Workshop Details

Children’s challenging behavior rarely comes out of nowhere. When emotions become dysregulated, the behavior teachers see is often the visible expression of something happening beneath the surface. In this interactive workshop, participants will learn to look beyond the behavior itself and ask a more useful question: What is this behavior trying to tell us? We’ll explore how stress, unmet needs, sensory overload, communication difficulties, trauma, anxiety, transitions, and environmental demands can contribute to emotional dysregulation—and how understanding these underlying factors can shift our response from reaction to curiosity.

Participants will learn practical strategies for slowing down the moment, identifying patterns and triggers, and developing hypotheses about what may be driving dysregulated behavior. Through real-world examples and guided discussion, we’ll consider how to distinguish the behavior from the child, recognize early signs of escalation, and respond in ways that support regulation rather than intensify distress. The goal is not to excuse unacceptable behavior, but to understand it well enough to respond effectively, preserve dignity, and create conditions that make regulation more possible.

About Lynne Reeves Griffin, RN, MEd.

Lynne Reeves Griffin, RN, MEd. is an internationally recognized school and family counselor and the author of the nonfiction parenting guides, Let's Talk About It: Adolescent Mental Health and Negotiation Generation. She’s taught at the graduate level at Wheelock College and has worked with educators in China and Singapore, and throughout the US to adopt social-emotional learning best practices. Lynne writes for Psychology Today and a variety of health, education, and parenting publications. To learn more about Lynne’s work, visit www.LynneGriffin.com.