Crisis Response

When de-escalation strategies fail, teachers often feel powerless in the face of escalating student behaviors. But even in the hardest moments, you are not without tools. This article explores the crisis cycle and offers 8 practical steps to guide students safely through the storm. Learn how to stay calm, protect safety, hold students accountable, and build stronger connections that transform behavior over time.

It was a typical day in Ms. Turner's second through fifth grade Special Day Class. Despite it being a class that serviced students diagnosed with severe behavior challenges, the classroom was filled with joyful sounds of learning as the students eagerly engaged in and completed their daily language arts warm-up. Andrew was a kind and quiet second grader who loved school. He stood out as one of the brightest students in the class even though he was the youngest. Unlike some of

Understanding and managing extreme emotional dysregulation in our students is a skill that is becoming more and more necessary. If we are to succeed in creating safe classroom environments that foster high levels of growth and learning for all our students, we must learn to quickly and efficiently handle students’ emotional outbursts. How could Mrs. Trudeau have reacted to Devyn’s behavior? How would you have reacted? Let’s face it! Gone are the days when assigning standards