Take Care of Yourself and Your Students: Strategies for Creating a Trauma Sensitive Classroom Mickey Hughes Effective Practice Specialist /SSD mjhughes@ssdmo.org
Our Agenda for today Overview / definitions Impact on brain development Impact on learning Impact on behavior Evidence- Based Practices enhancing connections sensory supports teaching emotional regulation strategies Window of stress tolerance mindfulness strategies Self – care for educators
Who’s in the room? • General education teachers? Elementary, middle, high? • Special education teachers? Elementary middle high? • Counselors? • Social workers? • Parents? • Community support? • Principals? • Other?
Review of what we know : Talk to a small group around you… 1. How can trauma impact a child’s ability to learn and behave? 2. List three interventions you are aware of for students with trauma backgrounds. 3. What is your group’s opinion about what kids from trauma backgrounds need most from school?
Resources Movement Resources: Gonoodle, koo koo kangaroo, kidsbop, Songdrops
References: • The Adoption Advocate • Child Trauma Academy (Dr. Bruce Perry) • Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) • Consciousdiscipline.com (Becky Bailey breathing strategies, calm corner, etc.) • Heather Forbes www.beyondconsequences.com • Helping Traumatized Children Learn. A Report and Policy Agenda. Massachusetts Advocates for Children. • Lynne Kinney. Bloom: 50 things to say, think, and do with anxious, angry, and over the top kids. • Mindfulschools.org • National Trauma Stress Network • The Heart of Learning and Teaching: Compassion, Resiliency, and Academic Success ( Ron Walpow, Mona M. Johnson, Ron Hertel, and Susan O. Kincaid) • Pbis.org
What is trauma? • Trauma occurs when overwhelming, uncontrollable experiences psychologically impact a child, creating feelings of helplessness, vulnerability, loss of safety, and loss of control. • Public Event – Forces beyond anyone’s control: A natural disaster, car accident, etc. Associated with much less stigma, out in the open. • Private Event – behind close doors/ air of secrecy. Associated with share, fear, loss of trust, freedom, support, love, safety .
Trauma is subjective …….. • Different people can be exposed to the same experiences and they may or may not be traumatized by it. Factors that influence this are: the person’s age, other level of toxic stress in their life, the level of trust that was betrayed, the person’s disposition/ predisposition to be resilient, etc.
Prevalence rates • More than 50% of the general population have experienced at least one traumatic event. • 25 % have experienced 2 or more. • People in the mental health, child welfare, and domestic violence systems have experienced extremely high rates – 80-100% • What is the prevalence of trauma in your community?
ACES video
Table talk • What surprised you in the video? • How might you use this information in thinking about supporting your staff? Your students? • In the video, it is stated that knowing about ACES can be empowering…how so?
Family Centered Practice, June 8, 2007 Regional Child Abuse Prevention Councils 2011
ACEs Often Last a Lifetime . . . But They Don’t Have To • Healing can occur • The cycle can be broken • Safe, stable, nurturing relationships heal parent and child. Regional Child Abuse Prevention Councils 2011
Activity Think about a time when you had an extreme, out of character reaction to something… Did you overreact? Did you withdraw/ hide? What were the circumstances, the triggers? Discuss your experience with a shoulder partner.
Discussion: • Trauma occurs when overwhelming, uncontrollable experiences psychologically impact a child, creating feelings of helplessness, vulnerability, loss of safety, and loss of control .
Brain Science Made Simple
Impact of trauma on the brain Trauma can impact the developing brain by…. 1. Reducing the number of connections formed 2. Reducing the size of the cortex 3. Strengthening the survival connections Resulting in…………. Memory problems Attention difficulties, Delays in language development Emotional and behavioral regulation deficits
Fight, Flight, Freeze The Automatic Safety Response Fight / Flight – “Hyper -arousal -- decease in p ain tolerance, increased anxiety, exaggeration of startle response, insomnia, panic, rage Freeze- “Hypo - arousal” - the decrease in psychological and physiological tension marked by such effects as emotional indifference, flattened affect, irritability, low grade nervousness, disengagement, depression, and hopelessness
When the brain’s alarm is triggered: • A frightened child doesn’t focus on words - they attend to threats based on signals in their environment. • We know what those signals are a necessary part of survival • Hypervigilance – the chronically defensive child
Hypervigilance Raised arousal Very sensitive to stress Increase in Anxiety “I don’t know if I’m going to be okay” “I don’t know that everything will work out.” All or nothing responses Big protective wall. “I can’t allow myself to be vulnerable.” May trigger intense (and seemingly inappropriate) responses In this state, we regress back to early behaviors…..no generalization
Have you seen these reactions in your classroom? Students with trauma backgrounds may Over-react: • Comments or criticism from teachers and peers • Noises (startles at bells, slamming doors) • Physical contact • Environmental cues (low lighting, sudden movements) • Has difficulty with authority and redirection • Misreads context; fails to connect cause with effect They may look: • Clingy and worried about safety • Distracted and unable to complete work/homework • Irritable or angry • Uncomfortable, in pain, or sick
The needed perspective shift “What’s wrong with you?” “What happened to you & how can we help?”
Nurturing and Positive Relationships…… Are the key to mentally healthy children and adolescents protective factors promoted during relationship building can and do function to reduce many challenging behaviors. Taking the time to do relationship building may save time that would be spent implementing more elaborate and time-consuming assessment and intervention strategies. Relationship bank account Make eye contact, encourage healthy touch, ask and listen, give your undivided attention. Relationship is THE evidence –based practice.” Christopher Blodgett, 2012
One Sentence Intervention Quick, easy, and works well with students who are difficult to build relationships with (such as they don’t often follow rules, grumble whenever you talk to them, are attention avoidant, etc) 1. Smile and look into student’s eyes 2. Say “I’ve noticed _______” fill in sentence with a personal attribute Examples ● I’ve noticed you like to collect things ● I’ve noticed these kids really listen to you when you talk ● I’ve noticed you really stand up for yourself
Approach student Low and Slow: LOW • Lower the volume and pitch of your voice • Keep a matter of fact tone regardless of the situation • Speak in short sentences without a lot of questions • Don’t preach- this is about talking with the student, not at the student • SLOW • Slow yourself down by slowing down your heart rate. Take slow, deep breaths • Slow down your rate of speech and make sure to pause between sentences.. • Slow down your body movements.. • Slow down your agenda and take your time
Safe, Predictable Environments Routines, Schedules, Rituals are comforting (When things are predictable, life is calm) Surprises may be trauma triggers Rehearse/ Precorrect Offer visual schedules Establish a plan for days that routines are going to change – subs, field trips, assemblies, etc. What is your best advise for keeping your classroom safe and predictable?
Practice Emotional Regulation Skills. After a cognitively challenging task, practice deep breathing or other self-regulation techniques. Purposefully plan an activity that will excite students; e.g., freeze tag, water balloon toss, science experiment. Then practice self-regulation or calming techniques. Help students identify their level of alertness. Practice this self assessment daily. Self – regulation video
Emotional regulation Teach skills and behaviors before they are needed or required. Teach and practice calming or self-regulation techniques before exciting or stimulating activities; e.g., deep breathing, pressure points, chair sit-ups, pushing down the wall, weighted items, fidgets. Model emotional regulation yourself !
Managing explosions • The emotional brain does not respond to words. • It is not helpful to a dysregulated child to calm down. • Lend the child your brain. Move slowly, breathe deeply, move to the place you want them to be and show them what you want them to do. It is all about your non-verbal communication until the brain calms down. • Rhythmic activities help to calm the brain. Painting, drawing, coloring, throwing a ball, drumming, marching
Window of stress tolerance
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