ABSTRACT
Successfully supporting pupils who present with unwanted behaviour in school is one of the most challenging aspects of teaching and education. Very often, particularly in classroom situations, a young person who is fighting, flighting, or freezing can be very challenging for the teachers and adults trying to support them because these behavioural responses are not conducive to good order. This chapter summarizes some of the biological processes which underpin the development of challenging behaviours by triggering the body's fight/flight/freeze responses. Because many of the unwanted behaviours we see in schools are driven by these chemical and developmental responses within the brain and body, behaviours can be quite resistant to change – the need to engage in that behaviour is often an automatic safety response. Thinking more deeply about why behaviour occurs is the first and most crucial part of becoming more systematic in our support. Incidents of challenging behaviour cannot be viewed as random, out-of-the-blue events that arise 'from nowhere'.
