TRIBE Trauma Informed Care
“I’ve Tried That Before”
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Lynette Davies
If you work in behavioural support, you’ve almost certainly heard the phrase, “We’ve tried that before, and it didn’t work.” It’s one of those moments where two perspectives quietly sit side by side. From a behaviour analyst’s point of view, there’s often a thought of, “but you haven’t tried it with me yet.”
While from a parent, carer, or teacher’s perspective, it can feel more like, “Here we go again, another suggestion we’ve already done. We were hoping for something different.”
Both responses are completely valid, and both deserve to be acknowledged. But there’s something important in that moment that’s easy to miss. Sometimes, trying something again is exactly what’s needed.
In behaviour analysis, very little is ever as simple as something working or not working. There are layers to everything, whether that is timing, consistency, context, and, most importantly, understanding the function of behaviour. When we hear that a strategy hasn’t worked before, what we’re really doing is stepping back and asking a different set of questions. Was it used consistently? Was it introduced at the right point in that young person’s development? Was the function of the behaviour accurately identified, or even identified at all? And was the strategy matched to that function? Because if any of those pieces were missing, then in many ways, the strategy hasn’t truly been tried yet.
Take the classic example of a token economy system. It’s probably one of the most widely used strategies across both home and school environments, and just as commonly, one of the quickest to be dismissed. I often hear, “They don’t care about rewards,” or “They should just do it, we shouldn’t have to incentivise expected behaviour.” And while those views are completely understandable, it’s worth pausing to reflect on how much of our own adult world is built on incentives.
We work for wages, we collect loyalty points, we feel a small but undeniable sense of achievement when a coffee is free after filling up a stamp card. Reinforcement systems are not unusual, they’re everywhere. The difference is that for children, they need to be more immediate, more specific, and far more meaningful in that moment.
When reinforcement systems don’t appear to work, there is almost always more going on beneath the surface. Sometimes the function of the behaviour isn’t linked to gaining something tangible at all, but instead to escaping or avoiding something, in which case a reward may not compete effectively. Sometimes the reinforcer itself simply isn’t strong enough. There’s a real difference between something a child likes and something that genuinely motivates change. Motivation can also shift constantly; an iPad loses its value after hours of use, food isn’t particularly motivating right after a meal, and reinforcement can weaken around times like birthdays or Christmas when access to preferred items is already high. There are also practical factors to consider. If the effort required to meet expectations feels too high compared to the reward, it won’t feel worth it. If the reward is too delayed, its impact is reduced. If the system isn’t applied consistently, even the most carefully designed approach can quickly lose its effectiveness.
And perhaps most importantly, reinforcement systems are rarely meant to stand alone. They need to be part of a broader, well-considered approach that evolves over time. They require monitoring, adjusting, and, at times, rethinking altogether.
So, when we come back to that familiar phrase, “We’ve tried that before”, it’s not about dismissing that experience. It’s about recognising that trying something again doesn’t mean repeating the same thing in the same way. It means refining it, understanding it more deeply, and giving it the structure and context it may not have had before. In many cases, it’s less about doing something again, and more about doing it properly for the first time.
And sometimes, even after all of that, it still doesn’t work, and that’s okay. Because at that point, we can confidently say that it wasn’t just a quick attempt, but a thoughtful, informed process where the strategy was given a fair opportunity to succeed. If it’s still not the right fit, that isn’t a failure. It’s progress. It gives us clearer direction, sharper insight, and a better understanding of what that young person truly needs.
This reflective approach sits at the heart of the TRIBE framework. TRIBE recognises that meaningful change does not come from one-off strategies, but function-based strategies that are designed based on the child’s trauma they have experienced and current behavioural presentation. When we revisit strategies that may not have worked before, we are not simply repeating them but remaining reflective and applying a more informed approach to understanding the behaviour from a more trauma informed lens.
Welcome to the TRIBE Blog, a space dedicated to sharing trauma-informed care insights, real-life strategies, and expert guidance from our team.
Blog Post Author:
Lynette Davies
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