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Early Intervention coaching is helping children find new ways to regulate, connect and succeed and giving educators the tools to help them get there.

For young children, challenging behavior is often a form of communication.

A child who hits, pushes, throws himself to the floor or struggles to participate may not yet have the words or skills to express what he needs. For early childhood educators, understanding what is behind those behaviors, and knowing how to respond, can be challenging.

That’s where 4-C’s Early Intervention Services make a difference.

Through classroom coaching, observation and individualized support, 4-C Early Intervention specialists work alongside educators to understand children’s needs, strengthen social-emotional skills and create classroom environments where children can succeed.

The results are significant. In classrooms receiving Early Intervention coaching and support, 100% showed significant improvement in Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool (TPOT) scores from the beginning to the end of their coaching cycle. The TPOT measures areas including challenging behavior, teacher-child interactions and the classroom environment.

But behind those numbers are children whose lives, and teachers’ confidence, are changing.

Helping a Child Find His Calm

In Ms. Tasha’s classroom at Keystone Learning Academy, one child was becoming overwhelmed easily. Small frustrations could lead to meltdowns lasting anywhere from five to 45 minutes. During these episodes, he would scratch or hit himself and engage in negative self-talk.

Rather than simply trying to stop the behavior, the 4-C Early Intervention specialist spent time getting to know the child and understanding what might be contributing to his struggles.

Working one-on-one with him, they practiced calm-down strategies and positive self-talk. The EI specialist also worked with the classroom team to consider how the child’s experiences outside of school, including the television and video games he was watching, might be affecting his emotions and behavior. The family was provided with resources and possible therapy options for additional support.

After four to five weeks, the change was remarkable: the number of behavioral incidents dropped to almost zero.

The progress continued as the classroom team gained confidence in supporting him and other children who were experiencing challenges.

Giving a Child a Better Way to Move

At Our Angels Child Care Center, the challenge looked different.

One child had experienced abuse at home and had learned to interact with other children primarily through physical play. When he wasn’t playing with his peers, he would sometimes bang his head against walls or put himself in other dangerous situations.

The EI specialist recognized that the child had significant physical and sensory needs and helped the classroom create a “Rev-It-Up” corner where he could safely move his body and meet those needs.

The team also introduced “heavy work” activities, such as helping move furniture and other heavy objects, giving the child appropriate ways to use his strength and energy throughout the day.

The strategy worked.

Over the following weeks, the child stopped hurting himself and his friends. Eventually, educators reported that he had gone months without an incident.

The impact reached beyond the classroom. His grandmother began using some of the strategies at home, too, and reported that she no longer had to break up as many fights between him and his brother.

As his teacher put it, the difference was clear: the child was getting the sensory input he needed and was learning a better way to participate in his world.

Turning Chaos Into Confidence

Sometimes, the solution isn’t focused on one child. It begins with changing the environment around them.

At The Children’s Learning Center by Goodwill, 4-C’s EI team worked with a classroom where several children were exhibiting challenging behaviors. Through observation, the team discovered that many of the behaviors occurred when children had nothing to do.

The EI specialist collaborated with another 4-C coach to develop age-appropriate activities for those challenging times and helped the classroom establish a predictable daily schedule so children would know what to expect.

The results transformed the classroom.

According to the coaching team, the classroom is now running efficiently, and children who were once among those educators were most concerned about have become leaders in the room.

Two children at the center who had been diagnosed with autism were also connected with Greater Clark Schools for preschool and additional services. Both began attending elementary school for the 2026 school year, while continuing to benefit from their experiences at the center.

Supporting the Educators Who Support Children

Early Intervention isn’t just about changing children’s behavior. It’s about equipping the adults around them with the knowledge, strategies and confidence to respond differently.

At the end of the coaching sessions, 100% of directors and educators surveyed said they felt their classroom’s social-emotional skills had improved. Ninety percent said they felt more equipped to handle challenging behaviors after receiving support from 4-C, with the remaining 10% responding “maybe.”

Most importantly, 100% said the support helped them keep a child in their program who might otherwise have been asked to leave because of challenging behaviors.

And every director surveyed said they felt more confident supporting their staff in responding to challenging behaviors.

Educators identified several strategies as especially helpful, including:

• De-escalation techniques
• Emotional literacy
• Calm-down strategies
• Using timers for problem-solving

For educators, having someone come alongside them, rather than simply telling them what to do, can make all the difference.

“This has been a phenomenal experience that we are so grateful to have had. The additional support from a person with heart and passion and expertise has been so valuable to our teachers and our children. We appreciate the tools that were shared. Our personnel need more support than ever because we want to keep people in the early childhood field. I also appreciate Carrie allowing us to be ourselves and coming in from the beginning as a partner.”

— Tonia Whitaker, Director, Temple Academy

At Our Angels, Director Ashley Rowlett shared a similar sentiment:

“Without Aidan stepping in I wouldn’t know what to do. He has given us so much support and materials and just the conversation has been a blessing. We are so happy to have him part of our program.”

A Partnership That Changes Possibilities

The work of 4-C’s Early Intervention team demonstrates what can happen when educators have the support they need to understand challenging behavior, not as something to simply stop, but as an opportunity to discover what a child is communicating and teach them a new skill.

Through this project, four West Louisville child care centers welcomed Early Intervention coaching into classrooms where educators were struggling with challenging behaviors. Across those classrooms, TPOT scores improved significantly, educators gained new strategies, and children developed stronger social-emotional skills.

The experience also reinforced something 4-C already knows: educators want and need more support in helping young children develop social-emotional skills and navigate challenging behavior.

That’s why 4-C is expanding opportunities for professional development through social-emotional learning, Pyramid Model training, challenging behavior workshops and Communities of Practice—bringing practical strategies and expert support to more early childhood educators.

Because when an educator has the tools to understand a child’s needs, a difficult moment can become a learning opportunity.

A child who once struggled to regulate can learn to calm himself.

A child who once hurt himself or others can discover a safer way to move and connect.

A classroom that once felt chaotic can become a place where children thrive and where educators feel confident in their ability to help.

That’s the impact of 4-C Early Intervention Services: helping educators see what children need, giving them the tools to respond, and creating more opportunities for every child to succeed.

 

During Give for Good Louisville on Thursday, September 10, 2026, make a gift to 4-C and invest in the educators who nurture, teach, and inspire our community’s youngest children.

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