He attended public school, and lived with his parents and sibling(s). As is protocol, I “shadowed” his current therapist to learn the therapies and introduce myself before taking over.

I was SHOCKED (and concerned) by what I witnessed; I’ll start there. This was home therapy, held in an office the family had. While there was a desk, the therapist and 11-year-old client were sprawled out on the floor. She presented him flashcards, while he kept a blanket over his head.

My expression must have revealed my skeptical musings, because the therapist looked at me and said, “You have to choose your battles, he refuses to sit at the desk. The blanket is for ‘sensory’ input.” He attends public school--surely--he must sit in a chair without a blanket over his head, right?

Before I could fully process that, the therapist presented him with a drink. He gulped it down, and swiftly spiked the bottomed cup onto the floor. The therapist didn’t flinch, rather laughed, and proceeded on with "therapy" as though nothing had occurred.

Again, I was shocked and my utter lack of a poker-face elicited another “You have to choose your battles,” from the therapist. In that moment I committed myself to those “battles,” because those "battles" are worth fighting. For his dignity and his future as an adult--we mustn't underplay the significance of these basic skills.

This client was my first non-verbal, highly impacted autistic client, so I truthfully had no idea what to really expect. During our first session without the other therapist I explained to him in a silly, exaggerated, and possibly too wordy of a manner that, “Miss Brandi doesn’t roll around on floors because, she’s getting old and had back surgery." He listened intently.

I continued, “So, two rules when I’m here, we sit at the desk for work, and no throwing cups onto the floor.” I picked up his blanket, and teasingly said with a smile, “and I talked to your teacher (that wasn’t true), he says you never wear a blanket over your head at school. So, you can have the blanket when you need it, but not over your eyes when we're working. I joked, " And I want to see your handsome face!”

What happened next BLEW MY MIND! There wasn’t a battle! When I finished talking, he immediately went and sat in the chair, leaving the blanket. When it was drink time, he finished, looked me straight in the eyes, and handed me the cup. For the 2-years I worked with him, he never put a blanket over his eyes, threw emptied cups, or refused to sit at the desk. Knowing this client was with the company I worked at for a few years already, and that someone with a master’s degree, was at the helm underestimating the client(s) so grossly, floored me!

How did he understand what I wanted while not completely able to understand all the words? I was so amazed!! To this day I can’t explain it, but he did understand and that is what matters. So, while he isn’t neurotypical, he is still a typical kid! I think that’s being overlooked, kids are kids regardless of whether or not they're neurotypical. Neurotypical kids would also throw drink cups, and put blankets over their eyes to avoid teachers and lay on the floor during lessons if allowed.

“The fundamental problem with pitying people, is that it deprives people of dignity or respect and assumes that they can’t learn or change—

which in turn becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Pendulum Center can help you set reasonable expectations tailored specifically to your child. Contact us for a consultation!

-Brandi Lynn Borgia | Family Coach & Founder of Pendulum Center

Pendulum Center gives one-on-one coaching & SUPPORT to parents struggling to discipline/control their strong willed kiddo(s), and; one-on-one coaching for children exhibiting controlling & maladaptive behaviors.

Our coaching is highly effective with both neurotypical & neurodivergent children.

Pendulum Center's page will regularly post insightful information, share what experience has shown us, & most importantly, provide reassurance! Especially if you've tried traditional ABA therapy and scholastic "discipline" and haven't yielded results; you need reassurance. Rest assured, you have arrived at the right place!

Welcome to Pendulum Center!

Positive Reinforcement is Overused and Leaving Kids Unprepared to Enter Adulthood

It’s in every kid’s best interest to learn self-control and discipline!

A great number of teachers and behavioral health therapists insist Positive Reinforcement is the only way to instill good behavior and effectively deal with maladaptive behavior in kids of all ages, neuro typical or not. However, a small, but fast-growing number of therapists (and parents) are growing skeptical because Positive Reinforcement fails to move certain maladaptive behaviors into extinction.

In my experience working with kids on the spectrum, and being in day care centers and schools, I learned the expectations have been been set far too low by those in charge of the children's therapies and educations. I’ve personally witnessed kids, non-verbal & highly impacted by their Autism, accept, learn, and grow from fair consequences they weren’t previously thought fit to receive from teachers and therapists, often people with “master’s degrees.”

Humans are adults for many more years than they are children, so it’s important to prepare children for adulthood. The sooner you get them started, the better. So, if the newer traditional therapies and approaches aren’t reducing your toddler or child's aggression, tantrums, and his/her need to control, don’t feel defeated. You’ve found the right place. Pendulum Center is here to coach you and your child through effective strategies and bring peace to your family home. We also work with teenagers!

Disclaimer: Positive reinforcement is effective for certain behaviors and personality types. BUT I’m not writing about what positive enforcement works on, but what it doesn’t. & it doesn’t work on, middle and high schoolers, and young children regularly exhibiting extreme behaviors such as hitting, spitting, swearing, tantrums, and issues with control and authority, etc.

Send a message to learn more.