Trainings your team will actually use

Effective strategies for handling difficult behavior

The training that started it all. From Chaos to Calm gives educators, counselors, and caregivers a practical, brain-based framework for understanding and de-escalating the most challenging behaviors — in real time.

Available as a standalone training — or paired with the Bad Kids Don't Exist keynote for a full-day experience.
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On-demand: From Chaos to Calm is also available as an on-demand master class.

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Understanding and Supporting Children with ADHD

Children with ADHD are often labeled as lazy, defiant, unmotivated, or out of control. In reality, many of the behaviors adults find most frustrating make far more sense when we understand the brain behind them. ADHD is not a problem of intelligence or character—it is a difference in brain function that affects focus, motivation, impulse control, memory, and emotional regulation.

In this engaging and practical session, Mister Stu breaks down what is actually happening in the ADHD brain and why so many traditional responses fall short. Using humor, brain-based explanation, and real-world application, this session moves beyond symptom lists to explore why children with ADHD struggle to “just do it,” why motivation can seem inconsistent, and why behavior often escalates when support misses the real issue.

Participants will be introduced to the BOOST approach, a practical framework for responding to ADHD in ways that work with the brain rather than against it. This session emphasizes progress over perfection, realistic support strategies, and a more compassionate understanding of children whose energy, intensity, and inconsistency are too often misunderstood.

Attendees leave with a clearer framework for ADHD, practical tools they can use right away, and a stronger ability to support children without shame, punishment, or oversimplification.

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Understanding and Supporting Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism isn’t about missing pieces—it’s about pieces that don’t yet work together. When adults understand how a child’s brain is functioning, behavior becomes clearer and support becomes more effective.

Based on Mister Stu’s bestselling book, this training goes beyond surface-level traits to focus on the underlying brain processes that influence behavior, communication, and regulation. Participants gain both clarity and practical strategies that support autistic children without trying to “fix” who they are.

Participants will gain insight into:

• Why autism is often misunderstood

• How brain chemistry and development influence common traits

• The difference between treating symptoms and supporting root causes

• Practical, evidence-informed strategies across home, school, and therapy settings

This session helps adults move from fear or frustration to confidence and clarity.

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Understanding and Supporting Children with Anxiety

Children with anxiety are often misunderstood as overly sensitive, avoidant, dramatic, controlling, or unwilling to try. In reality, anxious children are not trying to make life difficult—they are trying to protect themselves from situations their brains have identified as dangerous, overwhelming, or uncertain.

In this engaging and practical session, Mister Stu breaks down what anxiety actually is, what is happening inside the brain when anxiety takes over, and why anxious children often struggle with flexibility, confidence, emotional regulation, and everyday tasks. Using humor, relatable examples, and brain-based explanation, this session helps adults understand anxiety not as attention-seeking or weakness, but as a nervous system that has become overprotective.

Participants will learn how the brain’s alarm system contributes to anxiety, why avoidance temporarily feels helpful but strengthens anxiety long-term, and how adults can support children without reinforcing fear. The workshop emphasizes helping children build tolerance for discomfort, confidence through experience, and emotional regulation skills that allow them to move forward even when anxiety is present.

Attendees leave with a clearer understanding of childhood anxiety, practical strategies for responding to anxious behaviors, and greater confidence in helping children face challenges with support rather than shame.

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Understanding and Supporting Children with Trauma

Children who have experienced trauma are often labeled as aggressive, manipulative, defiant, attention-seeking, or emotionally unstable. In reality, many traumatized children are living with nervous systems that no longer feel safe—even when the danger has passed. Their brains learn to stay on high alert, causing everyday situations to feel overwhelming, threatening, or impossible to manage.

In this powerful and practical session, Mister Stu helps participants understand what trauma actually does to the developing brain and body. Using engaging stories, brain-based explanation, and real-world application, this workshop explores why traumatized children often react instead of respond, why behavior can escalate so quickly, and why traditional discipline approaches frequently make things worse rather than better.

Participants will learn how trauma impacts emotional regulation, attention, relationships, memory, behavior, and the brain’s internal alarm system. The session emphasizes recognizing changes, patterns, and extremes in behavior while helping adults move away from shame and punishment and toward safety, connection, predictability, and healing.

This session reinforces a simple but life-changing truth: trauma is not just about what happened—it is about the brain believing the danger is still happening. Attendees leave with a clearer understanding of trauma responses, practical strategies for helping children feel safe again, and greater confidence in responding to difficult behavior with compassion, consistency, and effectiveness.

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Understanding and Supporting Children with DMDD and ODD

Children with DMDD and ODD are often labeled as manipulative, defiant, explosive, disrespectful, or “just looking for attention.” In reality, many of these children are struggling with brains that have difficulty understanding, regulating, and responding to emotions—both in themselves and in the people around them. What looks like intentional misbehavior is often emotional overload, misunderstanding, or a nervous system reacting faster than the thinking brain can respond.

In this engaging and practical session, Mister Stu breaks down what is actually happening inside the brains of children with Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). Using humor, brain-based explanation, and real-world application, this workshop explores why some children seem to “go from 0 to 100,” why consequences and power struggles often fail, and why seemingly small situations can trigger massive emotional or behavioral reactions.

Participants will explore how neurotransmitters, emotional processing, the amygdala, and the prefrontal cortex contribute to chronic irritability, explosive reactions, emotional misunderstanding, and oppositional behaviors. The session emphasizes that these children are not simply choosing chaos for no reason—their brains are often misreading emotional intensity, danger, fairness, and social interaction in ways that create genuine distress and dysregulation.

Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of the root causes behind explosive and oppositional behavior, practical strategies for increasing regulation and emotional understanding, and a stronger ability to respond with consistency, calmness, and connection rather than escalating conflict and punishment.

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Understanding and Supporting Children with Depression

Children with depression are often misunderstood as lazy, unmotivated, dramatic, negative, or unwilling to try. In reality, depression is far more than sadness. For many children, it feels like trying to move through life while carrying a backpack full of bricks—everything takes more energy, everyday tasks feel overwhelming, and even things that used to bring joy can begin to feel dull or exhausting.

In this engaging and practical session, Mister Stu breaks down what is actually happening inside the brain of a child with depression and why so many behaviors connected to depression are frequently misinterpreted. Using humor, brain-based explanation, and real-world application, this workshop explores why children with depression may struggle with energy, motivation, concentration, emotional regulation, sleep, appetite, and frustration tolerance.

Participants will learn how neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, and GABA impact mood, pleasure, energy, sleep, and daily functioning. The session emphasizes that depression is not simply a bad attitude or a lack of effort—it is a real difference in brain function that affects how children experience the world, process reward, and manage the demands of everyday life.

Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of childhood depression, practical strategies for supporting emotional and functional regulation, and greater confidence in helping children move forward with compassion, consistency, and realistic support rather than shame or oversimplification.

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