Dr. Mona Delahooke

A Paradigm Shift in Understanding Children's Behavior

This is a self-paced course that you can start at anytime. Learners have access for one year.

Self-paced, on demand

The Behavior Isn't the Problem. It's the Signal.

In four unscripted conversations, Polyvagal Theory originator Dr. Stephen Porges and child psychologist Dr. Mona Delahooke make the case that problematic behavior from children is a message from their nervous system doing its best to stay safe.

"Physiological state regulation is ground zero. Behaviors aren't ground zero." — Dr. Mona Delahooke

For parents, teachers, and school administrators ready to move from managing behavior to understanding what's underneath it.

  • Four in-depth conversations, about 3 hours total
  • Real stories from the classroom, the therapy room, and their own lives
  • One year of access
  • Practical regulation tools you can use the same day

Enroll at $99

Course Framework

This course consists of 4 prerecorded videos. 


  • Module One (40 min): Understanding Behaviors Through a Polyvagal Lens

  • This module presents a discussion about the larger idea underlying the paradigm shift in understanding human behaviors. Currently, in education and in all methods that focus on behaviors, everything is “outside the body”. Dr. Porges and Dr. Delahooke discuss the behavioral model vs physiological model through the polyvagal perspective. Through this lens ground zero for understanding our kids is their physiology, not their behavior.
  • Module Two (49 min): The Power of Respecting a Child’s (and Parent’s) Physiological State

  • In this module, Dr. Porges and Dr. Delahooke explore the underpinnings of physiological state, with Dr. Porges explaining how feelings, emotions and behaviors are a derivative of physiological state. Central to the conversation is the concept of neuroception, which Dr. Delahooke explains through real life examples. Neuroception is the key concept in understanding and redefining behaviors as adaptations.
  • Module Three (45 min): Individualizing Education and Caregiving

  • Now that they’ve set the groundwork, Dr. Porges reviews the way in which our emotions have come to be regarded as a brain process rather than a whole body process. Through personal stories and cases, Drs. Porges and Delahooke discuss how important it is for educators and mental health professionals to shift their thinking to a whole-body view of both emotions and intellect. Top-down methods can be very helpful, but they must be enhanced by a knowledge of our physiology and the importance of our visceral feeling.
  • Module Four (46 min): Real life Examples & Application

  • Dr. Porges and Dr. Delahooke refer to their own experiences as a father and a mother as they explore topics such as nurturing your child’s state to build resilience through non-verbal cues, understanding the unintentional nature of your child’s behavior, and, perhaps most importantly, the notion that understanding your own state is essential to giving the right cues and co-regulating your children and students. The module also includes commentary on how Covid influenced our states during 2020 and 2021 as we all tried to cope with the unnatural lack of social engagement.

Pricing options

Your access will last for 365 days from the date of registration.

Reviews

5 star rating

This presentation is so helpful and ON TARGET. Many years...

Sueberry McMurray

Fantastic. This presentation is so helpful and ON TARGET. Many years of teaching here! Sue McMurray Durham NC

Fantastic. This presentation is so helpful and ON TARGET. Many years of teaching here! Sue McMurray Durham NC

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5 star rating

I thought the title was very appropriate

Yvonne Thompson

I thought this course was a wonderful course. I very much enjoyed the information shared to best support children, families and working in schools to promot...

Read More

I thought this course was a wonderful course. I very much enjoyed the information shared to best support children, families and working in schools to promote more positive change in supporting children

Read Less

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Instructor(s)

Mona Delahooke, PhD

Mona Delahooke, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist with more than 30 years of experience caring for children and their families. She is a senior faculty member of the Profectum Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting families of neurodiverse children, adolescents and adults. She is a trainer for the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. Dr. Delahooke holds the highest level of endorsement in the field of infant and toddler mental health in California, as a Reflective Practice Mentor (RPM). She is a frequent speaker, trainer, and consultant to parents, organizations, schools, and public agencies. Dr. Delahooke has dedicated her career to promoting compassionate, relationship-based interventions for children and families exposed to trauma and those with developmental, behavioral, emotional, and learning differences. She is the author of the Best-Selling Beyond Behaviors: Using Brain Science and Compassion to Understand and Solve Children’s Behavioral Challenges (PESI, 2019), which won the Gold Medal 2020 Award from the Independent Book Publisher’s Association, and Social and Emotional Development in Early Intervention: A Skills Guide for Working with Children (PESI, 2017). Her popular blog http://www.monadelahooke.com covers a range of topics useful for caregivers and childhood providers.

Creator of Polyvagal Theory Stephen Porges, PhD

Stephen W. Porges, Ph.D. is a Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University where he is the founding director of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium in the Kinsey Institute. He is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, and Professor Emeritus at both the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland. He served as president of the Society for Psychophysiological Research and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences and is a former recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development Award. He is the originator of the Polyvagal Theory, a theory that emphasizes the importance of physiological state in the expression of behavioral, mental, and health problems related to traumatic experiences. He is the creator of a music-based intervention, the Safe and Sound Protocol ™ , which currently is used by approximately 4,000 therapists to improve spontaneous social engagement, to reduce hearing sensitivities, and to improve language processing, state regulation, and spontaneous social engagement. Dr. Porges is a founder of the Polyvagal Institute.