Emotion dysregulation during therapy is common and can block progress towards a child’s goals. The course aims to equip pediatric professionals with practical, evidence-based tools for supporting children's mental, emotional, and behavioral health, including co-regulation strategies that promote lasting well-being. Emotional intelligence, co-regulation skills, and evidence-based frameworks are central to the course curriculum. This introductory course was designed for an interprofessional audience.
Live Webinar
Tue, Sep 8, 2026 at 12:00 pm EDTCEUs/Hours Offered: AOTA/0.1 Introductory, OT Service Delivery, Foundational Knowledge, 16947; CE Broker/1.0 CE Broker #20-1398852; IACET/0.1; NBCOT PDUs/1.25 Beginner, Pediatrics
Learning Outcomes
- After this course, participants will be able to explain how to apply evidence-based emotional regulation tools and co-regulation interventions to support a child’s mental, emotional, and behavioral health during a tantrum or an episode of emotion dysregulation.
- After this course, participants will be able to recognize how to easily integrate “Emotion Coaching” techniques into play-based therapy sessions and throughout a child’s daily routines at home, school or in the community.
- After this course, participants will be able to identify at least 2 emotion regulation strategies that can be communicated and shared with their interdisciplinary team to improve care coordination when working on behalf of a mutual client or student.
Agenda
| 0-15 Minutes | Introduction to emotional intelligence. The biological foundations of empathy: how early attachment patterns influence emotional development & psychological well being |
| 15-20 Minutes | The sustainable clinician's guide to raising emotional intelligence and becoming an effective co-regulator. |
| 20-35 Minutes | The 5 step, evidence-based, emotion regulation framework that teaches and instills life-long mental health habits. |
| 35-40 Minutes | The Arc of the Tantrum: how to manage the various phases of dysregulation in pediatric clients |
| 40-50 Minutes | Emotion coaching strategies & co-regulation techniques to support pediatric mental health and emotion regulation. |
| 50-55 Minutes | Interprofessional context; Reflection and barriers |
| 55-60 Minutes | Summary; Q&A |
Presented By
Jessica McMurdie
OTR/L
Jessica is a seasoned pediatric occupational therapist with over 25 years of experience working with children and their families in schools, early intervention centers, and outpatient clinical settings. She holds dual degrees in OT and Spanish from the University of WA and specialty certification in Sensory Integration from the University of Southern California. She is the former owner and clinical director of Stepping Stones Therapy Network, a successful pediatric interdisciplinary outpatient clinic in the Seattle area, which she sold in 2022. Currently, Jessica's OT passion is creating and sharing resources and online courses through her company, Play It Forward Therapy. Jessica's latest mission is to promote the importance of pediatric mental health and emotion regulation. She loves teaching clinicians about emotional intelligence and how emotion coaching strategies can be easily incorporated into traditional therapy sessions.
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Continued and its subsidiaries provide professional education authored by qualified Subject Matter Experts for continuing education purposes. These materials are intended for educational purposes and do not constitute medical advice or a substitute for individual clinical judgment. Continued is not a clinical healthcare provider; the licensed professional is solely responsible for ensuring that the application of any techniques or information presented is within their legal scope of practice and jurisdictional requirements.
Financial: Jessica McMurdie received an honorarium for presenting this course. Non-financial: Jessica McMurdie has no relevant non-financial relationships to disclose.
Sponsor Disclosure: This Course is presented by OccupationalTherapy.com, a Continued site.
Content Disclosure: This learning event does not focus exclusively on any specific product or service.
Course participation information
To ensure you are ready to participate, please complete our short Test Drive to prepare your computer to view the course.
NOTE: Full attendance for all courses is mandatory. For self-study courses, this includes reading the full text, listening to the full audio recording, or watching the complete video, as appropriate for the format of the course.
Passing an online exam and completing a course evaluation will be required to earn continuing education credit.
Live Webinars allow presenter and participant interaction. The exam and course evaluation for these courses must be completed within 7 days of the event.
On-demand courses include texts, video and audio recordings of live webinars, and multimedia formats. The exam and course evaluation for on-demand courses must be completed within 30 days of course registration.
To participate in the course, complete the exam and course evaluation, and earn continuing education credit, you must be a OccupationalTherapy.com member. Participants must complete the entire course; partial credit is not allowed.
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American Occupational Therapy Association
OccupationalTherapy.com is an AOTA Approved Provider of professional development, #7659. Course approval ID# 16947. This distance learning - interactive course is offered at 0.10 CEUs/contact hours (Introductory level, OT Service Delivery, Foundational Knowledge Area). The assignment of AOTA CEUs does not imply endorsement of specific course content, products, or clinical procedures by AOTA.
CE Broker
OccupationalTherapy.com is an approved provider for CE Broker, provider #50-14558. This course is offered for 1.00 hours. If you are an OT/OTA in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina or Tennessee, CE Broker may be of interest to you.
International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training
continued, LLC, DBA OccupationalTherapy.com, is accredited by the International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training (IACET). continued complies with the ANSI/IACET Standard, which is recognized internationally as a standard of excellence in instructional practices. As a result of this accreditation, continued is authorized to issue the IACET CEU. continued, LLC, is authorized by IACET to offer 0.10 CEUs for this program.
National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy
AOTA approved CE can be used to meet NBCOT® continuing education requirements for certification renewal. This course is offered for 1.25 NBCOT PDUs (Beginner level, Pediatrics Area). NBCOT® is a registered trademark of The National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy, Inc.