Two Years in The Making, a New Online Course Helps Parents Reduce Children's Escalations

October 12, 2020

Eugene, OR — When children's emotions and behaviors escalate, it can feel like the world is spiraling out of control. It doesn't have to be that way. FosterParentCollege.com, a web-based training resource, announces the release of a new online course, Escalating Behavior Unwrapped, that helps parents understand their child's escalating behavior and how they can intervene before or during the event to help their child—and themselves—de-escalate.

Escalating Behavior Unwrapped is presented by Dr. Martha Merchant, a licensed clinical psychologist and nationally recognized expert on trauma. She notes that, "When children get escalated, they need an adult to help them calm down or de-escalate." With a warm heart and clear language, Doc Martha, as she likes to be called, focuses on helping foster, adoptive, and kinship parents know what to do and when. During the course, Doc Martha suggests caregivers ask themselves “what has happened to my child,” prompting them to think about the child's previous trauma experiences and then to provide help without adding additional stress or retraumatizing the child.

This new course follows Foster Parent College's innovative approach to online learning, by using easy-to-understand discussions, graphics, and interactive exercises. Escalating Behavior Unwrapped first helps parents understand what is happening in children's brains when an escalating event takes place. Next, using exercises and discussions, Doc Martha explains how to respond prior to or during an escalation in such a way as to help the child get regulated or regain control. The training also explores what parents can do to prevent escalations in the first place and what to do after an escalating event.

Produced by Northwest Media, Escalating Behavior Unwrapped joins over 65 other behavioral and parenting courses on the FosterParentCollege.com (FPC) website. This site specializes in interactive web-based training designed specifically for foster, adoptive, and kinship families. FPC training is offered nationwide by many public and private child protective agencies to help train future and current resource parents.

To watch a short preview of the course, Escalating Behavior Unwrapped, visit fosterparentcollege.com/course-info/de-escalation. For more information about the course or FosterParentCollege.com, contact Lee White at Lee@northwestmedia.com.