Workshops
Workshops for Early Childhood Educators
Workshops help teaching teams understand what may be driving behavior, stress, resistance, and dysregulation so they can respond with more clarity and care.
Maybe your teaching team is feeling stuck…
You may be noticing that despite your team's best efforts, behaviors continue to escalate. The usual strategies, routines, behavior plans, consequences, and incentives do not make the difference you hoped for. In some cases, the more you do, the more stress, dysregulation, or resistance you find.
Playing behavior Whack-a-Mole leaves educators feeling frustrated and drained, questioning what else they are supposed to try when they are already doing everything they were trained to do. There may be a growing sense of tension in the classroom, concern about the impact on other students, and uncertainty about how to support children whose needs feel increasingly complex.
Beneath the struggle, beneath the complaints, there may be a quieter concern: we want to help, but nothing we're doing seems to be working, maybe we can't.
What your team may really need is…
Clear, compassionate, and practical guidance to make sense of what is actually driving behavior, not just how to manage it.
You may need a shared framework that helps your whole staff understand behavior through a different lens: one that considers nervous system development, trauma, sensory processing, attachment, and neurodivergence.
Most importantly, you may need a guiding philosophy that helps shift from reaction and crisis management toward connection, regulation, and prevention, so that both students and educators can experience more calm, clarity, and success in the classroom.
You are not looking for more generic strategies or rigid systems. You're looking for understanding that fits the complexity of real children in real classrooms, and practical tools your team can actually use together.
Your course was an incredibly positive experience and left me feeling much more equipped to help students really work through some of the social/emotional challenges they will face in my classroom.
Trainings for Educators and Schools
Workshop topics can be shaped for early childhood organizations, schools, districts, and conference audiences that need shared language and practical tools.
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From Katie's Book
Working With Children Who Have Experienced Trauma
Using the framework outlined in Katie's book, Trauma Responsive Strategies for Early Childhood, this training helps educators understand trauma's impact on young children's development and respond with safety, connection, and regulation in mind.
View the book at Redleaf Press -
Understanding and Responding to Behavior
Behavior is a form of communication. In this training, we explore what’s beneath the surface and offer supportive, relationship-based tools for responding to children with clarity and care.
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Understanding Neurodivergence and Creating Neuroaffirming Classrooms
Learn how to recognize and honor diverse ways of thinking and learning, and create inclusive spaces where all neurodivergent children feel valued, understood, and empowered.
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Understanding Pervasive Drive for Autonomy (PDA) in the Classroom
Discover how PDA shapes children’s behavior and learn compassionate strategies to support their unique needs while fostering connection and cooperation.
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The Classroom Environment as a Regulator
A practical look at the classroom environment as a third regulator, with attention to spaces, rhythms, and routines that can support safety, belonging, and regulation.
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Working with children who have experienced foster care and adoption
This training offers insight into the unique experiences of children who have been adopted or have experienced foster care. It provides relationship-centered tools to support trust, safety, and connection in the classroom.
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Understanding The Impact of Neonatal Drug Exposure on Development
Gain compassionate insight into Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome (NOWS/NAS) and learn how to support the unique needs of affected children with patience and care.
Shared Lens
The goal is not another rigid system
Across workshop topics, teams practice a shared language for understanding behavior, regulation, trauma, attachment, and neurodivergence in real classroom moments.
- Shared staff language for behavior, regulation, trauma, attachment, and neurodivergence.
- Topic-specific strategies that teachers can adapt to real children and real classrooms.
- Practice moving from crisis response toward prevention, connection, and repair.
- Support for educators' emotional reality while keeping children's needs clearly in view.
Bring a workshop to your team
Share a little about your organization, audience, timeline, and what your educators are facing. Katie can follow up about professional development, keynotes, or consultation.