A free guide

Seeing Beyond Behaviour

How feelings work, why children mask, and what the adults around them can do.

By Dr Scott I-Patrick CPsychol, Chartered, HCPC-registered Educational Psychologist · Second edition, September 2026

Download the guide

PDF, 1.5 MB, 44 pages. Free, with no sign-up.

Watch the film

Dr Scott I-Patrick CPsychol talks through the guide in a 40-minute film, in ten short chapters. Use the chapter buttons under the player to go straight to the part you need. For captions, press CC on the player, or choose Captions from its menu.

Seeing Beyond Behaviour, the film. Ten chapters, from why the child cannot change the room to a return to school that holds.

Prefer to read it? Read the full transcript of the film.

Who it is for

Written for parents and carers, for teachers and support staff, and for young people themselves. You do not need any background in psychology: technical words are explained in everyday terms, and there is a glossary at the back.

What is inside

  1. The child cannot change the room
  2. Feelings are alarms, not choices
  3. How a script is built
  4. The spiral and the ripple
  5. Four rules for a life that works
  6. Shame: the feeling that needs caring
  7. The body's three states
  8. Masking: the swan and the bucket
  9. When the alarm is the school gate: emotionally based school non-attendance
  10. The morning: where it all meets
  11. What the adults can do
  12. A return to school that holds
  13. Different ages, different children
  14. For the young person reading this
  15. Five children
  16. A shared thinking tool
  17. Where you stand, and when to ask for more

It ends with glossary and evidence notes and references.

How the evidence is marked

Each big idea carries a short evidence note saying whether it is established theory, research evidence, a widely used practice model, or the author's own professional view, so a reader can tell the difference. Where something needs a doctor, the guide says so.

Reading it with a screen reader

  • The file is a tagged PDF with its language (English) and its title set, the structure a screen reader uses to announce its headings and read its text.
  • If you need it in another format, email accessibility@edpsychconnect.com.

Last updated · 27 September 2026