Understanding and responding to difficult behaviour
Developing a Sensory-Driven Approach to Proactive Behaviour Management
8 November 2024: Part 1
22 November 2024: Part 2
This two-part course examines why a sensory-based behaviour management strategy reduces the barriers to learning that complex, distressed, or challenging behaviour can cause by exploring how unmet sensory needs may drive learners’ behaviours.
We ask what complex, distressed, or challenging behaviour is, what function it may serve for the learner, and what impact it has on other learners in the classroom.
We then outline a structured framework to analyse and better understand complex behaviours, focusing on spitting, non-compliance/refusal, aggression, and shouting. This framework will help you identify the sensory triggers or unmet needs behind these behaviours.
Discover how to respond to distressed, difficult, or challenging behaviours with practical strategies and sensory interventions, which will reduce the behavioural barriers to learning a pupil may experience and create a learning environment that supports all the learners in your class.
9 am Admission and virtual tea/coffee to start the session!
9.10 am Welcome and a warm-up
9.20 am Session 1: What is difficult behaviour?
In this session, you will:
explore the definition of difficult behaviour
understand what difficult behaviour is and is not – particularly in the context of our own needs
understand the link between unmet sensory needs and difficult behaviour
be aware that how we define difficult behaviour influences how we manage it
10 am. Session 2: How to create a positive behaviour culture in your classroom
In this session, you will:
understand the barriers to learning difficult behaviour creates
discover what we mean by a positive behaviour culture and the critical elements of this
be introduced to strategies to identify the sensory causes of difficult behaviour
understand how the classroom environment can reduce or escalate difficult behaviour
10.45 am Coffee and a mini online learning activity
11 am Session 3: Practical strategies to reduce the impact of difficult behaviour on successful learning
Clive will introduce you to strategies to:
reduce anxiety, promote calm and develop self-regulation skills
manage expectations of behaviour and increase compliance with expected routines
increase engagement in learning
11.45 am Q & A
12 noon Plenary, thank you and goodbye!
9.00 am Admission and virtual tea/coffee to start the session!
9.05 am Welcome & a warm up!
9.10 am Revision of crucial points from day one
9.15 am Session 1: What functional purpose does the difficult behaviour serve for the learner?
In this session, you will:
revisit the definition of challenging behaviour and how our perceptions can define our response to it
understand the importance of considering a learner’s difficult behaviours in context
understand the key is to identify how these difficult behaviours serve a functional purpose for the learner
9.45 am Session 2: Managing the impact the learner’s difficult behaviour has on others within the classroom
In this session, you will:
understand the effect of the learner’s environment upon their behaviour
understand how the environment can both reduce and escalate problematic behaviours
be able to assess the impact a learner’s regular or prolonged difficult behaviour has on others in the classroom
consider the effect that habituation of these difficult behaviours has on the learner
10.15 am Session 3: A framework to examine a learner’s difficult behaviour
You will be:
be introduced to a framework to examine a learner’s difficult behaviour
use the framework to explore the following specific behaviours: spitting; refusal; non-compliance; kicking/nipping/hair-pulling; shouting.
10.40 am Coffee
10.55 am Session 3: A framework to examine a learner’s difficult behaviour – continued
11.30 am Session 4: Discussion
In this final session, you have the opportunity to discuss individual pupils with both Clive and your fellow delegates. Again, resources and ideas will be shared in chat, so that these are available afterwards.
12 noon Thank you and goodbye!
This course will be appropriate for classroom practitioners from special schools and colleges, mainstream settings with specialist SEN provision and early years settings, and working with pupils with severe/complex learning needs and autism, or both.
Clive Smith has extensive experience working with children with challenging behaviour, those on the autistic spectrum and with profound multiple and learning disabilities. As a specialist advisory teacher within a Behaviour Support Team, he is skilled at advising/supporting staff to meet the diverse needs of this group. Clive contributes to many Hirstwood Training events and conferences, typically on the following topics:
Sensory issues and challenging behaviour
Autism
Identifying and reducing barriers to play
Developing appropriate sensory spaces for pupils with autism
Modifying an individual’s learning environment to maximise their learning potential
All the resources from this event will be in your account at online.hirstwood.com. You will access these using the email address on the booking form and your password (instructions in the joining information for creating your password.)
Here you will find:
a digital recording of the event
resources shared or signposted during the session
a transcript of the Zoom chat
your certificate of attendance
These will be available for 10 days after the event finishes.
Join our Facebook Group Sensory Support Spaghetti to connect with us and other like minded practitioners – for everything sensory!
Each place costs £225 plus VAT.
You can pay by credit card for this booking or request an invoice on the booking form.
‘It was very insightful, and some great advice was given’
‘The most beneficial aspect was the neuroscience and understanding of what is happening in the brain when a young person is presenting with difficult behaviours’
‘Clive really knows his stuff and being able to listen to him explain things was fab’
