Real questions about difficult behavior, answered on the spot.
Pat Kiely reads out questions that a producer has gathered from parents, teachers and grandparents, and Scott Ervin answers them cold. His advice draws on the same set of tools each time, from strategic noticing to stepping out of the power struggle, and the two joke with each other throughout.
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Ask the Kid Whisperer is a question-and-answer show about children who will not cooperate and the adults struggling with them. The setup is simple. A producer collects questions from parents, teachers and the occasional grandparent. Pat Kiely reads them aloud, and Scott Ervin, the Kid Whisperer, answers without having seen them first. Ervin treats that as the point: he says he loves the hard ones and jokes that he answers every single one perfectly. The questions come with plenty of detail. A parent writes about a strong-willed four-year-old who knows how to use the toilet and refuses, and that is keeping him out of preschool. A second-year fourth-grade teacher asks about two students in one classroom. A grandparent describes grandkids aged seven and nine who fight for much of a weekend visit, sometimes physically. Ervin keeps returning to a small set of ideas that he groups under the name behavioral leadership. The central idea is that misbehavior pays off for a child in attention, control or avoidance, so the adult's job is to make it stop working. That is why he argues a trip to the principal's office can hand a child all three at once. One tool is strategic noticing: instead of correcting, the adult names what children are doing right. In one example, a student wandering the room gets a whispered 'Where should you be?' before the teacher turns to notice the classmates who are seated. Ervin says there are 42 of these general guidance interventions. Consequences come as delayed learning opportunities, and he insists the phrase is not a softer word for punishment. He also pushes back on quick labels, cautioning that a child who seems unable to regulate his emotions may simply be after attention or control. Retiring from the power struggle comes up as the first move for both a four-year-old and a twelve-year-old in the same conversation. Kiely reads, reacts and trades jokes with Ervin. The tangents take in Starsky and Hutch, a sideways phone camera that leads to a Samuel L. Jackson comparison, and a holiday riff on the lyrics of a George Michael song. One episode was recorded in front of a room, with questions from attendees and a few gathered from Facebook, and a stand-in voice reads some of them to protect attendees' privacy. Episodes sign off with 'class dismissed.'
Made for: Suits a parent, teacher or grandparent who wants specific steps for defiance, classroom disruption or fighting between kids, and who enjoys a fair amount of joking between the practical parts.
What sets it apart: Ervin has not seen the questions before Pat Kiely reads them out, so he works through each case on the spot. He uses the same named techniques throughout, such as strategic noticing and delayed learning opportunities, rather than general reassurance.
Scott Ervin, the Kid Whisperer, discusses issues and gives advice for parents and educators.
Surprise questions land in Scott Ervin's lap; you get usable lines for moments when a kid says no.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A live question-and-answer episode reframes discipline problems as chances to practice or solve.
Real questions from teachers, parents, and people dealing with difficult child behavior give this episode a useful sense of shape. Scott Irvin and Pat Kiley make the live format matter by working through questions Irvin has not seen ahead of time, which suits the subject:…
A surprise-question conversation turns strategic noticing into a practical way to change the classroom soundtrack.
Pat turns a surprise-question setup into a grounded discussion of strategic noticing, a classroom move built on naming what students are doing right while disruptive behavior is still unfolding.
Real behavior questions become a grounded case for retiring from the power struggle.
The episode turns real-world behavior questions into a practical case for stepping out of the power struggle. A four-year-old can use the toilet but refuses, leaving preschool out of reach, and that standoff becomes the bridge to a 12-year-old whose negative energy is pulling…
A forgotten chore gives the episode's primary lesson a shape parents and teachers can recognize.
The episode turns a parent's question about attention-seeking and controlling negative behavior into a practical case for sequence. Its central idea, the "primary lesson," is that some learning has to come before academic or behavioral demands can really take hold.
A teacher gets practical scripts for redirecting refusal without making one student's need for attention the center of the room.
A second-year fourth-grade teacher brings a familiar classroom bind: one student often refuses work, shuts down, and cries when moved from a "later" task to a "now" task.
Honest talk from the high school front line.
Héctor and Beto dissect Mexican grammar, slang, and news in native-speed Spanish conversations.
Small habit changes meet hands-on AI experiments.
["Ask the Kid Whisperer Episode 40 is a Q&A with Pat Kiley and Scott Irvin about delayed learning opportunities, student defiance, and hallway elopement.", "Pat Kiley says the show uses real questions collected by a producer from teachers and parents, and Scott Irvin gives support at Irvin Educational Consulting as the contact point.", "A teacher on maternity leave asks about desk-banging and what to do after a DLO, and Scott Irvin starts with an ESPN greeting, positive noticing, and mitigation before the consequence.", "He then says a student who refuses the DLO or tears down a bulletin board is learning that refusing a reasonable request does not get him out of trouble or what he wants."]
["Ask the Kid Whisperer Episode 39 pairs Pat Kiely with Scott Urban for a Q&A about behavioral leadership, strategic noticing, and special education.", "Scott says 90 seconds is an absolute minimum for noticing positive behavior, and he says his best teachers notice every 20 seconds.", "He tells a middle-school teacher in a school with trauma, homelessness, foster care, and youth homes to start mid-year, not wait until summer.", "He also says autistic and special-education students need calm limits, a \"real world workshop\" prompt, and fewer repeated commands like \"get to work\"."]
["Ask the Kid Whisperer Episode 38 turns three listener questions into behavior coaching about potty training, divorced-parent sass, and school trouble.", "Pat and Irvin answer with scripts, including Pat's five-year-old potty-training story and Irvin's behavioral leadership framing.", "The recurring rule is to stop feeding the power struggle, then make the unwanted behavior non-functional with limits, noticing, and walk-away consequences.", "The teacher question ends with a low-pressure way to share the classroom behavior manual and a home consequence that de-stresses the parent instead of escalating the child."]
["Scott opens with a boundary-setting script for whining, then uses the same framework to answer school questions about lunchroom aides, recess, and conflict.", "Tony and Scott say negative behaviors can drop from several hundreds to single digits in a month, and they link that claim to calm routines, spork removal, and delayed follow-up practice.", "The Q&A also covers special-needs students, adults at home, and the line between discipline and teaching, with Scott saying common punishments do not work well for autism, oppositional defiant disorder, or Down syndrome.", "Scott closes with a no-pay-for-chores rule, an age-based weekly allowance, and behavioralleadership.com, while a teacher from Minnesota says she waits for the monthly podcast."]
Pat Kiely and Scott answer three teacher questions about a fourth grader who shuts down on work, a student who rips papers and cries, and an art class seen in 50-minute blocks.
Scott Irvin answers teacher and grandparent questions about incomplete work, sibling fights, tablets, and classroom seating.
Scott argues that a sixth grader who repeatedly receives detentions may care about happiness while adults accidentally reinforce misbehavior through attention, control, or avoidance.
Ask the Kid Whisperer Episode 33 features Pat Guiley and Chad Irvin discussing repeated questions about classroom behavior systems, especially clip-up charts, Class Dojo, and tangible prizes.
Scott and Matt answer a fourth-grade teacher’s questions about permanent teams, arguing that teachers should change student behavior rather than rearrange a procedure that works.
Scott explains how teachers can use a calm signal, delayed learning opportunities, and strategic noticing to respond to disruptive classroom behavior.
Scott Ervin, the Kid Whisperer, introduces his podcast offering realistic advice for parents and educators on managing children's behavior.
Scott Ervin, the Kid Whisperer, introduces his podcast offering realistic advice for parents and educators on managing child behavior.
Scott Ervin introduces his podcast offering realistic, no-nonsense advice for parents and educators on managing children's behavior.
Scott Ervin introduces his podcast offering realistic advice for parents and educators on managing children's behavior.
Scott Ervin introduces a new podcast offering realistic, no-nonsense advice for parents and educators on managing child behavior.