• Workshops and presentations
• Praise from participants
• Barbara’s speaking schedule

Barbara Kaiser is giving presentations about challenging behavior throughout the United States and Canada. You can invite her to your conference, school, or center.

Meeting the Challenge (keynote or workshop). If you’re like most of us, you feel frustrated and defeated when confronted with a child with challenging behaviors. The daily struggles sap your energy and joy in teaching. You worry that you're failing not only that child and his family but the rest of the children in your group as well. Early intervention is key when it comes to children with challenging behavior. The adults who spend many hours a day with them can make a difference in their lives. Designed to help those individuals—parents, teachers and caregivers—who are working first-hand with young children with challenging behavior, this keynote address uses an anecdotal approach to identify practical and effective ideas and strategies that have been drawn from research in many fields.

I Didn’t Mean to Ruin Your Day (keynote or workshop). When you recognize that a child’s challenging behavior is rooted in biological and environmental factors and not a desire to ruin your day, it becomes possible for you to figure out what the child needs to learn in order to succeed. This workshop will help you understand why a child behaves in a particular way and make it much easier to meet those needs and effectively manage inappropriate behavior. handout

Prevention Is the Best Intervention (keynote or workshop). Challenging behavior can be prevented when teachers understand the risk and protective factors in children’s lives and create a responsive learning environment, program, and social context. This workshop applies research to practice, investigates biological and environmental risk factors and the role of the brain, and helps teachers to redefine the concept of fairness.

Time-out for Time-out! (workshop). This workshop explores alternatives to time-out and the effects of punishment. It examines the use of natural and logical consequences and provides an overview of Functional Assessment and Positive Behavior Support, important tools that enable early childhood educators to help children with challenging behavior learn appropriate ways to express their needs.

Functional Assessment and Positive Behavior Support (workshop). The premise of the linked strategies of Functional Assessment and Positive Behavior Support is that every challenging behavior can be thought of as a child’s solution to a problem and a form of communication. This workshop will help educators learn how to use these strategies to understand where the behavior is coming from, why it is happening at a particular time in a particular place, the logic behind it, and function (or functions) it serves for the child. Even if the behavior is unacceptable, the function seldom is.

There’s Bullying in My Classroom (keynote or workshop). What is bullying? Why do kids bully? Who are the children who bully? Who are the targets of bullying? Who are the bystanders? Bullying happens everywhere, whether the school or classroom is large or small, urban or rural. This workshop answers questions that all teachers have about bullying and provides strategies for dealing with this pervasive problem.

Opening the Culture Door (keynote or workshop). Every place and everyone has a culture. This workshop explores how understanding that culture can improve a teacher’s ability to prevent and respond to challenging behavior. handout and A Mother Speaks

WEVAS: Working Effectively with Violent and Aggressive States (workshop). Even to the experienced teacher, challenging behavior sometimes seems to come out of nowhere. WEVAS helps you to recognize warning signs, see things from the child’s perspective, and match your response to the child’s needs.

Parents Are Partners (keynote or workshop). Talking to parents about their child’s challenging behavior can be one of a teacher’s most difficult jobs. This workshop provides lots of tips for connecting with parents and creating a team approach to challenging behavior.

Challenging Behavior in Young Children: The Director’s Role (keynote or workshop). A child care center director/supervisor is an advocate for the children, the staff, and the center. This workshop looks at the issues related to the director’s role in supporting staff and families when there are children with challenging behavior in the center. In addition to developing an understanding of why some children behave inappropriately, administrators will learn to understand and respond effectively to staff and family expectations, examine best practices for positive guidance, and explore guidelines for developing (or revising) and implementing a behavior management policy.

Parent Workshop (a workshop for parents). Struggling with their child’s challenging behavior at home, families often seek new strategies. This workshop will help them to understand their child and themselves and suggest ways to prevent and respond to challenging behaviors more effectively.

Participants rave about Barbara’s presentations!

“We were thinking about you yesterday as we prepare to share our workshop notes with our colleagues. I have to tell you how much I loved your workshop and the ideas I took from it. I am using it at home a lot with my own children. We are certainly trying hard to implement it in our classes, too, and I already see some positive changes in the general class behavior. I do not have an “Andrew” this year so I won’t need everything, but it certainly helped me set a different tone in my class. Thanks again for all the tips.” —Julie, Singapore American School, Singapore

“This workshop opened my eyes to things I can do differently. Barbara is great! I loved her enthusiasm. There were lots of opportunities for discussion and exchange of ideas." —Preschool Teacher, Richardson, TX

“Learning about Functional Assessment and Positive Behavior Support using an actual case study was very practical and useful." —Childcare Educator, Baltimore, MD

“Finally, a workshop where I learned some strategies that are useful and realistic. I plan to use them with two of the children in my classroom." —Pre-K Teacher, Baton Rouge, LA

“I have found the WEVAS system invaluable this year working with special needs 4-year-olds. It significantly changed the behavior of the child I was working with, after more traditional methods (sending him home, time-out, talking to him) did not work at all.”

“Barbara packed the day with insights about young children and useful strategies for the classroom teacher….we were energized.”

“Barbara’s workshop is not only practical, but full of her own personal experiences.”

“Virtually everyone learned practical strategies they couldn’t wait to try!”

“We were thrilled with the day! Barbara challenged teachers to rethink their classroom management practices and apply new ideas.”

Where is Barbara going?