SEND / Wellbeing Setting
Building Social Skills & Emotional Regulation
The Situation
A young person with additional needs was regularly becoming overwhelmed in school, leading to conflict with staff, difficulty remaining in class and repeated incidents requiring support from senior or pastoral staff.
The pupil was quick to react, frequently challenged boundaries and had developed a reputation for being “difficult to manage”.
Staff were becoming frustrated, relationships were breaking down and the young person was increasingly expecting interactions with adults to end in confrontation.
There were also difficulties around peer relationships, managing change and recognising when emotions were beginning to escalate.
What BYND Did
BYND began by stepping away from the behaviour itself and focusing first on the relationship.
The early sessions were about building trust, understanding triggers and giving the young person space to talk without feeling judged or corrected. Over time, patterns began to emerge around frustration, sensory or emotional overload, feeling misunderstood and struggling to recognise the early signs of escalation.
Work focused on helping the young person identify those warning signs, develop practical strategies to use before reaching crisis point and find better ways to communicate what they needed.
Sessions were deliberately practical and linked back to real situations in school, so the strategies could be transferred into the classroom, social times and interactions with staff and peers.
BYND also worked alongside school staff to encourage a more consistent response, reduce unnecessary escalation and help adults understand what was sitting behind the behaviour rather than simply reacting to it.
What Changed
As trust developed, the young person became more able to recognise when they were becoming overwhelmed and started using agreed strategies earlier.
Staff reported fewer confrontations, improved communication and a noticeable change in the pupil’s willingness to accept support.
The young person became more reflective after difficult situations and increasingly able to repair relationships rather than simply walking away from them.
There was also an improvement in peer interaction, confidence and the young person’s ability to manage challenging moments without needing the same level of adult intervention.
Fewer escalations.
Better regulation.
Stronger relationships.
The Result
Fewer escalations, stronger relationships with staff and peers, and a young person who was beginning to feel understood rather than managed.
This case study has been anonymised and some identifying details have been changed to protect confidentiality.