When children misbehave, we punish them. But why don’t we teach?

“Misbehavior” is indicative of skills that a child has yet to develop. To prevent or intervene to address dysregulated behavior requires our effort, as adults, to understand why specific behaviors are occurring in the first place.

This workshop will offer attendees a specific approach to understanding why children’s behaviors manifest in the ways that they do, plus you learn several strategies for helping children to develop self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills that are necessary for school, work, and life success. Children who can develop strong social emotional skills are better able to cope with everyday academic and social challenges.

Felicity Crawford, Ed.D., is a clinical associate professor of special education, and director of a new transdisciplinary master’s program, Education for Equity and Social Justice and a graduate certificate program, Education for Equity and Democracy, at Wheelock College of Education and Human Development at Boston University.

She has taught for many years in preK-12 institutions and has spent the last 23 years as a teacher educator. Through BU-Wheelock’s affiliations with international institutions she has sustained her engagement with educators in countries such as Singapore and Barbados.

Her research interests include addressing inequity in urban special education and other contemporary manifestations of inequity in education. Dr. Crawford is the AY 2023 recipient of BU-Wheelock’s Gordon Marshall Fellowship for teaching.