Behaviour Restorative Board

This restorative resource is designed to help educators and adults effectively manage and reflect on incidents with children. Using visual supports, it reduces the pressure of spoken words by allowing children to select or point to options that represent their experience.

Key Features of the Restorative Board:

Step-by-Step Reflective Process: The board guides the adult and child through a five-step conversation to build a complete picture of an incident.

Visual Communication: This helps children identify what happened, such as refusing instructions, physical actions like pushing or kicking, or using unkind words without needing to rely solely on verbal explanations.

Contextual Understanding: Dedicated sections help identify where the incident took place (e.g., playground, classroom, sensory room) and who else was involved (e.g., teacher, parent, or friend).

Emotional Literacy: A vital step focuses on how the child was feeling such as frustrated, lonely, or worried to help understand the “why” behind their actions.

Proactive Resolution: Encourages children to make amends through actions like saying sorry, writing an apology letter, or tidying up.

It allows for future Planning: Includes a section for discussing coping strategies to use “next time,” such as taking deep breaths, counting to 10, or finding a quiet place.

Why Choose This Resource?

Highly Accessible: The simple, visual layout is easy to break down and can be used to understand any situation.

Reduces Distress: By proactively dealing with incidents, it prevents unsolved issues from causing ongoing upset for the child.

Builds Reflection Skills: It provides a repeatable method for children to learn how to reflect on their behaviour and understand how to move forward effectively.