“School is pointless!”
“I’m not doing any more of these useless assignments.”
“I don’t care!”
“Why do I need to know this stuff? You don’t ever use it at your job.”
Does this sound familiar? Many parents are struggling in homes across the country right now, with children and teens who show low academic interest and motivation. With so many stressors and distractions bombarding your child, it can be hard to help them find meaning and value in the day-to-day grind of school and homework.
What causes low academic motivation?
As behavior analysts, we often help parents and teachers dealing with low academic motivation tease out issues of “I can’t do” from issues of “I won’t do.” Depending on how your child responds to homework and academic goals, it can be hard to tell the difference. Yet, understanding if your child’s experiencing skill delays vs. a lack of motivation will change how you address the problem.
Academic Skill Delays
Low academic motivation can often be confused by academic skill deficits. If a child struggles with reading or auditory comprehension delays, they may avoid school because instructions don’t make sense or are too hard. If a child lacks fluency in basic math facts, algebra and geometry may take longer or be more frustrating.
Ignoring academic skill delays is like ignoring a small grass fire. As more and more material is added, the problem only grows. Eventually, the blaze becomes unmanageable. It’s far easier to address skill deficits starting back at the small grass fire stage before the issue gets out of control.
Executive Functioning Skills
In addition to academic skill delays, parents and teachers should know how executive functioning skills contribute to low academic motivation. Behaviors like time management, organization, planning provide, and support academic performance. We know that we tend to enjoy more manageable tasks, especially if they lead to us getting to a reward or preferred activity faster. Even if a child is at or above grade level academically, they may show lower academic motivation if they lack a solid foundation of executive functioning skills.
Motivation
After evaluating and addressing academic and executive functioning skills, parents and teachers are then left with issues of “I won’t do.”
Delay discounting is one theory motivation researchers might point to when addressing low academic motivation in teens and young adults. Delay discounting or ‘discounting theory’ describes how we measure the value of rewards—both immediate rewards and long-term rewards that happen after a period of waiting or after a set of tasks.
Over and over again, research supports that humans struggle to make choices that delay our immediate gratification, even if our longer-term reward is far better than the short-term reward. In other words, if there’s a choice between watching one last YouTube video now vs. watching unlimited YouTube videos once homework is finished, kids and teens tend to overlook the larger reward for the short term gain.
The situation becomes even more complicated when adding in delayed consequences that are abstract for many learners with unique needs. Describing the benefits of college education or higher lifetime earnings when it’s time to finish the next math assignment probably isn’t going to help much.
3 Steps You Can Take When Your Child Doesn’t Find Value in School
So, how do you connect with your child who lacks motivation for school?
1. Rule out as many competing variables as possible first
Before any decisions about interventions occur to address issues of skill (“I can’t do”) and motivation (“I won’t do”), parents and teachers should always try to rule out other variables that might be impacting a child’s responding at school.
We’ve worked with students who struggled in the classroom because of environmental allergies, chronic headaches, back pain, and medication complications. When we resolved the biological barrier to learning, the behavior and motivation challenges also went away. If your child complains about not wanting to go to school or do homework because of illness, go ahead and rule that variable out with an evaluation by a medical professional.
While it’s more complicated to evaluate, parents and teachers must also identify any other barriers at school. Children with disabilities and unique learning needs are at a higher risk for bullying than their peers. Social challenges related to diagnoses of Autism, ADHD, or other behavioral challenges can sometimes exacerbate bullying and make it even harder for children and teens to stay motivated for school.
2. Communicate with the classroom
A second step—and often working in tandem with the first—is to establish a clear parent-teacher communication channel. Identify the key stakeholders for your child at school and set a regular and consistent expectation for check-ins and communication. Be kind and respectful (teachers manage way more than most parents realize!) but also be clear about what information you need and why. Review the strategies you’re taking at home to address your concerns and aim to bring a collaboration vs. confrontation approach.
To keep track of who you connected with at school, download our free .pdf Parent-Teacher Communication Log below.
3. Set up cause-effect relationships
The final strategy ties back to delay discounting and addressing motivation in the short run. If your child doesn’t connect with the long-term consequences of doing well in school, establish shorter-term cause-and-effect relationships that are more concrete. If you know your child is motivated by spending time with friends, screen time, or having to do fewer household chores, connect good academic habits with those activities. Some examples:
“You finished your math homework before dinner, so why don’t you watch an episode while I do the dishes tonight.”
“Since you finished reading the chapters now, you’ll have plenty of free time tonight to watch the game.”
“If you work ahead on your project tonight, there will be plenty of time to have a friend over on the weekend.”
If your child struggles with delay discounting and seeing the long-run value in school, focusing on these long-term benefits is likely only to cause you more frustration. Instead of the big picture, build success with cause-effect in the short run. Demonstrate that good academic performance connects to positive things, privileges, and rewards. Start with immediate rewards and then, over time, slowly build in a delay to longer-term consequences (e.g., “if you get A’s and B’s this semester, we can sign you up for that coding camp you talked about.”)
Don’t be afraid to consider other options
If you’ve worked hard on some of the areas above and still struggle with low academic motivation, don’t be afraid to look at another educational option. Many parents struggle with the outcomes of mismatched school placements, including a child’s unhealthy attitude towards school, poor academic performance, or failing to develop positive relationships with teachers and peers. A fresh start in a different environment might be all the learner needs.
Does your child need more 1:1 instruction during the day? Does your child focus better when they work in hands-on environments? With music and art? Would it be better for teaching to happen online? Self-paced?
World-renowned autism advocate Temple Grandin writes in many of her books that she struggled with traditional academic environments. Most recently, she released Autism in Lockdown, a great resource for anyone on the spectrum struggling to cope with the the lockdown. Early on, her parents recognized these challenges and emphasized finding a way to connect Grandin’s motivation for animals to her academic performance. By emphasizing strengths and interests (instead of trying to force a challenging school situation), Grandin has gone on to complete a doctoral program and to become one of the most respected public speakers in the autism community.
Further Reading
- 6 Steps to Help Your Child Develop a Strong “Why” When Goal Setting
- Bullying and Youth with Disabilities and Special Health Needs
- Executive Function Skills by Age: Milestones To Look For
- Harackiewicz, J. M., Smith, J. L., & Priniski, S. J. (2016). Interest Matters: The Importance of Promoting Interest in Education. Policy insights from the behavioral and brain sciences, 3(2), 220–227.
- How Teaching Executive Functioning Skills Can Reduce Challenging Behaviors
- Temple Grandin – Autism in Lockdown: Expert Tips and Insights on Coping with the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Temple Grandin – Author Profile
- Warnell, K. R., Maniscalco, S., Baker, S., Yi, R., & Redcay, E. (2019). Social and delay discounting in autism spectrum disorder. Autism research: official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 12(6), 870–877.