we are not experts

- cover the basics
- share stories
- develop ideas about responses
- develop ideas about resilience
- share ideas about community building
- share the resources we found to be helpful

SHIFT our lens from
what is wrong with you?
to what happened to you?
and what can I do to help?

"events are not traumatic in and of themselves; they become traumatic when they exceed a person's ability to cope"

Trauma Challenges Fundamental Assumptions: “The world is safe” “I am a good and worthy person” “I have a future / I will grow up” “Conflict can be resolved peacefully” “I can depend on others” -Janoff-Bulman

“ACEs” comes from the CDC-Kaiser Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, a groundbreaking public health study that discovered that childhood trauma leads to the adult onset of chronic diseases, depression and other mental illness, violence and being a victim of violence. The ACE Study has published about 70 research papers since 1998. Hundreds of additional research papers based on the ACE Study have also been published.
https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/

online "quiz" - http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/03/02/387007941/take-the-ace-...

pdf of the ace questions:
http://www.acestudy.org/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/ACE_Calculator-English...

ACEs are common…nearly two-thirds (64%) of adults have at least one​

ACEs don’t occur alone….if you have one, there’s an 87% chance that you have two or more.​

direct link between childhood trauma and adult onset of chronic disease, as well as depression, suicide, violence​
more types of trauma increased the risk of health, social and emotional problems​

people usually experience more than one type of trauma – rarely is it only sex abuse or only verbal abuse​

demographics of original participants, mostly white, educated, middle class individuals from San Diego.

FLIP YOUR LID
(Hand Model of the Brain) Make a Fist with your thumb tucked inside your fingers. This is a model of your brain. Thumb = Midbrain (Stem & Limbic) = Emotional Brain. This is where emotions and memories are processed. This is where the fight, flight & freeze is triggered.
Fingers = Cerebral Cortex = Rational Brain. Houses our ability to think and reason.
Fingernails = Prefrontal Cortex = Problem-Solving
When something triggers us, we are prone to “Flip our Lid” which means the Prefrontal Cortex (Fingernails) have a very poor connection with the Midbrain (Thumb), and we’re not able to access the logical, problem-solving part of our brain. Our emotions are overriding our ability to think clearly. -Dr. Dan Siegal

"Serve and return" interaction is basis of early brain development.

Children's attachments to caregivers, and caregivers' responses to children's needs, is what gives children a sense of internal control. (I'm hurt/sad/hungry, but things will get better).

When caregivers are unable to give timely, consistent feedback to children, they develop insecure attachments, and lack a sense of internal control.

Poor caregivers most likely have their own trauma. If they received poor quality of care as a child, their own development of strong neural connections for caregiving is compromised. The expression of oxytocin during those attachment experiences was silenced, and so they can't turn those experiences around in order to be good caregivers.

trauma results in decreased left-hemisphere volume (left hemi is the rational side that calms the emotions) and also changes the composition of the corpus callosum which connects the right and left hemispheres. So children who have experienced trauma compartmentalize their emotions. "While positive feelings are processed in the left hemisphere, negative or hostile feelings are experienced in the right hemisphere. In other words, traumatized children are unable to use language and reasoning to manage the heightened reactivity of their right hemisphere."

Brain science shows that, in the absence of protective factors, toxic stress damages children’s developing brains. ​
Positive stress — the first day of school, a big exam, a sports challenge — is part of growing up, and parents or caregivers help children prepare for and learn how to handle positive stress, which is moderate and doesn’t last long. ​
But when events or the environment are threatening or harmful – we stumble across a bear in the woods – our brains instantly zap into fight, flight or freeze mode and bypass our thinking brains, which can be way too analytical to save us (Is the bear really mean? Is it more interested in berries or killing me? Should I wait until I see it charge?). ​

Too much stress – toxic stress – occurs when that raging bear comes home from the bar every night. Then a child’s brain and body will produce an overload of stress hormones — such as cortisol and adrenaline — that harm the function and structure of the brain. ​

When children are overloaded with stress hormones, they’re in flight, fright or freeze mode. They can’t learn in school. They often have difficulty trusting adults or developing healthy relationships with peers (i.e., they become loners).​
​difficulty regulating emotions, (persons that are meant to help you learn strategies for self-regulation/co-regulation are the sources of stress and trauma)
difficulty paying attention

ALL of which affect ability to learn
https://acestoohigh.com

Exposure to trauma is associated with a higher risk for school dropout (Porche et al., 2011), and in turn, dropping out of school increases the risk of being imprisoned (Center for Labor Market Studies, 2009).

a trauma-informed approach refers to how an organization or community thinks about and responds to children and adults who have experienced or may be at risk for experiencing trauma. ​
- whole community understands the prevalence and impact of ACEs, the role trauma plays in people’s lives, and the complex and varied paths for healing and recovery.​
- A trauma-informed approach asks: “What happened to you?” instead of “What’s wrong with you?” ​

reflective practices and strategies meet needs of specific classes vs student populations

tiered interventions.

children are prone to act out behaviors and are skilled at engaging unsuspecting adults into reenactments" of their original attachment failure by pushing them to a point of rejecting or harmful behaviors that mimic those of their primary caregivers (p.37 Trauma Sensitive Schools by Susan E. Craig).

whole spectrum of behaviors
Inward and outward directed tension looks differently.
Defiance, hostility, eloping, fights, lack of focus/attention, tantrums, noncompliance, withdrawn/sullen, physical aggression towards peers, hyper-reactionary response to physical interactions, lack of participation.

The metaphor Joyce uses in her work with schools to explain the effects of complex trauma is that of a vinyl record. When a song is played again and again, a groove is worn into the record. If, when playing a different song, someone accidentally knocks the record player, the needle will skip across the record and land in the deepest groove, playing that song yet again. Even when you reach the end of the song, sometimes the groove is so deep the needle skips back to play it once more.
Like a needle on a record player, complex trauma wears a groove in the brain. So when something non-threatening happens that reminds us of a traumatic incident, our bodies replay the traumatic reaction—mobilizing us to either run from or fight the threat, while shutting down other systems that help us think and reason. If this happens over and over, we become more easily triggered into that fear response mode, never giving our bodies time to recover. After awhile, as we adapt to this chronic triggering, our behavior can seem crazy or rude when taken out of the context of trauma.

For a child in a classroom, something as simple as the teacher raising his or her voice to get everyone’s attention or accidentally getting bumped by another classmate can steer that child into this groove. When triggered, the child’s out-of-proportion emotional and sometimes physical reaction often makes no sense whatsoever to the teacher, making it difficult for the teacher to respond appropriately.

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_silent_epidemic_in_our_cla...

Take a minute to think back to a classroom or caregiving experience where a student or child reaction made no sense to you. Perhaps it seemed crazy or illogical, over-the-top, or non-sensical. Share with your neighbors.
Take a break.

unpredictable - sudden change (fire drills, change in schedule, substitute, changes at home,
transitions
loss of control
absence or loss of staff or peers
sensory overload
praise
unwanted attention
positive attention
nail polish color
time on the clock
weather outside
NO easy answer
allow space for reaction, listen and empathize.

Hebb's rule -
formation of habits, automatic thoughts, feelings, behaviors,

we can instill habits and coping strategies that can help students become resilient.

safe place in the classroom
brain breaks
belly breathing
take a break
i statements
talk it out
journaling
finding safe adults
giving kids language for their feelings and experiences

Breaks when the body and the brain need them (after lunch, mondays and fridays, 2nd recess)

earning privileges back

provide opportunity to build those skills
look for opportunities to feel mastery and success
provide choice where possible

teachers need to recognize their role as "brain builders"

EVERY positive interaction with trustworthy other can help rewire the brain.

- Build community early and often
- establish SAFETY
- give kids safe ways to PASS
- find ways to like kids that present as challenging (commit to finding time to talk to kids about non-school topics).

Community lunch (social eating may not happen at home)
morning meetings
quiet time and snack time
every snack for EVERY kid
Need In Deed
Connecting younger students with older students
logical consequences
tolerance vs. zero tolerance
celebrate social and emotional milestones (marble party, table points, hallway walking compliments, etc).

substitute consultants
"take the bus" (having predictable routes to walk in the classroom - helps avoid collisions)
y-charts
HW helpline
differentiated HW and classwork

1) Recognize that a child is going into survival mode and respond in a kind, compassionate way.

2) Create calm, predictable transitions.

3) Praise publicly and criticize privately.

To use Rick Hanson’s words in his presentation at the GGSC Summer Institute of Educators: “Nurture the hell out of these children.”

4) Adapt your classroom’s mindfulness practice.

5) Take care of yourself.

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_silent_epidemic_in_our_cla...

care vs. discipline
generational trauma
involving parents as allies

repeating a mantra

remembering that these two can help with any stressful situation.

love (nurture the hell out of those children)

understand (need to think about context - where is this behavior coming from?)

repeating a mantra

remembering that these two can help with any stressful situation.

compassion = love (nurture the hell out of those children)

perspective = understanding = context (need to think about context - where is this behavior coming from?)

QTIP - quit taking it personally.

stop and ask yourself - what need is this behavior communicating?

what could some of those needs be?

Dr. Glasser’s Four Basic Needs:
power
belonging
fun
freedom

Teachers can create classroom environments where the emotions behind children's overt behaviors are acknowledged and responded to, rather than just the behavior itself.

providing student choice where possible
provide support
adjust expectations
adjust method of delivery

DO what you can where you can

Teacher students words to describe their feelings (teaching the left hemisphere to label right hemisphere data) do that they can sort their emotions and experiences into coherent data. Then they can objectively observe their feelings, rather than simply reacting to them.

ask for Trauma informed training at your school.

give the teachers in the next grade some strategies that could be helpful for specific kids -- to avoid them unlearning what they learned in your space.

share readings about best practices (trauma informed practices) with colleagues

conspiracy of caring - meet to discuss ways you can support and nurture children

ongoing conversations

generating systems with other teachers that work for you both and the kids (when so and so comes to your room with a sealed envelope, that's a signal that he needs___)

involve/include specialists/parents in your classroom community

finding resources - counselor - recess teachers - lunchroom staff - building caretakers - nurse

empower your NTAs, assistants, BST team,

boys club, girls club, lunch bunch,

power of jobs for kids - given responsibility

empower kids to look out for each other

what about subs, transitions, giving kids strategies to cope with difficult situations

meet with kids after the stressful situation is over (fire drill, substitute teacher chaos, etc) to talk about how it felt. how can we help each other through those situations?

community lunch
morning meeting
"sal" the beach ball
littles and middles
ALL kids get a snack

feeling overwhelmed by redirections? constantly seeing the wrong in your classroom? always telling kids what not to do? what to fix?

try shifting your ratios.
for every redirection or warning, try giving out five compliments or praise statements.

focus on behavior not identity.
celebrate social emotional community achievements

body language

proximity

verbal de-escalation

BE THE SOLID OBJECT

RESPONDING vs. REACTING
*seizure analogy
*NEVER assume

"children with early trauma histories easily miss the content of what is being said to them because their attention is focused on subtle changes in the speaker's voice (or body language) that may signal danger"

refer to diagram on next slide and in packet.

Solid Object & Ego
Discuss how cycle works
cycle stages
trigger --> adrenaline produced physiological responses to stress
*trigger can very quickly lead to precipitous discharge
inward and outward directed tension.

Cycle might have started before child enters your space.

pace at which one moves up cycle can vary dramatically.

Jack Benny pose. (turned slightly away so not facing directly - hands visible - one hand touching your own face/chin as you listen and nod)

LISTEN - allow ventilation
ACCEPT - validate feelings
FOCUS - one issue at a time, focus on behavior not identity
ENCOURAGE - assertion not aggression (expectations)
OFFER - alternative choices to current behavior
CONTRACT - stay true to your word, no idle threats

*self regulation (caregiver and student are both on cycle - be mindful of your tension)
*PATIENCE
*RELATIONSHIP -

SECONDARY - CONTAGIOUS TRAUMA
Caregivers can have their own trauma histories and can also experience secondary trauma from helping a student through a difficult situation.

Importance of narrative your own process (I'm starting to feel frustrated. What I do when that happens is.. I remember so and so told me it's a good idea to... I'm going to take a deep breath...)
advocate for yourself if necessary
find allies and safe spaces for yourself.
exercise
diet
sleep
TIME
support network
mindful of your emotions
recognizing your own trauma
meditation
breathing
visual cues in your space
partner to vent/support
outlet - art class, journaling

Teachers are trauma professionals, but don't receive the training and support that other trauma professionals do. We're not taught to provide ourselves with the self-care needed to prevent secondary traumatic stress.

J. Dorado 2013 UCSF HEARTS