Building Blocks of Behaviour in Early Childhood

Let′s talk about behaviour in Early Childhood.
If you are an Early Childhood educator, you already know that caring for and educating young children is joyful, meaningful and sometimes incredibly hard. Behaviour can feel confusing, relentless, and emotionally demanding, especially when you are working within a system where the approach is idealised, unrealistic, or doesn′t quite fit the children in front of you.

Kerry Murphy and Sarah Doyle know how this feels. As early childhood educators, they have experienced the highs and lows, made mistakes, gained experience, learned, reflected and found a new approach. In this book, Kerry and Sarah explore their focus on the reasons behind behaviours as a starting point. They outline the conceptual Building Blocks of their approach and help you to better understand children′s behaviour, empowering you to transform your practice in Early Childhood settings.

They start with a simple but powerful idea: misbehaviour is not something to fix, but something to understand. Children′s behaviour is learning in action. It is shaped by their experiences, relationships, bodies and nervous systems. Self-regulation is a lifelong process, not a box to be ticked. Structured around eight building blocks of behaviour, this book doesn′t offer quick fixes or universal strategies. Instead, it supports you to think differently, stay curious, and scaffold regulation in real, messy, multi-child early childhood spaces.

Written by early educators, for early educators, this book is a practical, compassionate companion for those trickiest moments, for children and for you.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Supplement: The Building Blocks of Behaviour Attunement 1. Knocking Down the Behaviour Management Blocks: Deconstructing behaviour management 2. The Shapes of Regulation: Understanding dynamic regulation 3. Scaffolding Regulation: How adults support regulation 4. Regulating Landscapes: What environments can communicate about behaviour 5. Rest, Flow and Activate: The right to rest, flow and energy states 6. Not as simple as ABC: Meaningful mapping for behaviour and regulation Conclusion: The Building Block of Belonging

About the Author :
Kerry Murphy is an early childhood specialist with a background in neurodiversity, disability and behaviour. She is an associate lecturer at Goldsmiths University, London and freelance trainer. Sarah Doyle is an experienced Special Educational Needs consultant and an Early Years Advisor. She has experience as a Local Authority Early Years Consultant, with responsibility for leading the development of high-quality inclusive provision in a range of education settings. Sarah plans and delivers early years professional training including behaviour in the early years, supporting play and learning and developing effective SEN provision.