Walk away with practical, ready-to-use strategies for meltdowns, shutdowns, elopement, and aggression.
You’ve tried everything – but some kids still lash out, shut down, bolt, throw chairs, scream, or hit.
These aren’t just “challenging behaviors” – they’re survival responses from nervous systems stuck in distress.
What if the issue isn’t a lack of tools, but a fragmented approach that overlooks the deeper causes?
Today’s kids face complex dysregulation rooted in trauma, sensory challenges, executive functioning delays, anxiety, and neurodivergence.
And traditional methods often fall short, leaving these kids misunderstood, labeled and underserved.
This transformative training with Tere Brown-Irish, OTR/L – creator of the Drive Thru Menu Suite of Exercises – introduces a polyvagal- and sensory-informed framework to address behavior at its root: through connection, regulation, and a whole-child approach.
Designed for occupational therapists, mental health clinicians, educators, and other child-serving professionals, this course offers a practical, compassionate path forward for even the most reactive, aggressive, or withdrawn children.
You’ll discover:
This course won’t just expand your toolbox – it will help you organize it into a powerful, integrated system to support the kids who need it most.
All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners. For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.
NOTE: Each purchase includes CE credit for one individual (participants in full attendance will be able to print the certificate of completion after passing the online post-test (80% passing score) and completing the evaluation). Instructional methods will include PowerPoint, didactic lecture, Q&A, and others.
Continuing Education Information: Credits listed below are for full attendance at the live, interactive webinar only. This webinar is being broadcast live in real-time and must be attended live, in its entirety, in order to earn credit. You will be able to type questions to the speaker. The speaker will see the questions and address them during the presentation as time allows. Please note, your licensing board dictates whether web-based activities are an acceptable form of continuing education, as well as which credit types are acceptable for continuing education hours. Please refer to your licensing board's rules and regulations. If your profession is not listed, please contact your licensing board to determine your continuing education requirements and check for reciprocal approval. For other credit inquiries not specified below, please contact info@pesi.com or 800-844-8260 before the event.
Materials that are included in this course may include interventions and modalities that are beyond the authorized practice of your profession. As a licensed professional, you are responsible for reviewing the scope of practice, including activities that are defined in law as beyond the boundaries of practice in accordance with and in compliance with your profession's standards.
For Planning Committee disclosures, please see the statement above. For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.
Earn up to 6.25 CE hours. Please see below, for more details, as credit amounts vary by jurisdiction and profession.
PESI, Inc. is approved by the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association to offer continuing education for counsellors and psychotherapists. PESI, Inc. maintains responsibility for the program. This activity is approved for 6.0 credit hours.
PESI, Inc., #1062, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: January 27, 2023 - January 27, 2026. Social workers completing this course receive 6.25 Clinical continuing education credits.
Course Level: Intermediate Format: Synchronous Distance. Full attendance is required; no partial credits will be offered for partial attendance.
Canadian Social Workers: Canadian provinces may accept activities approved by the ASWB for ongoing professional development.
PESI, Inc. is approved by the Canadian Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. PESI, Inc. maintains responsibility for the program. This program is approved for 6.0 continuing education hours. Full credit statement at: www.pesi.com/cpa-statement
This activity qualifies for 380 continuing education minutes as required by many national and local licensing boards and professional organizations. Save your activity advertisement and certificate of completion, and contact your own board or organization for specific requirements.
PESI, Inc. is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. Nurses in full attendance will earn 6.25 contact hours. Partial contact hours will be awarded for partial attendance.
Tere Bowen-Irish, OTR/L, has over 45 years of experience as an occupational therapist, specializing in psychiatry and pediatrics across hospital, school-based, and private practice settings. Through her practice, All the Possibilities, she provides consultation, evaluation, treatment, and education to support the functional and emotional well-being of children of all abilities. Tere has delivered continuing education nationally for over two decades, sharing practical, strengths-based strategies with therapists, educators, health professionals, and parents. She is also a certified YogaKids instructor and Mindful Schools Educator. Her publications include the Drive thru Menu Suite of Exercises, Yoga and Me, Come Be a Tree, and My Mindful Music (coauthored with Maryann Harman). Currently, she offers therapy and mindfulness instruction – often with the help of two canine companions – at a therapeutic school serving students unable to attend public school.
Speaker Disclosures:
For live CE credit, you must watch the live webcast in its entirety at its scheduled time and complete the CE quiz and evaluation within one week. You will have access for 90 days after the program for review.
Please note: There will be a 70-minute lunch and two 15-minute breaks; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Lunch and break times will be announced by the speaker and at their discretion. A more detailed schedule is available upon request.
Visit our FAQ page at https://www.pesicanada.ca/faq or contact us at https://www.pesicanada.ca/contact-us.
Getting the Root of Behavior
Communication, Not Defiance
The Role of the Brain & Nervous System
Trauma, Stress and the Developing Brain
Preventative Interventions
Setting the Stage for Success
Acute Interventions
Responding in the Moment
The Human Element in Intervention
Satisfaction Guarantee
Your satisfaction is our goal and our guarantee. Concerns should be addressed to info@pesicanada.com.
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