AIDE Canada Library

"Why are we failing to help children with seriously challenging behaviors?
Too many books about children’s challenging behaviors take a one-size-fits-all approach, without consideration for the autonomic state—the brain/body connection. They also fail to consider children’s individual differences—their unique strengths and challenges. And most approaches to challenging behaviors fail to examine those challenges in the context of a child’s social and emotional development. As a result, many treatment approaches fall short because they simply lack a cohesive rationale or guiding principle.

This book aims to provide a new context to understand behavioral challenges and offer a roadmap for making decisions based on each child’s brain and body. While research and knowledge about the brain has progressed exponentially over the past three decades, we have barely begun to translate this understanding into practical use. In my experience, the neuroscientist Dr. Stephen Porges’s work—his Polyvagal Theory, and specifically the concept of neuroception—offers the best new way to view and support behaviorally challenged children and their families."