Child Development & Behaviour Specialists Approach

Child Development & Behaviour Specialists (CDBS) supports educators, leaders, and organisations to strengthen behaviour support through practice-led, strategy-informed, and evidence-informed work that improves day-to-day response, consistency, and implementation. Behaviour is understood as information shaped by development, relationships, environment, and the broader conditions influencing practice. The focus is on helping teams understand behaviour in context and build clear, consistent responses that can be maintained across staff and settings.

A Practice-led, Strategy-informed Approach

CDBS supports teams to move beyond reactive or inconsistent responses by strengthening day-to-day educator practice.

Practice-led support focuses on:

Strategies are grounded in evidence-informed frameworks and are designed to support clarity, confidence, and predictability in practice rather than reliance on individual techniques or short-term solutions.

Understanding Behaviour Within Context

Behaviour does not occur in isolation. CDBS supports teams to understand behaviour through a developmental, trauma-informed, and function-based lens, recognising the interaction between individual needs, environmental influences, and adult responses.

This includes supporting understanding of:

Child development and regulation

Trauma, adversity, and stress

Neurodiversity and neuro developmental differences

The function of behaviour

Understanding behaviour within context allows teams to respond intentionally, reduce misinterpretation, and support regulation more effectively.

Consistency, Escalation, And Risk Reduction

A core component of CDBS work is supporting teams to reduce the likelihood, frequency, severity, and duration of escalation, while strengthening educator confidence during high-pressure situations.

This includes supporting teams to:

Identify early indicators of escalation

Understand escalation stages and risk factors

Respond consistently and predictably

Reduce reliance on reactive or crisis-driven responses

Strengthen safety for children, educators, and others within the environment

Consistency across adults, environments, and responses is central to reducing escalation and supporting regulation.

Working In Partnership

CDBS works in partnership with organisations across early learning, OSHC, school, community, and adjacent professional settings, including metropolitan, regional, and remote communities across Australia.
Support is collaborative, context-responsive, and aligned with organisational priorities, ensuring practice remains relevant, practical, and sustainable.

Data-informed Practice And Reflection

support educators and leaders to move beyond isolated incidents, using patterns over time to guide consistent, intentional, and proactive practice. When data is used as shared information rather than opinion or assumption, reflection becomes clearer, team responses become more aligned, and sustainable change is more likely across the setting.

This approach supports teams to move away from emotionally driven responses and toward reflective, evidence-informed decision-making.

Data-informed practice focuses on:

Collecting meaningful, observable, and measurable data

Identifying patterns and trends in behavior

Understanding contributing and influential factors

Using data to guide planning and intervention

Reflecting on the effectiveness of strategies over time

Capacity-building And Sustainability

are central to CDBS work with educators, leaders, and organisations, focusing on strengthening shared knowledge, confidence, and consistent practice rather than isolated or short-term solutions. By building internal capability and embedding clear frameworks and reflective processes into everyday practice, CDBS supports sustainable improvement that can be maintained as teams, environments, and complexity change.

Rather than delivering one-off strategies, the focus is on:

Building shared language and understanding

Strengthening professional judgement and strategies

Embedding consistent practice across teams

Supporting sustainability beyond external involvement

Capacity-building supports long-term consistency and reduces reliance on external intervention.

Professional Support Across Australia

CDBS works with organisations across Australia, supporting services in metropolitan, regional, and remote locations. Delivery may include in-person or online engagement, depending on context, scope, and organisational needs.

Our Testimonial

Through our continued partnership with Kel, Goldfields Child Care Centres has been able to build comprehensive practices in the areas of behaviour and development. We have been able to build a strong foundation of knowledge and we continue to learning and develop our understanding. Kel’s hands on approach.........

We are grateful thanks to Kelly for her presentation at Good Shepherd today – her sharing of knowledge was talked about over the lunch break and gave us renewed enthusiasm for supporting our students who display behaviours that indicate they are not ready to learn, with new ways we can support them and feel positive about doing so.

Kelly has become a huge asset to our service, she is a wealth of knowledge about behaviour and development. She provides the tools and resources to improve practice and guide educators.......

Kelly Oldfield delivers high-quality professional learning that empowers school staff with practical strategies and evidence-based approaches to support students with disabilities. Through targeted training, coaching.......