Are you looking for strategies to help students who lie? If so, keep reading.

1. Show the learner that they should be happy with personal best effort rather than expecting perfection.

2. Give the learner many chances for social and academic success.

3. Give the learner positive feedback that indicates they are successful.

4. Minimize competitiveness in information sharing so the learner will not feel compelled to make inaccurate statements about their experience.

5. Attempt several groupings to ascertain the situation in which the learner is comfortable and does not feel obliged to lie, deny, exaggerate the truth, etc.

6. Give the learner experiences that can be shared if the absence of such experiences has been causing the learner to fabricate information.

7. Minimize or remove punishment for accidents, forgetting, and situations with inadequate evidence. Punishment in these situations often causes students to lie.

8. Always treat the learner with the utmost respect. Talk objectively at all times.

9. Do not punish the learner unless you are absolutely sure they lied to you.

10. Teach the learner that making inaccurate statements does not prevent consequences (e.g., the learner has to redo a task even though they claim the finished task was lost).

11. If you do not have evidence that the learner is being untruthful, you can’t punish them.

12. Let logical consequences happen when the learner lies, denies, exaggerates, etc., (e.g., work not finished must be finished, lying to others will cause them not to believe you, etc.).

13. Assist the student in learning that telling the truth as soon as possible prevents future problems

14. Consider using a classroom management app. Click here to view a list of apps that we recommend.

15. Consider using an adaptive behavior management app. Click here to view a list of apps that we recommend.

16. Consider using Alexa to help the student learn to behave appropriately. Click here to read an article that we wrote on the subject.

17. Click here to learn about six bonus strategies for challenging problem behaviors and mastering classroom management.