TPP 332: How to Rekindle Your Child’s Motivation, with Dr. Ellen Braaten
episode
Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
45 min
2 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 1 day ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the purpose of the episode and how does Dr. Ellen Braaten’s background inform the discussion on child motivation?
Resiliency is something we learn. We learn how to be resilient because it's like we reached a challenge and we were able to get over it. And a lot of the kids with executive function issues don't have that, they haven't experienced enough success to develop resiliency. So we've that ability to continue to try. We've got to understand that persistence. might be impaired in our kids because they've never experienced enough of the payoff that comes from persistence.
Welcome to Tilt Parenting, a podcast featuring interviews and conversations aimed at inspiring, informing, and supporting parents raising differently wired kids. I'm your host, Debbie Rieber. Dr. Ellen Broughton was one of my first guests on the Tilt Parenting podcast when she joined me back in 2016 to talk about her book about processing speed, Bright Kids Who Can Keep Up. I'm so happy to be bringing her back to the show to talk about motivation, which is the topic for her wonderful new book called Bright Kids Who Couldn't Care Less: How to Rekindle Your Child's Motivation. As the Executive Director of the Learning and Emotional Assessment Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and an associate professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, Ellen is widely recognized as an expert in the field of pediatric, neuropsychological, and psychological assessment, particularly in the areas of assessing learning disabilities and attentional disorders.
In this episode, we explore motivation, or what we might perceive as a lack of motivation from many different angles, including what is really going on when our child appears to be unmotivated, the relationship between executive function and motivation, how resilience comes into play, and the way in which we as parents and caregivers can support our kids in gaining confidence and skills so they can make meaningful progress towards the things that really light them up. I have already listened twice, read the book once, and will be going back for another read soon. If you've ever had the thought that your child doesn't care about the things that you feel they should care about, Ellen's work can offer a great reframe for considering all things motivation.
Lastly, the doors to my differently wired club are open this week. Please join us for the rest of the summer if you're craving a supportive community of parents navigating the same things you are, plus virtual office hours, coaching calls, expert guests, and much more. Visit tiltparenting dot com slash club to join us. Thanks so much. And now here is my conversation with Doctor Ellen Brotten on kids and motivation. Hey Ellen, welcome back to the podcast. Thank you so much for having me again. I love being here. It's been many years. I think you were a guest of mine in the first year of Chilled Parenting, where we talked about your book, Bright Kids Who Can't Keep Up. Such a good book and a great episode.
So, listeners, go back and check that out if you haven't, because it is in the archives. But we're gonna talk about your new book today. And before we get into that, I've read your bio, but If you could tell us a little bit more about the work you're doing in the world today, your why for doing it, maybe what's exciting you about the work you're doing today.
Oh, that's a great question. So I am a child psychologist who specializes in neuropsychology for my clinical work, which means like I assess kids with learning and attention and uh emotional differences and issues. And I'm also a researcher. I am an associate professor at Harvard Medical School. So I have both of these wonderful parts to my work where I'm working with kids and also getting to study. Them as well. And so my first book really came out of the fact that I was seeing a lot of kids struggling to sort of keep up. And a lot of them had learning disabilities or ADHD, but not all of them did. I think I first started thinking about that book about 12 years ago or so. So I wrote the book. I've studied that, what we call processing speed issues.
And in the last five to six years, I was seeing a lot of kids who were having troubles getting motivated, staying motivated.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the purpose of the episode and how does Dr. Ellen Braaten’s background inform the discussion on child motivation?
0:00–6:34
2
How does the podcast define ‘laziness’ versus true motivation challenges in children?
6:34–12:38
3
What are the three components of motivation (initiation, persistence, intensity) and how do they relate to executive function?
12:38–19:36
4
How does the Parenting‑APP framework (Aptitude, Pleasure, Practice) help parents identify and boost a child’s motivation?
19:36–24:44
5
What is ‘flow’ and how can parents recognize when their child is experiencing it?
24:44–31:01
6
How do sleep, schedule overload, and environmental factors interfere with a child’s ability to enter flow?
31:01–36:45
7
Why is understanding a child’s temperament important for setting realistic goals and fostering motivation?
36:45–42:23
8
What practical steps can parents take to set goals, monitor mental health, and support a demotivated child?
42:23–45:18
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
TPP 266a: A Conversation with Poet and Advocate LeDerick Horne
TPP 522: A Whole Child Approach to ADHD with Phil Boucher, M.D.
TPP 091a: A Conversation With Steve Silberman About His Book “Neurotribes”
TPP 521: A Conversation with Dr. Peter Gray About Restoring Childhood
TPP 253a: Advocate and Author Jonathan Mooney on Why Normal Sucks
TPP 520: Dr. Özgür Bolat on Why Rewards Backfire and the Real Science of Motivating Kids