Nobody ever showed most of us what to actually do when a child melts down, refuses, or digs in during a session or a lesson. This course offers a practical, neurodiversity-affirming alternative to compliance-based behavior management. Grounded in Dr. Ross Greene’s principle that children do well if they can, participants will learn to view behavior as communication, shift the language we use to describe children, and recognize that knowing right from wrong is rarely the problem; doing it in the moment is. Participants will also learn why most hard moments are predictable, how to look past the first guess to what is actually making a situation hard, and how stress takes language and executive function skills offline.
From there, the course walks through 10 strategies that can be used the same day, each paired with a real classroom or therapy example: investigating what is making the situation hard, previewing and stating expectations before the situation, describing the action you want to see, using statements instead of questions, offering meaningful choices you can honor, using fewer words and fewer demands, noticing and praising positive behaviors, validating and encouraging before providing support, stating the expectation and following through with natural and related consequences, and modeling and practicing skills when the child is calm and ready to learn. The course closes with why there is no one-size-fits-all approach and the principles to keep in mind with any child on any day. Participants also receive a quick-reference handout of all 10 strategies and a behavior flow chart. This course is designed for speech-language pathologists, educators, paraprofessionals, and others who support children, including autistic and otherwise neurodivergent children.

Participants will be able to:

1.  Explain how behavior is communication and what it means that children do well if they can.
2.  Identify the patterns that make hard moments predictable.
3.  Apply simple, connection-based strategies to prevent power struggles.
4.  Select a calm, supportive response when a hard moment happens.

Instructor Details and Financial Disclosure 

• Bradi O’Rourke, M.S., CCC-SLP

Registration

• Online ONLY for 1 learner -- Access to Online Course for 365 Days/1 Year (-hour CE course, downloadable handout, certificate of completion)

  Timed Agenda

• 6 minutes: Introduction, Speaker Bio, Disclosures, and Learning Outcomes
• 13 minutes: Reframing Behavior (children do well if they can; who Dr. Ross Greene is; shifting our language; knowing vs. doing in the moment)
• 7 minutes: Hard Moments Are Predictable (when and where it happens, what happened right before, what is going on in the body; reactive vs. proactive)
• 19 minutes: Preventing Power Struggles, Strategies 1 to 5 (investigate what is making the situation hard; be a behavior detective; preview and state expectations; describe the action you want to see; use a statement; offer meaningful choices you can honor)
• 19 minutes: Responding With Support, Strategies 6 to 10 (fewer words and fewer demands; notice and praise positive behaviors; validate, encourage, then provide support; state the expectation, then follow through; natural and related consequences; model and practice skills when the child is calm)
• 7 minutes: Regulation and Any Child, Any Day (regulated vs. dysregulated; no one-size-fits-all; things to keep in mind)
• 6 minutes: Key Takeaways, Contact Information, and References
  TOTAL: 77 minutes

LEARNER SUPPORT AND FAQs

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Content Disclosure: This presentation will focus on treatment methods related to the use of TalkTools® resources. Other similar treatment approaches will receive limited or no coverage during this lecture.

Satisfactory Completion:

To receive a Certificate of Completion learners must: attend the entirety of the course; complete the course quiz with a passing score of 80% accuracy or higher and complete the course completion survey. Learners must request to be reported to ASHA CE.
 

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