Free templateChild Development & Programming

Inclusion Without Burnout: Behaviour Support Guides

A set of three downloads on supporting children with additional support needs: a four-page Participant Takeaway Guide covering prevention, a 4-step de-escalation model, post-incident steps, ABC documentation and family communication; a three-page set of De-Escalation Scripts for toddlers and preschoolers; and a one-page image of a Director-Only Leadership Toolkit.

Format: PDF guide · US Letter
Pages: 4 + 3 (two PDFs) and one image
Best for: Educators · room leads · directors
Updated: Oct 2026

Download free template See what’s inside

No sign-up required. Print it and share it with your team — it’s free for any child care program to use.

Preview of the Inclusion Without Burnout: Behaviour Support Guides

What’s inside

Two PDF guides and one image, from mindset to scripts

Participant Takeaway Guide – prevention and de-escalationStarts from “Challenging behaviour is communication”, lists predictable hot spots (transitions, waiting, lining up, clean-up, loud environments, large group time) and prevention strategies, then gives a 4-Step De-Escalation Model: regulate yourself, name the feeling, state the boundary, offer a safe choice.
Participant Takeaway Guide – after the incidentSix “Reset & Repair” steps from regulate to document, the ABC documentation format (what happened before, what the child did, what staff did and the result), a three-part structure for family conversations and a 7-Day Action Plan.
De-Escalation Scripts by Age GroupA five-step script for toddlers (18 months–3 years) using one-to-three-word phrases such as “Safe hands.”, and a five-step script for preschoolers (3–5 years) using short full sentences. Each has a worked example, and a Key Differences list closes the guide.
Director-Only Leadership Toolkit (image)A PNG image, not a PDF, subtitled “Embedding Inclusion Into Systems”. It shows a six-question Inclusion Sustainability Audit and the start of a second section, Burnout Prevention Through Systems. The image ends partway through that section.

How to use it

Four steps to put it to work this week

1
Read the Takeaway Guide as a teamIt is four pages of short lists. Go through it at a staff meeting so everyone shares the same starting point.
2
Agree on one script per roomTake the toddler or preschool script and decide together which phrases your room will use, so children hear the same words from every adult.
3
Pick one hot spotThe 7-Day Action Plan asks you to identify one hot spot and adjust one transition. Choose the routine where behaviour escalates most often.
4
Debrief and documentAfter an incident, use the two-minute team debrief (trigger, what helped, what to adjust) and record it in the ABC format.

Tips from operators

What centers that use this well do differently

Learned the hard way across 3,000 child care spaces — and from the directors and educators who join our Lunch & Learns and Learning Labs.

Keep the words short

Both guides make the same point: shorter language supports regulation. Practise the scripts aloud so they come out short under pressure.

Post the four steps

Put the 4-Step De-Escalation Model on the wall at adult eye level, where staff can glance at it during the day.

Check against your policy

The scripts mention physical guidance and a calm space. Make sure how you use them matches your centre’s behaviour guidance policy and your licensing rules.

Do it digitally in ChildFriendly Pro

Plan the week in the app — tagged to your framework automatically

Build the same plan in ChildFriendly Pro and every observation you log is tagged to FLIGHT, ELECT, ELF or your own outcomes, added to each child’s portfolio and shared with families in their daily journal.