May-June Advisor 2021 web

SUPPORTING

MAY – JUNE 2021 CEA ADVISOR 5

HOW TO RECOGNIZE AND RESPOND TO STUDENT TRAUMA Conversations about childhood

way of hijacking the brain. Indeed, prolonged exposure to trauma triggers physiological changes in the brain, disrupting neural circuits and affecting learning, memory, and emotions. Children who live in a constant state of stress often fail to learn how to regulate their emotions, and those who suffer from severe neglect have markedly smaller brains. What do trauma reactions look like in children? They vary with age, says Turcios-Cotto. Children between the ages of 2 ½ and 6 years may exhibit helplessness, weight loss, regressive behaviors such as bedwetting or baby talk, attention problems, persistent questions about death, fighting or threatening behavior, and delayed developmental milestones. Those ages 6 to 11 may exhibit many of these same behaviors in addition to acting like a parent to their siblings, worrying about safety, clinging to teachers, talking often about trauma, startling easily, or becoming upset over small bumps and bruises. Adolescents ages 12-18 may become antisocial, suicidal, or hypervigilant, react aggressively to situations, undergo changes in behavior, develop sleep problems or eating disorders, abuse substances, run away, or engage in violent, risky, or self- harming activities. Many of the teachers participating

trauma usually center on its causes (an absent parent, violence in the home or community, or more recently, the pandemic) or its prevalence, which has been estimated to affect as many as 44 percent of students in K-12 classrooms. The effects on a child’s developing brain are well-documented and include smaller brain structures, disrupted connections between brain cells, and diminished learning ability, emotional regulation, and behavior control. But what can teachers do to support students who have experienced trauma? How might trauma manifest itself in the classroom, and how can educators reframe that behavior and respond with grace? That was a key topic in a three- hour workshop, Trauma Today, hosted by CEA’s Ethnic Minority Affairs Commission and led by Dr. Viana Turcios-Cotto, a licensed clinical psychologist who began her career as an elementary school teacher in Manchester and calls the teaching profession “something you live and breathe.” Trauma, she says, has been defined as an exceptional experience in which powerful events overwhelm a person’s capacity to cope, and a number of adverse childhood experiences can be considered traumatic. Trauma, she adds, has a

RESPONDING WITH GRACE BLAME “We’ve written a five-paragraph essay before. This isn’t new!” “We just did the same thing last class, don’t you remember?” “You have until the count of five to ____, or ____ will happen.” routines, she says, it may be easy to overlook signs of trauma or mistake them for matters requiring discipline rather than intervention. A student displaying oppositional behavior, for example, might have control needs; a way of addressing those needs is by giving the child a job to do. Students in the Trauma Today workshop noted students returning to in-person learning as children they no longer recognized. Some described once- outgoing students as numb. “What happened to this child?” one participant—a middle school language arts teacher—recalls wondering about a student who suddenly seemed indifferent. “The ground has been constantly shifting under our students’ feet and under our own feet. It’s been a hard year.” Hopelessness, Turcio-Cotto pointed out, is often masked as indifference. Responding to trauma While trying to re-establish classroom

who appear distracted might simply benefit from a snack or a break. Similarly, there are verbal responses that can help students along when they are struggling—ways for teachers to lay aside blame and respond with grace. Rather than express frustration with students not following instructions or catching on, it can help to acknowledge that a task has multiple steps, assist students with tracking and remembering them, and have them collaborate. “It’s been an ever-changing landscape, our students not knowing with the pandemic what’s going to happen next,” 34-year veteran school social worker and Trauma Today workshop facilitator Loretha Felton acknowledged, adding, “We have done a lot of work in Hamden around trauma, and I’m happy to see so many other educators doing that work here, today.” Watch the recorded the webinar at cea.org/cea-webinars .

REFRAMING STUDENT BEHAVIOR

WHEN STUDENTS SEEM: THEY COULD HAVE… IF SO… Manipulative EMOTIONAL NEEDS:

Provide a safe break. Help calm down and

Bossy

Need to regulate

GRACE “It can be so frustrating to learn something new. Let’s keep track of the steps to do this task and find ways to help remember those.”

Dramatic

feelings and responses connect with logic.

Aggressive

RELATIONSHIP NEEDS:

Check and connect

Clingy

Need to connect with before a transition.

Attention-seeking

fellow humans

Connect student with another adult.

“I am going to count backwards from five, and then…

Oppositional

CONTROL NEEDS:

Give student a job.

Indifferent

Need to be in charge of Provide predictability

“We’re going to work together.” “I need you all to make a good choice.” “I need you all to complete the task.”

Passive aggressive

their own situations

and choice.

Distracted

PHYSICAL NEEDS: Need to eat, sleep,

Provide a snack break. Allow a few minutes to

Disinterested

Pleasing

exercise, and take care put head down and/or rest. of their body

“Nothing I do ever seems to work with this child.”

“I’m working hard and doing my best. I’m in need of more support.”

“There must be some things going on preventing this child from understanding.”

“This kid just doesn’t want to learn.”

Missed the workshop? Watch the full recording at cea.org/cea-webinars or browse the presentation at tinyurl.com/TraumaCEASpring2021.