For years, "the four functions of behavior" has been the go-to framework for understanding why kids do what they do: attention, escape, access to tangibles, sensory. It's not wrong, but it's not the whole story either. In this episode, we dig into where this model actually came from, what it leaves out, and what's underneath it once we go looking with a relational neuroscience lens.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Where the four functions of behavior actually came from, and why this is relevant
• Why naming a behavior's "function" and saying it started in the nervous system aren't competing ideas — they're just two different layers of the same truth
• What's actually underneath attention-seeking, escape, tangible-seeking, and sensory behavior - and how to start identifying the missing skill that can be scaffolded

Resources Mentioned on the Podcast

• All Behavior Makes Sense ep. 198
• When it’s not Working ep 261
• The Club (membership community + troubleshooting worksheet)

Read the full transcript at: RobynGobbel.com/behaviorfunction

FINALLY! Our new website is LIVE and working!

This is not just a cosmetic upgrade (though we do think it's beautiful).

This is a 'works way better as a resource for you' upgrade!

Don't take my word for it- go check it out at RobynGobbel.com

THEN search for clues and enter our website scavenger hunt to win some pretty great prizes!

RobynGobbel.com/Scavenge

We have a few spots remaining at the Presence in Practice retreat-style training in Michigan July 15-17!

RobynGobbel.com/MIPIP2026

:::

Immersion Program for Professionals!

The Baffling Behavior Training Institute's Immersion Program for Professionals is NOW accepting applications for our 2027 cohorts. You MUST be on the waiting list to be eligible to apply so head to RobynGobbel.com/Immersion and put your name on the waiting list!

Grab a copy of USA Today Best Selling book Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors robyngobbel.com/book

Join us in The Club for more support! robyngobbel.com/TheClub

Sign up on the waiting list for the 2027 Cohorts of the Baffling Behavior Training Institute's Immersion Program for Professionals robyngobbel.com/Immersion

Follow Me On:
Facebook
Instagram

Over on my website you can find:
Webinar and eBook on Focus on the Nervous System to Change Behavior (FREE)
eBook on The Brilliance of Attachment (FREE)
LOTS & LOTS of FREE Resources
Ongoing support, connection, and co-regulation for struggling parents: The Club
Year-Long Immersive & Holistic Training Program for Parenting Professionals: The Baffling Behavior Training Institute’s (BBTI) Professional Immersion Program (formerly Being With)

We've been in a three-part series on sticky behaviors (behaviors that don’t seem to change, no matter WHAT you do!), and today we're doing the detective work: what is your specific child's nervous system actually predicting?

In This Episode

• Three detective questions to help you identify what prediction might be driving your child's stickiest behaviors, and what those behaviors are actually protecting against
• Why you don't have to get the detective work exactly right, because the mismatched experience that changes the brain is almost always the same thing no matter what prediction is running
• How your working theory about your child's nervous system changes something in you first, and why this is so important (but also, no pressure. We’re all doing the best we can)

Resources Mentioned

• Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors — robyngobbel.com/bafflingbook
• The Club — robyngobbel.com/theclub
• Immersion Program for Professionals — robyngobbel.com/immersion
• Part 1 of this series: Why Sticky Behaviors Stay Stuck
• Part 2 of this series: What Actually Changes Sticky Behaviors
  
  

Read the full transcript at: RobynGobbel.com/predicting

FINALLY! Our new website is LIVE and working!

This is not just a cosmetic upgrade (though we do think it's beautiful).

This is a 'works way better as a resource for you' upgrade!

Don't take my word for it- go check it out at RobynGobbel.com

THEN search for clues and enter our website scavenger hunt to win some pretty great prizes!

RobynGobbel.com/Scavenge

We have a few spots remaining at the Presence in Practice retreat-style training in Michigan July 15-17!

RobynGobbel.com/MIPIP2026

:::

Immersion Program for Professionals!

The Baffling Behavior Training Institute's Immersion Program for Professionals is NOW accepting applications for our 2027 cohorts. You MUST be on the waiting list to be eligible to apply so head to RobynGobbel.com/Immersion and put your name on the waiting list!

Grab a copy of USA Today Best Selling book Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors robyngobbel.com/book

Join us in The Club for more support! robyngobbel.com/TheClub

Sign up on the waiting list for the 2027 Cohorts of the Baffling Behavior Training Institute's Immersion Program for Professionals robyngobbel.com/Immersion

Follow Me On:
Facebook
Instagram

Over on my website you can find:
Webinar and eBook on Focus on the Nervous System to Change Behavior (FREE)
eBook on The Brilliance of Attachment (FREE)
LOTS & LOTS of FREE Resources
Ongoing support, connection, and co-regulation for struggling parents: The Club
Year-Long Immersive & Holistic Training Program for Parenting Professionals: The Baffling Behavior Training Institute’s (BBTI) Professional Immersion Program (formerly Being With)

Part 1 was about why sticky behaviors stay stuck. Part 2 is where the hope lives. We're diving into the two mechanisms that actually change sticky behaviors at the neurological level. This is the episode that makes the hardest ask of Part - shifting away from ‘fix-it’ and ‘this has to change’ energy- make sense.

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why your child's dysregulation isn't the obstacle to healing; it's actually the doorway to it
• The two mechanisms that change sticky behaviors at the neurological level, why one creates the conditions for the other, and why neither of them will look like anything is working for a long time
• What it actually means to stay regulated during your child's hardest moments

Read the full transcript at: RobynGobbel.com/changesticky

FINALLY! Our new website is LIVE and working!

This is not just a cosmetic upgrade (though we do think it's beautiful).

This is a 'works way better as a resource for you' upgrade!

Don't take my word for it- go check it out at RobynGobbel.com

THEN search for clues and enter our website scavenger hunt to win some pretty great prizes!

RobynGobbel.com/Scavenge

We have a few spots remaining at the Presence in Practice retreat-style training in Michigan July 15-17!

RobynGobbel.com/MIPIP2026

:::

Grab a copy of USA Today Best Selling book Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors robyngobbel.com/book

Join us in The Club for more support! robyngobbel.com/TheClub

Sign up on the waiting list for the 2027 Cohorts of the Baffling Behavior Training Institute's Immersion Program for Professionals robyngobbel.com/Immersion

Follow Me On:
Facebook
Instagram

Over on my website you can find:
Webinar and eBook on Focus on the Nervous System to Change Behavior (FREE)
eBook on The Brilliance of Attachment (FREE)
LOTS & LOTS of FREE Resources
Ongoing support, connection, and co-regulation for struggling parents: The Club
Year-Long Immersive & Holistic Training Program for Parenting Professionals: The Baffling Behavior Training Institute’s (BBTI) Professional Immersion Program (formerly Being With)