The framework
A whole-child framework.
Understand first. Then support.
The BOUNCE Approach® is a developmental framework for understanding what sits beneath behaviour. Used in homes, classrooms and services across the UK to help adults understand children before deciding how to support them.
Not a behaviour programme, a diagnosis or a collection of strategies – a way of seeing children through six interconnected areas of development.
"What does this child need right now?"
O
U
N
C
E
Grounded in evidence
Grounded in evidence. Designed for practice.
BOUNCE® brings together well-established research from six disciplines – usually taught separately – into one practical framework.
B
Polyvagal Theory
Understanding how the nervous system detects safety and threat.
O
Attachment Theory
How relationships shape regulation, trust and development.
U
Sensory Integration and Interoception
How children experience and interpret their bodies and the world around them.
N
Trauma-Informed and Neurosequential Models
Support is most effective when it follows the brain’s developmental sequence.
C
Communication Science
Behaviour, language and interaction as expressions of nervous system state.
E
Identity and Reflective Practice
Supporting children to develop self-awareness, resilience and a positive sense of self.
A developmental approach
The six pillars of the BOUNCE Approach®
A developmental sequence – children engage best when support matches the order in which the nervous system develops. Regulation before reasoning, safety before relationships, understanding before intervention.
Able to thrive and grow
E
Esteem and Identity
C
Connection and Communication
N
Navigating Emotions
U
Understanding Sensory
O
Openness and Attachment
B
Body and Nervous System
Everything rests on this
Each level rests on the one below
When a child’s needs are met at one stage, they become developmentally able to access all those above it. You cannot reason with a child whose body does not feel safe, or build identity before connection.
The base is widest because it holds the most weight
Body and Nervous System is not the first step to get past. It is the ground the other five stand on, returned to again and again.
Foundation of safety first
B
Body and Nervous System
O
Openness and Attachment
U
Understanding Sensory
N
Navigating Emotions
C
Connection and Communication
E
Esteem and Identity
← Scroll to see the full sequence →
Explore each pillar
Six areas, one child
Each pillar has its own page, with the research behind it and what it looks like in practice.
B
Pillar 1 · Foundation
Body and Nervous System
Building safety, regulation and body awareness – the foundation everything else is built on.
O
Pillar 2
Openness to Connection and Attachment
Developing trust, co-regulation and safe relationships.
U
Pillar 3
Understanding Sensory Differences
Understanding how each child experiences and responds to their sensory world.
C
Pillar 5
Connection and Communication
Developing communication, relationships and social understanding.
E
Pillar 6
Esteem and Identity
Building confidence, belonging and a positive sense of self.
It worked, so we built with it
What the framework became
A framework on its own changes nothing. Adults understood children differently, and then asked the obvious question – what do I do on Monday? Everything below was built to answer that, and every piece of it sits on the same six pillars.
1
Assess, plan, do, review
Snapshots
Understanding a child is one thing. Knowing where to begin, and proving it worked, is another. A two-minute picture of vulnerability, ranked by pillar
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No training needed, and any adult who knows the child can complete one
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Flags the domain to act on first, and links straight to what to do
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Re-run it to evidence what changed
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Included in membership at no extra cost
2
For the child who cannot get there
The Professional Studio
Some children cannot access the provision that already exists, and some cannot leave the house at all. Creative, interactive SEMH tools a child works through on a screen with an adult beside them
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Nothing to laminate, prepare or buy
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A PDF guide and a year of lesson plans behind every tool
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Reaches children who cannot access a room, a group or a session
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Included in membership at no extra cost
3
Belongs to the child
KidZone
Children are asked to describe feelings they have no words for yet. Creative wellbeing tools that let a child show rather than tell
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Body maps, energy thermometers, safe spaces and story tools
✓
Free, permanently, to anyone at all
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New activities added every week
4
When we are not the right answer
The Directory
Sometimes a child needs something we do not provide, and families are left searching alone. A searchable directory of specialist services by area
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Open to everyone, with no account needed
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Built because the alternative was a family giving up
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Free, permanently
The framework came first. Everything else answers it.
Snapshots ask which pillar to start with. The Studio and KidZone give a child a way in. The Directory is what we do when the answer is somebody else. None of it was designed first and justified later.
Where it has reached
Used in homes, classrooms and services across the UK
1000+
Families supported since 2019
1000s
Professionals using the framework
100s
Case studies showing measurable change
7
Funded projects delivered since 2019
It is early. Findings so far come from projects that are still running, and full evaluation from the current cohorts will be shared later in 2026. The framework is free to read and free to use – the evidence behind it is on the impact page.
Start with one child
Answer a few questions about a child you are thinking about, and the framework will show you which pillar to begin with.