Responding to Challenging Behaviours in OSHC (4-part series)

Over four practical sessions, you will gain insight into children’s natural opposition and how to respond to it constructively, the role of emotional development in shaping behaviour, and the ways unresolved emotions can affect attention and behaviours. You will explore challenges you and your team encounter and have opportunies to systematically experiment with different levels of understanding these behaviours over the course of this workshop.

The workshop also highlights the importance of attachment and safety, showing how secure, trusting relationships and predictable environments support regulation, resilience, and positive behaviour. By the end of the program, you will have practical, actionable approaches to foster connection, trust, and wellbeing in the children you work with.

Session 1:

Looking beyond behaviours: insights into underlying emotions and needs

In this session you will learn:

• How emotions signal unmet needs and guide behaviour.
• How to distinguish between surface behaviour and underlying emotional states.
• Strategies to respond to needs directly, rather than just managing behaviour.

Session 2:

Uncovering opposition, responding to “no” and other challenging behaviours

In this session you will learn:

• When opposition and defiance are natural parts of development and expressions of autonomy, and when it’s a signal of trouble
• How behaviours such as avoidance, withdrawal, aggression, or testing limits can signal unmet needs - and what to do about it
• Ways to respond constructively to a range of challenging behaviours without escalating conflict.

Session 3:

The Work of Emotion and Emotional Development – and Its Relationship with Behaviour

In this session you will learn:

• How emotions shape behaviour and attention.
• Stages of emotional development - what we can and cannot expect in terms of regulation
• How unresolved emotions can manifest as challenging behaviours.

Session 4:

Attachment and Safety as Key Interventions

In this session you will learn:

• How secure attachment supports regulation, resilience, and positive behaviour.
• Strategies to strengthen relationships and foster trust with children.
• What we can do when nothing seems to be working.