Keynotes & Conference Sessions
​​that Help You and Children Thrive!

Looking for an uplifting, motivational presentation loaded with expert, evidence-based content? 

Diane is a passionate, enthusiastic, and personable presenter with many years of national public speaking experience. 
​
She can deliver the keynote presentation that suits your event's every need!
Diane offers virtual keynotes and breakouts as well as in-person conference sessions.
Diane T. Goyette, M.A.
Child Development Specialist
Trainer, Consultant & Speaker
Talk with Diane today!

Our keynotes feature two unique offerings that you'll find nowhere else:

​Our own Framework of Emotional Supports

Our "Four C's" Model
These "C's" are basic human needs that are essential for children's - and adults' - healthy emotional development and well-being.

A Child's Perspective of her Own Challenging Behavior

Hear from an articulate and expressive young adult who has had mental health special needs since early childhood.
Your attendees will gain great insight into children's behaviors, especially challenging ones.
We'd be delighted to tell you more - much more, if you're interested!  Contact us today!

We also offer a Christian perspective!

For Christian programs and conferences, we offer a Christ-centered approach in all our keynotes, conference sessions, child care trainings and children's presentations. 
 Attendees will gain knowledge and skills that are based on the latest research and that promote Christian values as well!
Talk with us to learn more.
We'd love the opportunity to share our unique offerings within our faith!

OUR KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS

"The Four C's" of Emotional Support
(For Administrators)
Learn a structure of emotional support that will transform your entire program.  It will help you boost your own and your teachers' emotional intelligence, enabling all of you to work with children and adults more compassionately, confidently and competently.  When your teachers use the 4 C's in the classroom, they will help improve children's' behavior, contribute to their resiliency, build their self-regulation skills, support their social-emotional development and much more!  The 4 C's are a win, win, win, win!
Welcoming & Supporting Challenging Children 
​(For Administrators)
Learn about possible pathways to children’s challenging behaviors through personal stories and evidence from experts.  You will be challenged to welcome these children into our program and to commit to helping children improve their behavior within the program, instead of removing them.  With your support, your teachers can learn skills to build relationships and to prevent or handle the behaviors. The children and their families, your teachers and your curriculum will all benefit!
Challenging Behavior from the Child's Perspective
(For Administrators and Teachers)
Ever wonder what children are thinking or feeling when they are acting out?  Hear one former challenging child’s story, which beautifully illustrates experts’ advice for supporting children like her.  Leave with the insight and inspiration to help all your children!​
Handling Tantrums and Meltdowns
(For Everyone)
When children melt down, they are saying, “I need help!”  Learn about the three emotional supports children need during distress and practice several strategies for each one.   You’ll leave ready to handle future tantrums and meltdowns with confidence and skill.​
Relationships - The Key to Quality Early Childhood Education
(For Everyone)
​Research shows that “serve and return” interactions that begin in infancy build a strong foundation for children's brain development, positively affecting them for a lifetime. Discover how relationships between children and caring adults affect the children's ability to learn, their behavior and even their health. Leave with many strategies, activities and games for strengthening relationships with all your children, and you'll leave ready to be a skilled brain-builder!
Hurray for the Power of Play!
(For Everyone)
Children's best learning happens through play, and play provides the best opportunities for adults to learn about children. Of course, play is fun for adults, too! Discover the importance of play, identify which types of play have the most benefit for you and for your children, and get tips for being a good observer. Learn to put more play into your schedule, and all your days will become even more powerful times of learning and fun!

Don't see exactly what you're looking for?

These are just a few of the keynotes we offer. 
​We love creating new ones and adapting them to your conference theme.  
We can also convert one of our conference breakout  sessions below or one of our child care trainings into a keynote.  Check them out or talk with us to learn more!

OUR CONFERENCE BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Conferences Sessions

That Help Adults & Children Thrive!
Our conference breakout sessions are packed with reliable information, interaction and FUN!
​Our trainer, Diane Goyette, has presented internationally and is ready to give attendees practical knowledge, skills and the motivation to apply them right away!

OUR SESSION TOPICS

Social-Emotional Development Is our Specialty!

Children's social-emotional development is vitally important for their success in life. 
We are passionate about helping adults support this domain, especially for children with challenging behaviors. 
Our conference sessions will help attendees guide children's behavior like a pro!

Our Social-Emotional Topics include:

Adult-Child Relationships
Challenging Behavior​
Positive Guidance
​The Importance of Play​ ​​​

Other Conference Session Topics:

Children with Special Needs ADHD, Autism, Sensory Processing Disorder
​Curriculum Areas Art, Music & Movement, Science
​Developmentally Appropriate Practice DAP, Assessment
​Diversity A Framework for Understanding Differences
​Health & Safety Child Abuse, Physical Health, Supervision
​Infant & Toddler Development Language & Literacy, Math, Sensory-Motor Delays
​Learning Environments & Planning Learning Centers, Lesson Planning, Schedules, Transitions
​Stress Management Belly Breathing, Play
​Working with Parents Partnerships, Communication
Let us tell you more about the unique offerings in our specialty conference sessions!

Conference Sessions for Teachers

Social-Emotional Development

The Baby Dance
Warm, caring relationships between adults and children are the foundation for a child's healthy development, behavior and health. Learn how to evaluate your relationships, practice strategies to strengthen your relationships with every child in your care. This session benefits not only the children but yourself as well! ​
Calming Your Classroom 
Sometimes a child tends to react in extreme ways to certain situations. These very challenging behaviors can feel like explosions because they happen so quickly and are so powerful.  The child’s behavior is telling adults that he or she does not have the skills to handle the situation appropriately. In this session, you will learn strategies to help the child cope with the stressful situations and leave ready to apply them to make your classroom a calmer place.
Reducing Challenging Behaviors
One approach is to develop a behavior support plan (BSP).  Learn to: determine the function of the behavior, prevent the behavior, teach replacement skills, and respond differently to the challenging behavior.  Leave ready to use your own BSP in your classroom.​
Connecting Games to Play with Infants & Toddlers 
Building strong relationships between adults and children is the most important part of infant and toddler caregivers’ jobs. Come away with at least 25 ideas for songs and games to help you connect with your young children. ​
Connecting Games to Play with Preschoolers
Warm, caring relationships between adults and children are the foundation for a child's development, and connecting activities help to create and maintain these relationships.  Play at least 25 games that help you connect with preschool-age children.
​
Extending Children's Learning with "Powerful Interactions"​
Learn how to turn your everyday interactions with children into “powerful interactions” that strengthen relationships and extend their learning.  Identify the 3 steps of a powerful interaction and explore many strategies for each step.  Leave ready to provide your children with many opportunities to connect with you and to learn!​
Games That Build Self-Regulation Skills
Connecting with children helps them develop self-regulation skills, and research demonstrates that playing certain games does, too.  Play many of these games and hear about the research behind their effectiveness.  Come away with a fun way to help children build these important life skills!
Put More Play in Your Day
Play is the optimal means for supporting a child's learning and development, and it's good for adults, too!  Learn about the benefits of playfulness for adults and identify the different adult play personalities. When you can foster playfulness in yourself and other adults at work, you will all have much more fun every day – and so will the children! ​
Preschoolers' Social Skills
“You know better than that!” we tell children.  But acting appropriately requires knowing what to do instead and when to do it, and having access to what they know.  Help children with these skills and their social skills will improve!
Preventing Tantrums & Meltdowns
​After the moment of a meltdown, what can adults do to lessen the likelihood of the next one?  In this session, you will learn how to build children's capacity to cope with the next stressful event, learn about the self-regulation process and the skills involved and practice guidance and interaction strategies that support emotional regulation. Use these tools in your classroom, and tantrums may soon become a thing of the past!
Sensory Soothers for Strong, Scary Feelings
Some children experience sensory overload which contributes to meltdowns and other challenging behaviors. In this session, you will explore many practical strategies for helping children soothe each of their 8 (yes, 8!) senses. You will also meet “eepworms” and discover how this fidget toy can become a soothing tool, and get ideas for supporting children as they learn to cope with their most stressful emotions.  You may also come away with strategies that ease your stress as well!​
Tried and True Positive Guidance Strategies That Work 
Learn the 15 “Guides to Speech and Action” that have been used successfully for decades and are still relevant today.  Come away with proven strategies that promote positive child behaviors and reduce challenging ones.  ​
​

Learning Environments & Planning

Learning Centers
​In this session, you will discover ways to jazz up your centers to make them “sing” with more appealing and appropriate activities, explore selecting and arranging enticing materials through pictures and discussions, and provide interest areas in all domains every day and effectively manage the centers. With this new knowledge you can help their classrooms come alive with beautiful harmonies of hands-on learning!
Lesson Planning 
Planning is a necessary part of teaching, and it doesn’t have to be a chore! In this session, you will learn the role of planning, the parts of a lesson plan and tips for planning effectively.  Come away with a lesson plan that will help you feel more confident in your next small or large group activity.  ​​

Working with Parents

Challenging Communication with Families
In this session, you will examine the perspectives of both providers and parents of children with special needs, identify common concerns that parents of children with special needs share and learn strategies for delivering difficult messages and how to respond to unpleasant messages. You will leave ready to communicate more effectively and to strengthen your relationships with all parents!

Curriculum Areas

Art 
The most valuable art experiences for young children are those that allow them to explore art media and to express themselves, without the teacher having a finished product in mind. In this session, you will learn about the importance of open-ended art and learn strategies for guiding children’s art and talking with them about their art.  Gather many ideas for an inviting environment for art expression, and leave ready to enjoy watching your children’s artistry blossom and bloom! ​
Language & Literacy
Play is the best way for children to learn and develop, including language and literacy.  Learn over 15 games and playful experiences that help children develop language and learn literacy skills, and have fun doing it! ​
Music & Movement
Children love music!  Learn five essential music experiences, discover the best times in your schedule to implement them, and participate in lots of activities for each.  You'll leave with lots of music activity ideas for your classroom.​

Developmentally Appropriate Practice

DAP in Action
DAP means meeting children where they are and helping them to reach challenging and achievable goals. In this session, you will learn to identify the 5 aspects of good teaching and explore examples of developmentally appropriate practices and activities for each. You will leave ready to provide what your children need most to grow and learn! 
Assessment
Authentic assessment helps teachers get to know their children’s abilities and needs.  This process may seem intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be.  All it involves is gathering evidence about children from different sources in different times and places then organizing and interpreting the information.  In this session, you will learn how to assess children and how to use the information effectively.   

Health & Safety

Activities for Physical Development
Need ideas for getting children active?  Explore activities that improve children’s physical health and development and that benefit their learning and behavior, too.  Play lots of active games that fit recommended guidelines for physical activity. You’ll leave energized and inspired!​

Children with Special Needs
ADHD
Active or ADHD?  Identify the core symptoms of ADHD and how to accommodate the symptoms, help the children cope with challenging situations and teach them the skills that are lagging. You will leave ready to better support all your children!​ ​
Autism
Start with support they can see!   Learn about visual cues and other strategies for helping these children with their challenges in communication, social skills, behavior, and sensory issues.  You’ll be helping children with ASD and your other children, too.​
Sensory Processing Issues
Some children experience problems in taking in information from their senses, which can cause him or her much stress and discomfort. In this lesson, you will learn about these sensory problems and how to accommodate these children.  You will also explore many simple strategies for helping children cope with different issues related to sensory processing.  You will leave with a new understanding of how sensory processing affects not only children experiencing problems but other children and adults, too.

Conference Sessions for Administrators

Here are only a few of our sessions for administrators. We offer many more!  
​Our trainings for administrators can also be adapted for conference breakout sessions as well.
Let's talk about the sessions that will best meet your conference goals.
Let us customize a keynote or conference session that's just right for you!
Adding SEL Tools to Your Curriculum
Social emotional learning is critically important to children’s success in school and in life. Set your program apart by incorporating “relationship time” and many other practical strategies for supporting the social emotional foundations of early learning into your curriculum.
How Adults' Play Benefits People & Programs
Play is not just for children! Learn how adults and the workplace each benefit when adults are playful.  Explore eight play personalities and participate in games for each one. You’ll learn how to foster playfulness in your teachers and yourself!​
Assessment for Directors
Does assessment intimidate your teachers? Learn how to reassure them while ensuring their efforts are appropriate.  Examine the process of authentic assessment and identify types of assessment.  Leave with strategies to help your teachers gather, organize and interpret information effectively.
Building Stronger Programs 
​When you prioritize a strong web of relationships among children, staff and families, you are providing a foundation for the very best high-quality care and education. In this session, you will learn how each of these relationships benefits everyone in your program, and come away with practical strategies to make them your top priority!
Communicating About Challenging Behaviors​​
Hear a mother-daughter pair's perspectives of challenging behaviors.   Learn strategies for having difficult conversations and identify roadblocks to effective communication.  You’ll leave with tools for enhancing your communication skills and strengthening your relationships with all families.
Honoring Diversity
​Participants in this session will learn a useful framework for understanding cultural differences, and explore how different perspectives fit into this framework. You will practice techniques for resolving cultural conflicts, and leave with suggestions for approaching diversity issues in your curiculums. 
The Importance of Play
​​We know that children learn best through play. Do our curriculum design, daily schedules, and program environment reflect that? Let’s work together to examine these components to ensure that you are prioritizing lots of sustained, open-ended, free-choice, child-initiated play.
Sensory Soothers
​Most children get overwhelmed by their emotions, but some children also experience sensory overload.  Discover many strategies and materials (both purchased and teacher-made) to help ease children’s emotional distress and soothe each of their 8 (yes, 8!) senses.  
STEM Curriculum
​We've created a specialty science class for preschoolers and you can, too! Hear ideas for enhancing your STEM curriculum with explorations of air, light and color. You'll leave ready to incorporate the scientific process and nurture your program’s young scientists!
Inclusion - Challenging Children
Welcoming and supporting challenging children benefits them and your program!  Learn how your teachers can develop the skills to help these children themselves.  You’ll be helping your teachers and all your children become more valuable, contributing members of your community.

Don't see the keynote or conference sessions you're looking for? 

​Let us know what you have in mind. 
​We love adapting our sessions to your conference theme!
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