Developing Behaviour Support Strategies Through Stories

Written by Michelle Cunningham, Founder of Raising Children Together and author of ‘How I Smashed a Plate’

Imagine you’re in a classroom with 30 primary-age students who are enjoying the lesson. You’re buzzing around, answering questions and checking progress. Suddenly, you hear loud noises in the corridor, but thankfully, your class remains focused. As you ask everyone to look your way to demonstrate the next activity, a shift occurs: two rows back, Sunny raises their voice, stands up, and starts pacing, knocking over stationery on the floor. You ask Sunny a question, but there’s no response. Moving closer, you ask them to sit down. Sunny shouts, “No!” and continues to pace chaotically around the room. You ask them to stop to explain what’s happening. Sunny starts shouting and aggressively throwing stationery across the room. This is the fourth incident this week, and it’s only Wednesday. You’re exhausted, Sunny’s behaviour is escalating, and the class is nervously giggling…

This scenario illustrates that it’s normal for children to become dysregulated at times. They are still learning to identify bodily sensations and label the emotion. Our children are still learning healthy regulation strategies.

According to the NASUWT teachers’ union’s “Behaviour in Schools 2025” report, 62% of teachers reported experiencing stress due to students’ challenging behaviour. Addressing this widespread concern is essential, and one practical approach is to teach regulation strategies within the PSHE curriculum. It’s even better to utilise literature and the arts in PSHE. It’s even better when reducing challenging behaviour increases the chance of retaining highly skilled teachers to fulfil their vocation.

Imagination is a unique human capability that enables us to see endless possibilities. Imagine sitting in your favourite place as you read the next section and notice if your body feels even more relaxed. Encouraging play and creativity using literature as a catalyst lifts students’ moods to explore themes and realise their self-actualisation. Involving role-play and replicating challenges faced by the characters provides a valuable opportunity to learn and practice healthy strategies for overcoming stress, anxiety, anger, and feelings of failure. The benefits include fostering positive mental health, developing empathy, and progressing language structures.

Studies have shown that exposure to literature also promotes better education and social mobility. A gift all children deserve. And if that’s not enough, even Ofsted values a strong ‘love of reading’ because it correlates with academic success.

Now, let’s return to the beginning of our narrative. You feel exhausted. Sunny is shouting and throwing stationery around the room, while the rest of the class giggles nervously. You remembered the class read an interactive story on the smartboard. It was about a character named River, who smashed a plate when angry. River learned to breathe like a dragon, pretend to lift a heavy car over their head, and to find blue objects—all regulation techniques that help calm the nervous system. The class tried these techniques themselves and even came up with their own ideas. Sunny particularly enjoyed jogging on the spot and squeezing their thumb.

You had a choice to make before Sunny’s behaviour escalated further.

You started jogging on the spot and invited the entire class to join you. You saw Sunny pause. You then asked everyone to squeeze their thumb when they noticed something blue. The class were totally focused on the regulation activity. Sunny began to join in. Within 10 minutes, the class were settled into their next lesson.  At break time, Sunny was calm enough to talk to you about what helps them when feeling angry.

About Michelle and Raising Children Together

To conclude this lesson would like to share some experiences that led me to write an interactive eBook.

For 13 years, I have worked with children and young people in various settings, including schools, alternative education programs, youth clubs, and youth theatres. My focus has been on using the arts to explore personal, social, and health themes, giving young people a voice on subjects that matter to them. I am fortunate to work in social care, specialising in training practitioners in residential children’s homes and foster carers on topics such as attachment, behaviour support, trauma, and adversity.

I was even more fortunate to receive a Churchill Fellowship grant to research behaviour and trauma in America. This opportunity solidified my lifelong commitment to embedding evidence-based research into practice. Through this experience, I began to understand the importance of emotional regulation in helping children and young people remain in their “thinking brain,” which is essential in a school environment.

The catalyst moment for writing an interactive eBook came when I had my own children. River, my main character, appeared to me in a dream during my maternity leave, and they have stayed with me ever since.

After 20 years of gaining experience and studying neuroscience, behaviour support, and regulating the nervous system, I realised I needed to create a digital book that includes interactive activities to soothe the nervous system alongside teaching long-term regulation techniques. Children naturally learn through play, and their curious minds thrive when they are calm, alert, and focused. I wanted to capture those moments to help children learn regulation strategies, build resilience, and develop strong aspirations.

Once the eBook was created, schools in Leeds were asking for more. So, I developed a comprehensive interactive PSHE spiral scheme of work for Year 3 and Year 4 and a Regulation Toolkit. I knew developing respectful relationships, caring friendships, and mental health requires quality regulation strategies that, once practised consistently, become automatic. This allows for more time to engage with a curious mind.

If this has piqued your interest, please visit Raising Children Together or contact me, Michelle Cunningham. Members of The Story Project can enjoy a 50% discount.

About The Story Project

The Story Project uses the magic of stories to improve children’s wellbeing and literacy. Led by high-quality, popular books and rooted in the latest research, we have remarkable impact from Nursery to Year 8 with our fully resourced curriculums created by teachers.