Guest Speaker: Behaviour Isn’t the Problem: Understanding Dysregulated Communication in the Classroom
At a glance
Guest speaker
Paul Bray
Webinar duration
2 hours
Suitable for
Thrive Licensed Practitioners
CPD
Worth 5 CPD points
Price per place
£78 excl. VAT
Course outcomes
By the end of this 2-hour session, you will have gained:
- A clearer understanding of why behaviour happens, not just what it looks like
- Practical strategies to reduce escalation in real-time
- Greater confidence in balancing boundaries with relational approaches
- Language and frameworks to support whole team consistency
- A shift in perspective that can change not just responses - but relationships
Who is it for?
This session is suitable for Thrive Licensed Practitioners working in PRUs, Alternative Provision, special schools, and mainstream settings supporting learners with additional needs.
Introducing guest speaker: Paul Bray
Paul has over 25 years of mainstream and SEND teaching and leadership experience. He continues to work directly with children and young adults and, as a SEND advocate, consultant and tutor, with professionals across education, health and social care. Paul trained as Thrive Practitioner in 2014.
Paul has spoken at major events including the National Association of Colleges Conference, the National Children’s Bureau Conference, the World Education Summit, and the Global Education Systems & Solutions Conferences (2022–2023), where he also delivered safeguarding workshops. He was a speaker and Chair of Inclusion of Learners with Disabilities at the International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation 2023. In 2024–2026, he spoke at TES SEND Show London and Manchester, supporting educators to improve SEND provision.
In 2023 and 2024, Paul was a finalist for SEN & Inclusive Resource Supplier of the Year at the GESS Education Awards, Dubai. In 2024, he was named Top Education Trailblazer Putting Students on the Map of Success by Insights Success Magazine (USA). In 2025, Paul spoke at the World Inclusion Congress, Kazakhstan. He published his first SEND RSE resource book with Routledge in 2021.
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What you'll learn
In many settings, behaviour is still approached through control, compliance, and consequence. Yet for many learners, particularly in PRUs, Alternative Provision, and SEND contexts - this approach can unintentionally escalate the very behaviours we are trying to reduce. This session reframes behaviour as communication. It explores how dysregulation, unmet need, and relational rupture sit beneath what we often label as ‘challenging behaviour’, and how adult responses can either escalate or de-escalate situations.
Drawing on real-world practice, the session introduces the concept of dysregulated communication and begins to explore a relational safeguarding approach that supports both safety and dignity, without losing clarity, boundaries, or professional responsibility.
By the end of the session, you will be able to:
- Reframe behaviour through a communication and regulation lens
- Explore how adult responses influence escalation and de-escalation
- Understand the limitations of purely punitive approaches
- Recognise dysregulated communication
- Apply practical strategies for co-regulation and relational responses