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Digital Seminar

Reactive, Aggressive, and Withdrawn Kids: A Complete Guide to Transforming Extreme Dysregulation and Challenging Behaviors


Speaker:
Tere Bowen-Irish
Duration:
Approx 6 hrs
Language:
Presented in EN
Copyright:
Nov 20, 2025
Product Code:
POS150406
Media Type:
Digital Seminar - Also available: Live Webinar


Description

  • Decode extreme behaviors as nervous system distress – not defiance
  • Integrate polyvagal, sensory, and trauma-informed tools
  • Build Relational safety for even the most reactive kids

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professionals, this course offers a practical, compassionate path forward for even the most reactive, aggressive, or withdrawn children.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:

  • How to decode extreme behaviors and design a path forward
  • Coregulation and sensorimotor-based strategies to restore connection
  • New tools for responding to elopement, shutdowns, aggression, and self-injury
  • Polyvagal-informed techniques that support nervous system resilience
  • Personalized “Go-To Menus” for prevention and recovery routines
  • Coaching methods to foster consistent, compassionate environments

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.

Credit


Canada Credit - CE Information Coming Soon

Continuing education credit information is coming soon for this non-interactive self-study package.

CEs may be available for select professions, as listed in the target audience. Hours will be dependent on the actual recording time. Please check with your state licensing board or organization for specific requirements. 

There may be an additional fee for CE certificates. Please contact our Customer Service at 1-800-844-8260 for more details. 

**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 professions standards.



Speaker

Tere Bowen-Irish's Profile

Tere Bowen-Irish Related seminars and products


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:
Financial: Tere Bowen-Irish is the owner of All the Possibilities, LLC., and has an employment relationship with Seacoast Learning Collaborative. She receives royalties as a published author. Tere Bowen-Irish receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Tere Bowen-Irish is a member of AOTA.


Additional Info

Program Information

Questions?

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Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)

Access never expires for this product.


Objectives

  1. Identify the neurological and sensory-based origins of extreme dysregulation in children and adolescents.
  2. Identify behavioral outbursts as communication of unmet developmental, emotional, or safety needs.
  3. Choose polyvagal- and sensory-informed strategies to support nervous system regulation and resilience.
  4. Develop individualized prevention and intervention plans using structured tracking and observation tools.
  5. Identify in-the-moment responses to acute behaviors such as elopement, aggression, shutdowns, and self-injury.
  6. Utilize relational safety, co-regulation, and recovery rituals to rebuild trust and promote long-term emotional growth.

Outline

Getting the Root of Behavior

Communication, Not Defiance

  • Unmet developmental, sensory, cognitive, and social-emotional needs
  • Environmental contributors: schedule, demands, transitions, overstimulation
  • Emerging diagnoses (ASD, ADHD, PDA & more)
  • Gaps in functional skills
  • Behavioral patterns across settings: home, school, community
  • Relational dynamics: peers, adults, authority
  • Sensory processing challenges and common environmental triggers
  • Structured behavior tracking and data collection tools

The Role of the Brain & Nervous System

Trauma, Stress and the Developing Brain

  • The impact of chronic dysregulation on learning, participation, and relationships
  • Brain pruning in the early teen years: Behavioral implications
  • Nervous system states explained through Polyvagal Theory
  • Differentiating shutdown, fight/flight, and functional freeze responses
  • Recognize how your own nervous system impacts responses to dysregulation
  • Supporting executive functioning skills: inhibition, flexibility, planning, and self-monitoring
  • Limitations of the research and potential risks

Preventative Interventions

Setting the Stage for Success

  • Neurodiversity-affirming, sensory-safe environments
  • Daily mindfulness practice to build self-awareness
  • 20+ movement strategies for use throughout the day:
    • Heavy work to support emotional regulation
    • Vestibular input to facilitate focus
    • Bilateral coordination tasks to facilitate cognitive flexibility
  • Visuals, timers, and cues for transitions and predictability
  • Go-to menus of coping tools and regulation strategies
  • Point-of-performance coaching to build skills in real time
  • Choice, autonomy, and refusal as communication
  • Play, humor, and connection
  • Use-anywhere tools for emotional literacy
  • Consistency across home, school, and therapy settings

Acute Interventions

Responding in the Moment

  • Meltdown vs. shutdown vs. escalation
  • Crisis response team: Trusted adults, not just available staff
  • Cues and precursors to acute behavior
  • Verbal de-escalation scripts and visual cues
  • Structrued exits, alternative escape routes, and break plans
  • Elopement, self-harm, or aggression: Safety and regulation as the goal
  • Connection during refusal or withdrawal
  • “Bounce-Back” systems post-incident to rebuild trust and resilience
  • Neuroaffirming incident documentation: No blame-based language

The Human Element in Intervention

  • Embedding relational safety as a core strategy
  • Co-regulation opportunities
  • Consideration of an embodied approach
  • Student voice and nervous system signals
  • Emotional recovery and re-engagement
  • Predictable rituals for repair and reconnection
  • Intentional relationship-building

Target Audience

  • Occupational Therapists
  • Social Workers
  • Counselors
  • Educators and School Administrators
  • School Nurses
  • Psychologists
  • Speech-Language Pathologists
  • Physical Therapists

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