Thinking forward - toward formalizing that framework I think it might be prudent to brush up on and incorporate in my teacher-training some evidence of how trauma impacts children at school. Consistently, my challenge is to find research and, more importantly, interventions that are appropriate and feasible at the high school level with few resources. Nevertheless, I shall expand my theoretical lens to explicitly incorporate what I'd implicitly relied upon. When thinking of the neurological demands of task initiation and maintenance trauma and stress engender responses that are in opposition to traditional school demands. In Helping Traumatized Children Learn, a free online publication (link below) the from the Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative (TLPI), a collaboration between the Massachusetts Advocates for Children and Harvard Law School:
The great risk for children who live in violent homes and who routinely
operate in survival mode is that this way of functioning can permeate
every aspect of their lives and can even take on a life of its own.
According to brain researchers, when children encounter a perceived
threat to their safety, their brains trigger a complex set of chemical and
neurological events known as the “stress response.”47 The stress response
activates a natural instinct to prepare to fight, freeze, or flee from the
unsafe event. Under normal circumstances these responses to stress are
constructive and help keep a child safe.
However, when a child operates in overwhelming states of stress or
fear, survival responses that may be fully appropriate in danger-laden
situations (e.g., shutting down, constantly surveying the room for
danger, expecting to fight or run away at a moment’s notice) can
become a regular mode of functioning. Even when the dangers are
not present, children may react to the world as if they are.48 Unable
to regulate heightened levels of arousal and emotional responses, they
simply cannot turn off the survival strategies that their brains have been
conditioned to employ (TLPI).
Neurobiologist Bruce Perry and his colleagues at the Child Trauma
Academy explain that the most developed areas of a child’s brain are the
ones used most frequently. When children live in a persistent state of
Traumatized children may anticipate that the school environment will be
threatening and constantly scrutinize it for any signs of danger. Their mission is to
avoid this perceived danger and pain.18 Helping Traumatized Children Learn
fear, the areas of their brains controlling the fear response can become
overdeveloped.50 These parts of the brain may direct behavior even in
situations in which it would be more appropriate for other parts of the
brain to be in charge. It is important to note that the areas of the brain
active in fearful states are different from those active in calm states, and
it is predominately the areas active in calm states that are required for
academic learning.
To that end: here's a collection of articles that speak to my work and the challenges I'm experiencing.
Trauma Sensitive Schools (TLPI):
http://traumasensitiveschools.org/tlpi-publications/download-a-free-copy-of-helping-traumatized-children-learn/
Separating the Child from the Trauma:
Trauma informed approach to behavioral disorders in SPED:
Iowa Schools hire their own full time psych:
No comments:
Post a Comment