Drawing on her extensive practical experience, Liz Williams provides a highly accessible and much-needed guide to promoting positive behaviour in early years settings.

In this book, she explains why children may act in the way that they do and how behaviour should be understood differently in children of different ages. She demonstrates that social and emotional capacities differ greatly in these crucial development years and how this impacts on the support needed at each stage. The book considers a host of factors influencing positive behaviour, such as environments and the importance of planning, and looks beyond the child to show the vital role that staff and parents have in promoting appropriate behaviour.

Written in clear and understandable language, this book is full of ideas that early years workers can easily implement in their day-to-day work.

Liz Williams is an experienced consultant with excellent knowledge of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), supporting social, emotional and behavioural needs, nurturing practices, SEND in schools and behaviour systems. She has vast experience of training, supporting, assessment and systems level work in schools and has a range of multi-agency experience. She lives in North West England. For more about Liz, visit www.lizwilliamsconsultancy.co.uk.

Introduction. 1. Definitions of behaviour. 2. Why we and children behave as we do. 3. Why two-year-old behaviour may be different from three or four-year-old behaviour. 4. Teaching self-regulation. 5. What we mean by nurture. 6. The importance of physical environments and their impact on behaviour. 7. The importance of expectations and teaching positive behaviour. 8. Focussing on primary behaviours. 9. Rights, rules and responsibilities. 10. Observing behaviour within a setting. 11. Antecedents behaviour and consequences. 12. The importance of having a plan when it all goes wrong. 13. Staff feelings. 14. Building trust with children and parents. 15. Ten very important things to remember.