When Behavior Speaks: Play Therapy Interventions for Challenging Behaviors

The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), in partnership with The Next Place Therapy Services are pleased to offer When Behavior Speaks: Play Therapy Interventions for Challenging Behaviors.

Challenging behaviors are often expressions of unmet needs, emotional dysregulation, trauma, or environmental stress. This 1-day experiential training helps clinicians interpret behavioral presentations through a play therapy framework and respond with developmentally attuned, evidence-informed interventions.

Participants will deepen their understanding of the emotional meaning behind aggression, defiance, withdrawal, impulsivity, and disruptive behaviors. The training integrates attachment theory, nervous system regulation, and trauma-informed care with both directive and non-directive play therapy techniques.

Through hands-on activities, structured case consultation, and intervention design, clinicians will leave with practical strategies they can immediately implement in their sessions.

During This Training, Participants Will:

• Understand how challenging behaviors communicate unmet needs through a play therapy lens.
• Identify emotional, relational, trauma-related, and neurobiological contributors to dysregulation.
• Experience regulation-based play interventions that support nervous system stabilization.
• Practice therapeutic limit-setting grounded in child-centered play therapy principles.
• Learn directive play therapy techniques for aggression, defiance, and impulsivity.

Registrants who are not eligible school-based providers will have their registrations canceled.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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Host or Publisher OSSE Healthy Schools and Wellness Programs Team