Exclusions, Risky Behaviour and “Bad Choices”: What Are We Missing?
When a young person becomes involved in risky behaviour or offending, it is easy to focus only on what they did.
We ask:
Why did they make that choice?
Why didn’t they think about the consequences?
Why didn’t they walk away?
Why do they keep repeating the same behaviour?
But what if the young person is struggling with some of the thinking abilities needed to make a different choice?
Two important thinking abilities
An SOI—Learning Profile looks at a range of individual thinking and learning abilities. Two of these are creativity and evaluation.
In everyday language, creativity is not simply being good at art, music or writing. It includes the ability to think of different ideas and find another way to respond to a situation.
Evaluation is the ability to judge those ideas, consider what might happen next and decide which choice is most appropriate.
According to SOI Systems, creativity involves producing ideas and finding different ways to solve problems, while evaluation involves making practical judgements and decisions, particularly when the situation is uncertain. SOI Systems explains these abilities here.
What happens when creativity is less developed?
Imagine that a young person feels threatened, embarrassed or angry.
Someone challenges them in front of their friends. In that moment, they may only see one possible response: fight back.
They might not be able to think of other options, such as:
Walking away
Asking somebody for help
Using words to explain what has happened
Waiting until they feel calmer
Responding without making the situation worse
Adults may say, “You had a choice.” But did that young person have the ability to think of those other choices in the moment?
A young person may understand the alternatives afterwards, when an adult explains them. That does not necessarily mean they could generate those ideas for themselves while they were under pressure.
What happens when evaluation is less developed?
Another young person may be able to think of several ways to respond but struggle to judge which one is safest or most appropriate.
They may have an idea but find it difficult to pause and ask:
Is this a good choice?
Is it safe?
Could somebody get hurt?
What might happen afterwards?
Will this solve the problem or make it worse?
How will this affect me tomorrow?
They may act on the first idea that comes into their mind without properly judging the possible consequences.
This does not mean that they do not care. It may mean that the thinking ability needed to judge the situation is not as well developed as people assume.
Executive functioning also matters
Creativity and evaluation do not work alone.
A young person may also struggle with executive functions such as:
Stopping an immediate reaction
Controlling strong emotions
Holding information in mind
Moving from one idea to another
Planning the steps needed to reach a goal
Thinking ahead
Using something they learned previously in a new situation
For example, a young person may know that fighting could lead to exclusion or arrest. However, knowing this information and being able to use it during an emotional situation are not always the same thing.
If they cannot pause, think of another response and judge what is likely to happen next, their behaviour may appear deliberate when the underlying difficulty is more complicated.
This is not about excusing harmful behaviour
Understanding the abilities behind behaviour does not remove responsibility or mean that harmful behaviour should be ignored.
It helps us ask a more useful question:
What abilities does this young person need to strengthen so they can make a different choice next time?
Punishment may tell a young person that their choice was unacceptable. It does not automatically teach them how to generate a better option, judge the consequences and manage themselves in a similar situation.
If we want behaviour to change, we may also need to develop the thinking abilities behind safer decision-making.
Can SOI predict offending?
No. An SOI Learning Profile cannot predict whether somebody will offend, and there is no single profile shared by all young people involved in offending.
Many different factors can contribute to offending, including trauma, unmet needs, exploitation, poverty, exclusion from education, peer pressure and a lack of appropriate support.
However, an SOI assessment may help identify an individual pattern of stronger and less-developed abilities. It does not reduce a young person to one overall intelligence score. Instead, it looks at how their different abilities work together. Learn more about the SOI approach.
Identifying abilities that can be strengthened
The purpose of an SOI Learning Profile is not simply to identify a difficulty.
Following the assessment, the person receives an individual programme of activities designed to strengthen the abilities found to need further development. This can include abilities connected to generating ideas, making judgments, learning, memory, problem-solving and executive functioning.
Early identification could be particularly valuable for young people who are experiencing repeated exclusions, risky behaviour or increasing involvement with youth services.
Rather than only asking what is wrong with their behaviour, we can begin to understand what may be happening underneath it, and provide targeted work to help strengthen the abilities they need.
Find out more about SOI Learning Profile Assessments and the current subsidised offer for children and young people with SEN here:
