Last Updated4 July 2024

The information in this section aims to give some ideas on making your lesson more effective and keeping your student safe. Personalise these tips by combining them with the specific information you gain about the person’s abilities from your assessment.

Behavioural Management

In our interactions with students, occasional dysregulation in their behaviour may occur. It’s crucial to recognise that “challenging” behaviour often stems from the brain’s response to stress.

This stress can be triggered by various environmental factors and may escalate from seemingly minor issues.

When evaluating our students, it’s essential to understand a baseline of what their normal behaviour is and understand the tools used by parents/caregivers for management, such as star charts or extra screen time.

Regulate, Relate, Reason

As an instructor we cannot change our students’ behaviour in the short time we are with them. We can work with the parents/caregivers to help the student have the best experience.

Occasionally we may experience an escalation in their behaviour which may not be appropriate for the time and/or place, Dr. Bruce Perry, a neuroscientist in the trauma field, developed the 3 R’s tool that we can use to help regulate the guests emotions and bring them back to the baseline level. This emphasises the need to support a child’s learning, thinking, and reflection through a sequence that prioritises regulation.

Step 1. Regulate

We must help the student to regulate and calm their fight/flight/freeze/collapse responses. Take some time to breathe and let the student calm down, this may take some time and sometimes sitting in silence may be the best option. Stay nearby and support if needed. Any reasoning in this phase may result in another outburst.

Step 2. Relate

Once the student has calmed down we should try to connect with the student and let them know that they are going to be ok.

Example: “I understand that you’re feeling frustrated. I can see that ….. Is bothering you, I also feel frustrated when ….. happens, it’s going to be ok.”

Step 3. Reason

Once the student is back to baseline level, we can support them to reflect and learn. This is the time to discuss alternative behaviours and enforce any reward system the caregivers may use.This can be done straight away but can also be delayed for a later time if appropriate.