Identify Connections Between SEL and Trauma-Informed Classroom Practices

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Universal Strategies for Trauma-Sensitive Schools

As we walked from the car to the entrance of the amusement park, I eyed the roller coaster of all roller coasters. “Honey, I

know you are super excited to ride all these rides. Just know that I may not be able to join you on some because I honestly feel sick just looking at that one.” “Then maybe you should stop

looking at it, Mom.” –A conversation with my daughter, age 8

s Pepper’s team began to change how they understood Pepper and eventually started to change their approach in how they worked with her, she began to show slow but real progress at school. It was steps forward, steps back, and then steps forward

again, as it often is for severely traumatized youth. But overall, her team felt encouraged by how this little one was growing and changing in response to the adults’ commitment to helping her feel safe, be connected, and get regulated. In fact, Pepper was showing signs of severe dysregulation less and less often, and several months into their decision to provide more coregulatory support, Pepper started to demonstrate academic gains. Although still in need of individualized instruction and multiple supports, Pepper was now a beginning reader. Her number sense and skills in relation to both addition and subtraction were also improving. Writing continued to be very difficult for her, but with small-group modified instruction, as well as much individual support as part of her IEP, she was working on that. Pepper still displayed significant behavior concerns some days, but outbursts were occurring less often, and their intensity and duration were definitely showing a downward trend. More often than

Alexander, J. (2019). Building trauma-sensitive schools : Your guide to creating safe, supportive learning environments for all students. Brookes Publishing. Created from ncent-ebooks on 2023-04-02 02:24:14.

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not, those closest in relationship with Pepper understood exactly what tended to dysregulate her, noticed those cues sooner rather than later, and were able to not only help her by way of coregulation but were also beginning to teach her self-regulation skills such as belly breathing. Even though Pepper’s peer relationships were still quite problematic, her relationships with adults were showing slow but marked improvement. Above all else, Pepper’s entire team felt hopeful about her progress and were feeling a renewed sense of purpose in their work with all kids. They were so inspired, in fact, that both her general education and special education teachers made a decision to talk with their building leadership team about a proposal to bring professional development about building trauma- sensitive schools to all staff. They recognized that even though not all students were showing needs as intense as Pepper’s, there were other youth in their school who would benefit from a trauma-sensitive environment paired with trauma-informed tiers of support. In fact, they correctly believed that all students would benefit from building the trauma-sensitive school and were excited to join other educators across the country in their vision to do just that.

As you work with colleagues to build a trauma-sensitive school environment, remember that some students who have been traumatized are currently safe and yet the effects of the past may still affect them. Others may still be in unsafe situations. Although we can offer support, resources, and referrals for services to families when we become aware of concerns, and we certainly have a responsibility to report any suspected child abuse, there are situations in which we may not be able to significantly change a traumatic environment that a student faces. This is heartbreaking, to say the least. What we can do is be the free space on the game board for our students—a place of safety and acceptance, with no strings attached. Once youth leave our space, we may not be able to control what happens on the rest of the board, but we can be there every time when students come back around to us. In this way, we have an opportunity every day to be present, care unconditionally, help meet students’ needs, and ultimately facilitate youth learning and growth. It requires acceptance and understanding paired with high yet realistic expectations as well as expertise in teaching for emotional, social, and academic learning (Imordino-Yang, 2016; National Child Traumatic Stress Network Schools Committee, 2008; Perry, 2009; Yeager & Yeager, 2013).

In preparing to be the free space on the game board for all students, we must recognize that we may never know which students in our schools have been traumatized. As a result, it is important to approach all situations and all groups of kids with the assumption that trauma is likely present, because chances are that it is. The best news of all is that the essentials of trauma-sensitive schools are good for all kids, regardless of trauma history. We have everything to gain by training staff in these practices and working together to build trauma- sensitive school environments.

This chapter focuses on proactive strategies that educators can use to build trauma- sensitive school communities by helping all students feel safe, be connected, get regulated, and learn. Specifically, we focus on trauma-informed core instruction that is provided to all youth within a positive, relationship-focused school climate. A variety of universal strategies are outlined. In this chapter, all suggestions are appropriate for all kids and thus are part of

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Tier 1 on the RTI pyramid. For approximately 80% of our students, Tier 1 alone will meet their needs. As you read, think about what you are already doing that addresses safety, relationships, regulation, and learning for all kids. Think about new ideas you and your team could implement moving forward as well.

UNIVERSAL STRATEGIES TO HELP ALL STUDENTS FEEL SAFE All students need to be safe and then feel safe in order to learn. Recently, an educator said to me, “Ms. Jen, is it right for us as teachers to focus on helping kids feel safe at a time in history when our schools are not safe? School shootings continue with horrific consequences, and many youth are not safe in their homes or neighborhoods.” My answer? Our focus on felt safety does not negate the importance of real safety. It would be counterproductive for us to help kids feel safe if they truly are not safe. That is not our goal. Rather, we must do everything within our power to establish real safety. From there, we also need to help kids feel safe, because for youth who have experienced trauma, feeling safe even when they are safe is not easily achieved. This is because traumatized individuals often perceive threats in situations that are not harmful. In this way, being safe is a prerequisite to any healthy feeling of safety, but being safe is not always enough to help kids feel safe.

Trauma-sensitive educators promote both real and felt safety in what they teach, but even more important is how they teach and care for kids in day-to-day interactions. From district- level to individual classrooms and everywhere in between, educators need to structure students’ worlds in ways that establish expectations, procedures, and routines that promote physical as well as emotional safety. Then, trauma-sensitive educators teach all youth how to be safe in a variety of ways. Some lessons should focus specifically on safety, whereas others center on teaching youth how to regulate their stress response systems and the skills to interact assertively within relationships, because both ultimately help promote students’ ability to be safe. Staff and parents learn about these topics in trauma-sensitive schools too. Trauma-sensitive schools also extend a proactive layer of support to all youth and families who may be under high levels of stress, whether or not that stress is related to school. Educators must recognize that any student and family can be at risk when facing any number of difficult circumstances and that stress or trauma outside of school can have an impact on learning.

Above all, trauma-sensitive schools build a community of safe relationships whereby educators do their part to actively confront social barriers and injustice as well as encourage youth to do the same. This allows school communities to come together in positive ways that promote joy, connection, and ultimately trust—components that make up a foundation of healthy relationships, which ultimately readies students for learning. Each of these components is explained in more detail in the next sections.

Establish Clear Expectations for Safety

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In establishing real and felt safety, school leaders must prioritize district- and building-level safety planning. Each educator must make actual safety a priority too. First, educators must be safe in physical, emotional, social, and nonverbal ways. Next, they need to teach and expect safety with all students as well as provide adequate supervision to ensure that real safety is maintained. Every action should encourage and maintain a safe, calm, predictable, and structured environment. This is not to suggest that trauma-sensitive schools should be rigid. Flexibility is necessary. Trauma-sensitive schools, however, are not places where anything and everything goes. Limits are set and healthy boundaries are established in caring ways. Nurturing relationships establish feelings of emotional and interpersonal safety in every aspect of school. In this way, it is not just what staff and students do that matters, but it is also what is communicated and how people treat themselves and others that are priorities.

To become a trauma-sensitive educator, work together in collaboration with students to establish classroom rules that promote safety. Then, teach youth the expectations, procedures, and routines that will help them understand and demonstrate what safe, responsible, and respectful behavior looks like and sounds like in a variety of school contexts. Give specific feedback as needed. As much as possible, be positive in your language so students learn what you expect them to do instead of focusing on what you do not want them to do. For example, instead of saying, “No running in the halls,” say, “Walk, please.” Or instead of saying, “Stop using put-downs,” try saying, “Tell us what you feel so everyone can feel safe.”

Be creative. Rule posters or step-by-step procedural anchor charts can be helpful, but photos or video commercials of real students demonstrating how to meet expectations can be fun and effective, too, especially when older kids are teaching younger ones all about how we do things in our school. Highlight that some expectations may be the same schoolwide, whereas many will be specific to individual classrooms or other areas such as the bus, cafeteria, hallways, restrooms, locker rooms, playground, and auditorium. In your instruction, be specific about how everyone can do her part to help keep everyone safe. Coach for success from there. When expectations are not followed, set limits and teach healthy boundaries in caring and predictable ways.

Provide Core Instruction About Safety Skills Core safety instruction for all kids will prevent problems and help ready students for learning. Essential learnings and skills across grade levels should be developmentally appropriate and target topics such as school safety, personal safety, and internet safety. Prevention of specific threats to student safety are necessary and include, but are not limited to, the following: suicide, substance abuse, harassment, bullying, and relationship aggression as well as other types of abuse or victimization.

In kindergarten, for example, suicide prevention might be a lesson focused on what we can do and who we can talk to when we have big feelings. In twelfth grade, signs of mental health disorders and specific coping strategies may be researched, or what to do when one feels concerned that a friend or loved one is suicidal may be discussed. Substance abuse prevention for young students might focus on identifying what is safe or not safe for our

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bodies; older students need to learn what drugs are, the effects of both their short- and long- term use, as well as how to make healthy decisions and resist unhealthy risk-taking. Likewise, when teaching about healthy relationships and assertive communication in the early years, an educator might focus on identifying emotions and then using one’s words to ask for what is needed or wanted. In upper elementary grades, other healthy conflict resolution skills should be emphasized, along with strategies to become an upstander—one who helps stop negative teasing to prevent bullying. In middle and high school, strategies related to violence prevention within relationships are encouraged.

Trauma-sensitive educators, including school counselors, work together to decide who will plan and deliver instruction in these areas to ensure that all kids master identified essential learnings and skills. Instruction cannot be random or dependent on whether a student chooses a specific elective, nor should instruction solely be in response to specific issues, such as when a student dies by suicide. Preventive lessons should not be isolated to one developmental level either. Instead, units must be proactively planned and taught so that all students learn these important safety skills no matter what. Whether creating units and assessments or relying on purchased programs or curriculum, educators must ensure that instruction is comprehensive, sequential, and developmentally appropriate as well as supported by evidence and then taught with fidelity. Trauma-sensitive educators also need to assess for learning and provide Tier 2 and Tier 3 supports for those students who require more than core instruction alone. Chapter 8 explores more intensive instructional strategies.

As part of ensuring safety, trauma-sensitive schools also need to teach youth, staff, and parents how to work together to prevent various safety threats. For instance, kids as well as adults need to learn what to do when someone is not being physically safe as a result of dangerous behavior toward self or others. In addition to student prevention lessons, staff also need to learn about substance abuse, their role in creating a school culture where substance use is not supported, the warning signs to look for, and what to do if they suspect a student needs help. Students, staff, and parents should also learn what bullying is, how it differs from conflict, and what specific strategies they can implement to prevent and intervene to stop bullying. Not only does this prevent problems, but it can also decrease the number of false bullying reports, because adults as well as youth gain an understanding that bullying is most often not a one-time mean behavior; nor is it what happens when students are upset with one another and treat one another poorly in a back-and-forth manner. Rather, bullying is intentional and marked by an imbalance of power in which one person or group exerts power over another in a way that causes harm. In this way, core instruction brings everyone in the school community together and working toward the same goal of keeping everyone safe.

Offer Resources That Promote Safety Trauma-sensitive schools have a safety net ready for all kids and families, recognizing that at any given time, any student or family may need help to decrease stress and meet needs in order to improve school involvement and promote success. Resources are easily accessible to families and may center on establishing or reestablishing safety; helping meet basic needs;

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improving physical, emotional, and social health; as well as building resiliency. Making sure all families and youth can take advantage of all school programs and activities regardless of finances, transportation, or other needs is critical. In part, these supports depend on students’ access to school counselors and other health professionals, in addition to collaboration between many in the community, to identify and work together to meet needs. Let’s take a look at both of these pieces in more detail.

Provide Access to School Counselors and Other Health Professionals Trauma-sensitive educational teams understand that students’ real and felt safety is influenced by what happens in school and outside of school. Educators are charged with making sure schools are safe, but they also need to address, as best they can, safety and health needs outside of school. To this end, school staff need to help resolve student stressors and decrease rates of trauma by providing students easy access to school counselors and other health professionals who can help stop traumatic events wherever they may occur, restore safety, and promote well-being. Professionals such as school counselors are leaders who proactively help promote a positive school culture that is safe and feels safe. They also work proactively to help all kids build resiliency by teaching or coordinating instruction for youth about how to be safe and cope with stress positively. School counselors are available to intervene when safety is potentially compromised as well. They are on the front line with all youth and can help identify kids who may be at risk for trauma as well as those who may already be exhibiting traumatic reactions. Counselors and other health professionals at school link families with other supports and resources on campus or in the community, especially when trained to realize, recognize, and respond to traumatized youth or families in sensitive ways. The role of trauma-informed school counselors is critical because they are one type of helper embedded within the positive culture of a school community and are available to help all kids, whether concerns are big or small, as well as consult with all staff and all parents. Their job is to be both proactive and responsive, and their impact is only possible when counselor-to-student ratios are manageable and in line with American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommendations. Trauma-sensitive schools avoid spreading counselors and other helpers too thin, to ensure that they can meet the needs of the students and staff with whom they work.

Collaborate to Meet Families’ Needs Trauma-sensitive educational teams understand that students’ real and felt safety is often dependent upon how well family needs for safety and health are being met. For this reason, trauma-sensitive schools encourage staff members to work proactively with parent groups and community members to address a variety of needs. Suggestions might include, but are not limited to the following:

• Providing on-site health services and linking families with other health or social service resources in the community through easily accessible and timely referrals

• Partnering with community agencies to offer after-school, school break, or summer programming or creating school-sponsored programming

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• Coordinating with local food banks so youth who need it can take free food bags home over the weekends and during school breaks

• Organizing drives for free or low-cost clothing, toys, or books

• Establishing programs that can provide systemwide access to free or reduced cost fees, equipment, musical instruments, or any other items required for participation in activities

As suggested by the Institute for Educational Leadership and the Coalition for Community Schools (2017), schools in this way can become community hubs where youth and families are able to receive the assistance and referrals they require so that needs can be met. Ultimately, when safety and health are established and maintained, students are on their way to being ready to learn. At the same time, we are partnering positively with families as well as community members.

TRY THIS Talk with colleagues on your team or in your department to brainstorm what might be getting in the way of all students and families accessing or benefiting from what you offer. For instance, if you are a classroom teacher, you might focus on areas where parent involvement tends to be low; if you are a bus driver, talk about how trauma may be affecting students’ access to or ability to benefit from school transportation services; if you are an administrator, discuss how trauma may be having a negative effect on attendance; if you work in the school cafeteria, discuss how trauma might be affecting students’ access to or benefit from the school lunch or breakfast program; if you work in the athletic department, talk about what might be keeping students from participating in your programs. In these dialogues, remember that poverty is now considered potentially traumatic for both youth and adults. Once you have brainstormed a list of potential challenges, work together to brainstorm answers to the following questions: • What could you do to proactively address and prevent the challenges you

noted? • How might you partner with other agencies, local businesses, volunteers, or

families within your school community to help meet the needs you have identified in cost-effective as well as labor-saving ways?

• What would be the best ways to communicate what you will offer so that families and students know how to take advantage of available support?

Confront Social Barriers and Injustice When it comes to community, school, and family life, trauma-sensitive educators must be cognizant of social barriers that could jeopardize students’ sense of safety and thus promote

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injustice. Often, such issues are related to a school’s demographics. Consider, for example, a school in which a large percentage of students come from wealthy households and another significant percentage live in poverty. There may or may not be a significant number of families identifying themselves as middle class. This can pose unique stressors for students, particularly those living in poverty. Whereas many children or teens in such a setting may regularly go on vacations around the world, others may never leave the area. As a result, educators must handle issues such as sharing or writing about what students did on school breaks with extra sensitivity and care. This type of communication can potentially set up students to feel less than in relation to peers and therefore unsafe. Even discussions about what the tooth fairy brought can highlight similar discrepancies and cause distress. It is certainly important to discuss differences honestly and openly with students in hopes of building empathy and a deepened understanding of how others’ experiences may be different from one’s own, as well as to promote a focus on the importance of social justice. Yet, we must make sure our practices are not reinforcing traumatizing societal issues and the generations of historical trauma many families experience in relation to war, famine, forced colonization, and intracountry genocide, in addition to racial, gender, or religious discrimination, socioeconomic inequality, or any other form of oppression (Klatzkin, Lieberman, & Van Horn, 2013).

Trauma-sensitive educators also must actively confront any and all injustice or discrimination, whether that relates to gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, citizenship status, religion, disability, or any other difference. Discrimination and injustice compromise real and felt safety. Along with that, various community and situation- specific issues may affect physical, emotional, and social safety in schools and need to be addressed too. Environments that experience frequent gang activity or neighborhood violence, a growing population of immigrant or refugee students, or a traumatic school incident like a school shooting will obviously affect students’ real and felt safety in unique ways. Educators need to be aware of these issues, sensitive to individuals’ needs, and proactive in their approach for all kids. This may require confrontation of misconceptions, stigma, prejudice, and bias both at school and within the community as a whole. Ultimately, through action, trauma-sensitive educators not only model and teach these practices but also encourage students to become active leaders as community and worldly change agents.

An extraordinary example of this is what the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, have done to use their voices to advocate for social change following the horrific mass shooting in their school on February 14, 2018. Their collective, well-prepared, articulate calls for action have been courage in action and come on the heels of having experienced unthinkable trauma. Let them be heroic examples to us all and to our own students of how powerful, as well as healing, it can be to come together to make a difference in the wake of trauma. What hope I feel for our future when I see students leading this charge for transformational change. Regardless of political views or opinions, we as educators must support these young leaders to make sure they are receiving everything they need to heal their own wounds (whether physical or emotional) and to lift them up when they

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tire. We must also encourage other youth to use their voices, and eventually their votes, to stand up for what they believe in. As Gandhi said, “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. . . . We need not wait to see what others do.”

As educators and as citizens, we must confront social barriers and promote safety at every turn, not just in the face of tragedy or conflict. We also need to celebrate the wonderful things specific to our schools and communities. Involving all youth in rituals, traditions, and celebrations that are positive and enjoyable will promote group, classroom, grade-level, school, district, community, national, worldly, and earthly cohesiveness. Safety, real and felt, certainly does not begin or end with the absence of harm; rather, it is built upon all the wonderful things that come from the joy of being in community with one another, which is exactly what the next essential of trauma-sensitive schools is all about.

UNIVERSAL STRATEGIES TO HELP ALL STUDENTS BE CONNECTED Once students are safe and feel safe, trauma-sensitive educators focus on the second essential: helping students be connected in healthy relationships with classmates and adults. Overall, we ensure connectedness by establishing a positive school climate where relationships come first. Trauma-sensitive educators also work together to teach social- emotional classroom lessons as part of core instruction for all kids. These practices and others work together to foster a sense of belonging for students. Each of these topics is explored in the next sections.

Show That Relationships Come First Trauma-sensitive educators demonstrate in their day-to-day interactions that relationships come first. Creating a classroom and school community where students are warmly greeted by name and appreciated for who they are by both adults and classmates is a top priority every single day. This family-like atmosphere does not happen by accident. Instead, adults model positive relationship attitudes and actions that are marked by unconditional care and acceptance. They show genuine interest in students’ lives, including their personal interests and passions. These connections are not contrived. Rather, educators truly love their kids, and it shows—no matter what. This is not to suggest that students’ relationships with educators are the same as students’ relationships with primary caregivers. There is a difference, and boundaries are necessary.

Morning Meetings When relationships come first, each day must start with a focus on relationships. Prioritizing daily class meetings using the framework and ideas included in Center for Responsive Schools The Morning Meeting Book (Kriete & Davis, 2014) is a great place to begin. Students and their teachers begin their day greeting one another in a variety of

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creative, fun ways. They also take turns sharing and participating in an enjoyable group activity that often relates to academic content. Morning meetings end with a letter to students from the teacher in which the day is previewed. Teachers and students can take notice of any changes that might be coming up as well as set goals they might like to work on together. Creating a routine for this important time for students and staff to connect and practice healthy interpersonal skills starts each day off positively and sets the stage for connection throughout the rest of the day.

Listening for Understanding In healthy relationships marked by attachment security, youth experience being cared about even when they make mistakes, because actions are separated from one’s worth as a person. Trauma-sensitive educators care about students in this way, and they work to understand the emotions and needs underlying student actions. This requires active listening both when problems come up as well as when students simply have something important they wish to share.

In their book, Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies for Creating a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom, Souers and Hall (2016) detailed six steps that can enable educators to connect with their students and listen for understanding:

1. Listen: Focus on the child or teen. Listen with good eye contact and without interrupting. Hold what the student is saying in your mind instead of planning what you are going to say next.

2. Reassure: Communicate your care for the student no matter what.

3. Validate: Acknowledge and affirm the emotions, needs, or underlying goals of where the student is coming from.

4. Respond: Offer something that is true to yourself and to the relationship in response.

5. Repair: If a misunderstanding or hurt feelings occur, fix it.

6. Resolve: End with a focus on how to make things better moving forward.

These six steps are applied to an educator’s encounter with an upset student in the example dialogue here. Keep in mind that the same sequence could be used with parents or colleagues as well.

Teacher: Buddy, it isn’t like you to argue and raise your voice with me when I ask you to do something. Thanks for talking with me for a little bit before heading to music. I want to understand why your feelings are so big right now.

Student: It’s not fair that I got in trouble when nobody else did.

Teacher: (Ready to listen . . .) I want to understand. Tell me more.

Student: You took away my iPad, but you didn’t take away anybody else’s. I wasn’t the only one messing around and not working on our project. In fact, everybody at our table

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was looking at funny animal pictures.

Teacher: (Giving reassurance . . .) Ahhh . . . I think I see how you didn’t like that I only gave you a consequence when other kids were doing the same thing. Did that feel unfair?

Student: (Visibly calming . . .) Yeah, it’s like it didn’t matter that the other kids were breaking the rules. It only mattered that I was. Maybe it’s because you like them more than me.

Teacher: (Validating the other’s experience . . .) Kiddo, I can see how it might have seemed that way. (Now responding . . .) Truth is, I like and care about each of you no matter what. I just don’t like it when any of you chooses to be off task. (Note here at the validation stage that the teacher did not necessarily agree with the student’s statement in order to validate his experience.)

Student: It didn’t seem like it when I was the only one who got in trouble. That was really embarrassing. (Notice how the student has moved from expressing primarily anger to now showing the more vulnerable emotion of embarrassment.)

Teacher: (Validating again . . .) No wonder your feelings got so big so fast; not only were you thinking that maybe I didn’t like you, but you were also embarrassed in front of your friends. (And responding again . . .) What really happened is that I didn’t notice that other kids were off task with you.

Student: They were, and then they laughed at me when I was the only one who got in trouble.

Teacher: (Engaging in repair . . .) It never feels good to be laughed at, and it doesn’t feel good to be the only one getting in trouble for something either. I’m sorry if it seemed like I was picking on you. It’s just hard for me to see everything all at once sometimes. (When we make mistakes or cause hurt feelings, it is important to consider repairing with apologies, but when something isn’t our fault, we can still express feeling sorry for the other person’s experience.)

Student: Thanks.

Teacher: (Moving toward resolution . . .) How about next time you try being a positive leader at your table by working on your project? You could even encourage other kids to do the right thing. I know you can do it, and I would love to notice that!

Student: Okay.

In this example, the teacher put the relationship first by taking the time to connect with the student privately and by listening. In doing so, both teacher and student better understood one another’s perspectives, reaffirmed their care for one another, and left with a positive plan for moving forward. When we listen to students and better understand their emotions and needs, they can feel heard and thus valued. This begins the repair process after a break and helps students reconnect within the relationship. This allows students to feel safe within the

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relationship again and consequently open to understanding others’ perspectives. Ultimately, this helps kids begin thinking about how their actions affect others.

In trauma-sensitive schools, this type of listening for understanding is not practiced just between adults and students. Staff encourage and facilitate such dialogue between youth too. In lessons about conflict resolution, for example, students are taught to listen for understanding and even to validate what the other person is saying before responding. They practice in role plays, and then educators coach students on using these strategies when real conflicts arise. Overall, students are encouraged to give both positive as well as respectfully expressed constructive feedback to one another, as long as it comes from a place of caring and wanting to help the other person or to help improve a relationship. This is an important way that we put relationships first.

Establishing Healthy Boundaries Limits are necessary in trauma-sensitive schools in order to preserve safety. Boundaries around personal space and behavior help us create and maintain healthy relationships whereby all those involved get what they need. Boundaries around time help ensure that students are able to learn. When setting limits, trauma-sensitive educators must be caring, nurturing, and empathic. Rather than shaming kids, they ground the purpose of boundaries in keeping relationships healthy. A trauma-sensitive educator might say the following:

• In our school, we do (or do not) __________ because that bothers others.

• Let me show you how we do that here so everyone gets what they need.

• I know it’s hard to stop, but it’s time to __________ so we can keep learning (or playing well) together.

• This is not what you prefer right now, and it looks like you might feel _______.

• I see you are upset. How can I help you get back to your green zone so we have no more hurt feelings?

• You really want it to go your way, and that is not what I hear your friend wanting. How can we work this out together so you both get at least a little bit of what you want?

• I bet it would upset you if someone did that to you. I’m not going to let you do that to others. Can I help you find another way?

• Not okay with me, I care about you and want to help you learn to _______.

• I know it’s hard to accept me saying no about that; I am here to help you through it.

• This time didn’t work out so well. Be thinking about how you could try again later.

Provide Core Instruction for Relationship Skills In trauma-sensitive schools, educators work together to deliver core instruction to all kids

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related to a comprehensive, sequential, and developmentally appropriate social-emotional curriculum that boosts youth relationship skills whether students are in preschool, high school, or anywhere in between. Essential learnings and skills as well as assessments for learning are developed by teacher teams, including school counselors, who are part of PLCs. Lessons aimed at helping students master essential learnings or skills in the area of building healthy interpersonal skills align with core standards, and with the ASCA (2014) mindsets and behaviors, and may include the following:

• Facilitating team building

• Promoting self-awareness

• Embracing appreciation for diversity

• Teaching social, relationship, and communication skills

• Supporting empathy development

• Building leadership qualities

There are countless books, resources, and programs that can assist educators in designing lessons that help kids master essential learnings and skills tied to building and maintaining healthy relationships. Here are a few children’s stories that can be incorporated into lessons for kids of many different ages:

• Swimmy, by Leo Lionni (1963), is a short picture book with a big message about the importance of connections. Swimmy is a lonely fish who befriends a school of fish, but they are afraid to explore the ocean out of fear of a large tuna fish. Swimmy encourages them to swim together with him in a very creative way, which ends up keeping everyone safe. After discussing the story, talk with young students about what we gain from sticking together with one another. Talk about actions that help us build connections.

• Stick and Stone, by Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld (2015), is a great book for helping kids of all ages understand the importance of reciprocity or give-and-take in relationships. Early on in the story, Stick helps Stone, but in the end, Stick ends up needing help from Stone. Talk with students about what giving and taking in relationships looks like and sounds like.

• Chopsticks, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Scott Magoon (2012), is a story with a lovely message about the importance of separation within relationships. After an unfortunate accident, one chopstick learns how to navigate life without his best friend by his side for a little while. In the end, Chopstick learns that being apart sometimes can actually improve relationships. Although it’s a picture book, the big idea is applicable to youth in upper elementary as well as those in lower elementary. Talk with students about ways we can ask for and give one another space in relationships in positive ways.

In addition to social-emotional lessons, trauma-sensitive educators also use academic content to weave in instruction for all kids about healthy relationships, perspective taking, and

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empathy. For instance, a middle school teacher could develop a science unit on biological systems in relation to protecting the environment. The students would learn about interdependency within ecosystems while the educator makes links to the importance of human interdependency within communities as well as within personal relationships. Other examples of using academic content to foster healthy relationships are truly endless. In language arts courses, for example, assigned books or novels, regardless of age level, are great for exploring emotions, needs, and relationships. Encouraging youth to imagine being in the shoes of different characters, each with unique perspectives, is great practice for empathy. History class is also ripe for helping students make connections between past and current themes related to abuse of power, conflict, peaceful negotiation or conflict resolution, ethical decision making, social responsibility and change, justice, teamwork, and positive leadership.

Foster Belonging Trauma-sensitive educators must show that relationships come first and teach skills that help students build and maintain healthy relationships. Together, both priorities help foster belonging for students. According to Watson (2003), other suggestions to increase a sense of belonging in an elementary school include eating with students, gradually working from cooperative games to competitive ones, and using inclusive language such as “Our class (or school) really likes. . . .” In secondary schools, key strategies include eating with students, attending student events to cheer them on and celebrate success, and talking with youth about their accomplishments as well as encouraging them to not give up in the face of difficulties in or out of the classroom. Community, school, and classroom pride are important as long as we ensure that every student feels included just as he or she is. Diversity fairs and other celebrations of student differences are also crucial, because any true degree of belonging involves the experience of being accepted as a unique individual who is ultimately different and separate from others. Trauma-sensitive educators help youth explore their personal interests and strengths as part of developing such self-awareness.

A wonderful children’s book that can be used to help kids explore their own personal interests is Everybody Needs a Rock, by Byrd Baylor (1985). In it, youth are encouraged to find their very own rock as the author details examples of the many different places where one’s perfect and unique rock can be found. The illustrations in the book are fascinating and serve as a wonderful discussion point. Kids are always eager to find their very own rock to bring in for sharing afterward, which then promotes a wonderful experience of belonging for all kids. Teachers can share that just as each rock is different, so are we, and yet even in our differences, there is such power when we come together.

As part of fostering belonging, it is also important for educators to honestly reflect on school or classroom practices that might help and those that also might be getting in the way of true belonging for all kids so that needed changes can be made. In the next Try This section, you have an opportunity to do this. Please realize that this section is not intended to create shame for anyone. Rather, recognizing that every school has changes that need to be

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made and owning our responsibility to make those changes is an important part of any trauma-sensitive school.

TRY THIS Consider your own area of expertise within your school environment. For instance, if you are a school counselor, think of your comprehensive school counseling program or personal practices. If you are a classroom teacher, focus on your grade-level team. If you are an office staff member, think of your daily or seasonal practices (e.g., registration, orientation for new families, following up on absences, preparing for transitioning students and their records from one building to another). Spend time honestly reflecting on and discussing your current practices in terms of how they may help or hinder students’ ability to feel safe and be connected.

Every school has practices, many of which have been inherited over the years, that may hurt kids and families. As individuals, we have all done things that hurt more than help. Looking at these issues honestly and talking about them in ways that honor each person’s courage to be vulnerable are integral to the process of making our schools the trauma-sensitive environments all youth and families need them to be. Be ready to reflect on both strengths and weaknesses. • What practices are already in place that help students be safe, feel safe, and

get connected in your school? How about in the specific area where you work? Share one specific example of a time when you helped contribute to a student’s experience of felt safety or to connectedness for students or families.

• What things are happening within your work area that might jeopardize a student or family’s sense of real or felt safety, or lead individuals to feel disconnected?

• If you were going to work with your colleagues to change one thing for the sake of improving felt safety and positive relationships in your area of the school, what would it be? What is one thing you could do to help promote that change?

With real and felt safety, as well as relationships actively being pursued as school priorities, educators will be well on their way to helping students learn at high rates. Before focusing on learning, however, there is one more essential of trauma-sensitive schools to tend to.

UNIVERSAL STRATEGIES TO HELP ALL STUDENTS GET REGULATED As educators, we must realize that any person who is under high stress and thus is relying on

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the brain’s security guard is less able, if not completely unable, to access the upstairs part of the brain, which is responsible for higher order thinking, reasoning, learning, and creativity. To put it another way, highly stressed students cannot learn because their upstairs brain is offline. This is true for healthy developing children and adolescents who are under temporary stress, and it is especially true for traumatized youth whose bodies and brains may have developed strong neural pathways associated with a hastily responding stress response system. We must regulate our own stress response systems so that we can teach. Then, we need to help all students calm their stress response systems so they can learn (National Child Traumatic Stress Network Schools Committee, 2008; Siegel, 2012b; Siegel & Bryson, 2012, 2014; van der Kolk, 2014).

Although school counselors can be integral members of educator teams facilitating instruction on self-regulation, we also should infuse the practice of regulation into the how we do everything in our schools. A focus on both what to teach and how to teach it is included in the next sections.

Provide Core Instruction for Teaching Self-Regulation Trauma-sensitive schools should provide core instruction on self-regulation, including a broader instructional plan that aims to help students understand their brains, their stress response systems, and how to regulate their arousal by way of mindfulness practices, self- regulation strategies, and healthy emotional expression.

The Brain Trauma-sensitive educators teach youth of all ages about the brain and how it works. The Hawn Foundation’s (2011a, 2011b, 2011c) The MindUP Curriculum is a top- notch and inexpensive book that includes lessons on this topic, and it comes with a brightly colored poster of the human brain. Importantly, this curriculum is available for different age groups. The children’s book, Your Fantastic Elastic Brain: Stretch It, Shape It, by JoAnn Deak and Sarah Ackerley (2010), is also an excellent resource for an elementary-level read- aloud because it teaches kids about the brain in a very friendly format. Siegel’s (2012a) hand model of the brain, as introduced in Chapter 1 (see Figure 1.3), is a helpful teaching tool for educators at any level. Students need to better understand what is happening inside their bodies when they experience changing levels of arousal. This also promotes an understanding that, although we are not to blame for dysregulation, it is our responsibility to learn to manage feelings that are too much or not enough in adaptive ways.

The River of Feelings The River of Feelings, introduced in the previous chapter, is a key tool for introducing self-regulation to students. All students should learn how to identify their arousal zones by color and number. Appendices 7 through 10, which include a visualization activity that can be used to teach youth about the River of Feelings and a drawing activity to help students interpret their own feelings, can be used to implement this strategy in your school. There is a script that can be used to teach all kids about the River of Feelings visual. Finally, guiding questions that all school staff can use to help students use

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the River of Feelings in teachable moments are included as a handout. These are great tools for teaching all kids as part of Tier 1 instruction. Chapter 8 shows you how to use them in Tiers 2 and 3 as well.

Mindfulness Practices Once students are taught how to identify their arousal level using the River of Feelings materials, it is important that all staff and youth learn what to do to help move themselves back into their green zones. Specifically, embedding mindfulness practices throughout the school day is recommended as an important way to help students build and strengthen the neural pathways associated with regulation (Hughes & Baylin, 2012; Imordino-Yang, 2016; Nakazawa, 2015; Siegel, 2012b; van der Kolk, 2014). We can even use mindfulness strategies before students understand why they work. Teaching youth why these practices are helpful is eventually important because with that, kids can intentionally choose to use them when dysregulated. Helping parents and other caregivers learn about and then apply these strategies at home is of great benefit as well.

There are many great resources available to help educators incorporate mindfulness practices into their work with students of all ages. Three favorites include the following:

• Taeeun Yoo’s (2012) You Are a Lion! And Other Fun Yoga Poses is a delightful book for young children that teaches simple yoga poses corresponding with different animals. The text is simple and the pictures are engaging.

• For older students, Mindful Movements: Ten Exercises for Well-Being, by Thich Nhat Hanh (2008), is a good option because the exercises are simple and the format is easily accessible. I also appreciate the realistic illustrations because they show how everyone can participate in mindful movements.

• For kids of all ages, Susan Kaiser Greenland’s (2016) Mindful Games: Sharing Mindfulness and Meditation with Children, Teens, and Families includes games that can be used to practice mindfulness. The book is structured in an easy-to-use format. A separate card deck is available for purchase as well (Greenland, 2017).

Keep in mind that some traumatized students may need permission to keep their eyes open during mindfulness practice; they may also need to start by focusing their awareness outside of themselves rather than internally, at least at first, because an internal focus can sometimes trigger a trauma response depending on the individual (Dorado & Zakrzewski, 2013).

Self-Regulation Strategies Teaching youth other self-regulation and stress management techniques is important. For instance, it is critical to make sure all youth can demonstrate and effectively use belly breathing. Bessel van der Kolk (2014), a psychiatrist and founder of the Trauma Center at the Restorative Justice Institute, has encouraged trauma survivors to focus on exhaling rather than inhaling when taking deep breaths once stress response systems are activated; this works for nontraumatized individuals too. There are various ways to teach this concept. Consider teaching young children to smell a bowl of soup and blow on the soup. Sesame Street has a great video to help young children learn this

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important regulation skill, which can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=_mZbzDOpylA. Encouraging students to pretend they are blowing bubbles or to even make a horse sound with their lips as they exhale are also great adaptations. Horse sounds in particular often provoke giggles, which can be helpful, especially when laughter naturally counteracts shame as well as anxiety. Educators can coach youth by saying, “Just breathe.” Another idea is to have kids whisper the word one when exhaling. Although daily mindfulness practices should include a focus on belly breathing, it is also necessary to teach and then coach youth to use belly breathing when they experience themselves outside of their green zones.

Other self-regulation and stress management lessons for all students can target helping students learn a variety of strategies for getting themselves back into their green zones. Encourage students to try different techniques and then regularly practice the ones that work best for them.

Identifying and Expressing Emotions Once students are better able to regulate their arousal states, trauma-sensitive educators move into teaching youth how to identify and appropriately express emotions. This is best accomplished by teaching students about differences between passive, aggressive, and assertive communication.

A great children’s book for this topic is The Lion Inside, by Rachel Bright and Jim Field (2015). A quiet mouse is ignored and harmed as a result of his quiet passivity, and he sets out to learn how to roar from a lion. In the end, Mouse and Lion both learn a lesson together about what really makes relationships work. After enjoying and discussing the book, model and teach students how to respectfully use I-statements to communicate their needs in assertive ways. For younger students, the following framework is often best, “I feel _____; I need _____.” For older students, it can be expanded to “I feel _____ when _____ because _____; I need _____.” In addition, we must also teach youth how to read and best respond to others’ emotions as part of explicitly instructing and supporting assertive communication skills.

Coach for Regulation Throughout the Day Once we know what to teach for regulation, educators must embed a focus on coaching for regulation throughout the day. To put it another way, educators should infuse the practice of regulation into the how of everything they do at school. This requires helping prevent dysregulation, providing coregulation with all kids when necessary, and choosing activities in the moment based on students’ arousal level to help them get back into their green zones where they can be ready to learn.

Provide Hydration and Healthy Snacks A key way to assist all students with regulation is to ensure that all students have access to water and frequent healthy snacks throughout the day. Although this is healthy for all kids, it is also based on findings that youth exposed to substances prenatally or who experienced early childhood trauma often

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mZbzDOpylA

have significant changes to insulin receptor sites, making them at risk for dramatic behavioral changes when their blood sugar begins to drop below optimal levels. Encouraging light, healthy snacks every 2 hours is advised for some traumatized youth. Hydration improves regulation of attention as well as memory performance for all youth, so allowing students to have water bottles at their desks is good practice for everyone. Regardless of the obvious biological benefits to frequent healthy snacking and drinking water, youth who have experienced neglect resulting from a lack of food or drink will be reassured psychologically by having easy, frequent access to nourishment and hydration, which can prevent a triggering of their stress response systems when they start to feel hungry or thirsty. This improves felt safety in addition to regulation (Purvis, Cross, Dansereau, & Parris, 2013).

Build in Brain Breaks Including daily mindfulness practice, deep breathing, relaxation exercises, other brain breaks related to physical movement, stretching, and exercise throughout the day, in addition to music and art, are necessary for helping all students regulate their internal states (Jensen, 2008). Dance and drumming activities are options as well (Jensen, 2008). Incorporating yoga poses, in particular, is something more schools are implementing (Lillas & Turnbull, 2009; Nakazawa, 2015; van der Kolk, 2014). Time for creative, dramatic play and time spent outside or otherwise in nature are critical (Lillas & Turnbull, 2009). Frequent opportunities for reflection through journal writing and downtime through taking breaks are also necessary because the brain needs time to process and transfer what has been learned from short- to long-term memory; in this way, none of us can be on at all times (Jensen, 2008). All of these activities contribute to what Siegel (2012b) has called a healthy platter for the mind and brain and are therefore important for all of us because they build neurological capacity for improved regulation.

As a result of the clear benefits of exercise for the body, brain, and mind, recess should not be taken away from youth in trauma-sensitive schools if at all possible. All youth, especially traumatized youth, need recess to improve body and brain regulation, which supports optimal learning.

At times, students may need to expend more energy to navigate changes to the typical routine, new people or situations, especially challenging academic content, or any other stressor. In those instances, educators should provide more of these group regulatory activities, otherwise known as break breaks, because they contribute to a more positive mood and better readiness for focused learning. In this way, trauma-sensitive educators can coach for regulation before dysregulation occurs.

Choose Activities Based on Arousal Zone When students are dysregulated, we can specifically coach for regulation by choosing activities that will help groups of youth, whether traumatized or not, move back into their green zones. This can be accomplished with individual students as well. Following are some specific examples, but there are oodles of other ideas that work; find those that are a good fit for both you and your kids. Although belly breathing, as discussed in the previous section, is a great place to start, other more

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specific techniques shared in the following sections should be used as they further help youth switch between arousal zones.

Mime Game Games can serve as wonderful trauma-sensitive techniques that can help us coach for student regulation in a particular moment. A favorite, especially when youth are in their pink zone of regulation and need help getting back down to green, is to play the Mime Game. It is something I learned from a fantastic music teacher early on in my teaching career. Use this at the beginning of class with students of all ages if they are restless and having difficulty showing they are ready to learn. It can also be used mid-lesson, particularly if students have been working in groups on a project and need help down-regulating to an arousal state where they can focus and learn during instruction or as part of a whole-class discussion.

Here’s how it works: Stand or sit up with good posture; ask students do the same. Put your hands out in front of you without making any sounds and move your arms in various mime-like ways (e.g., washing windows, pretending you’re in a box). Students copy your movements without making any sounds. Take deep belly breaths as you do this, and end with your hands in your lap. This is a great way for students to move, regulate their brains together, and then be better grounded in their bodies and ready to learn.

Can-Can Dance Other times, when students seem to be tired or otherwise in the blue zone on the River of Feelings visual, such as when they have been using their upstairs brains for focused learning and need a break before they become restless, there are countless activities to choose from that can help up-regulate their alertness level back to the green zone. A favorite that can be used with any age group, including adults, came from another fabulous music teacher who also happened to be a counselor. It involves giving each person two paper plates and leading them through a fast-paced and hilarious group dance to the can- can music. Your students will love it and you will too.

Doodle Draw An art activity that can be helpful when students need help regulating their arousal level up or down is Doodle Draw. Many teachers encourage students to use personal whiteboards and markers during instruction as a way to practice skills and check for understanding, because students can each hold up their whiteboards and allow the teacher to quickly see who has mastered a skill and who may need more help. Why not make the transition in and out of whiteboard use fun and regulating?

Here is how it works: Say, “Friends, you have 2 minutes to have your whiteboards out and Doodle Draw.” Students can take as much or as little time as needed to get their materials out, but the quicker they accomplish the transition part of the directions, the more time they will have for drawing. Nearing the 2-minute mark, announce a countdown of 10 seconds to give students a chance to finish their drawing. Then say, “Markers down, art work up for display,” and students hold up their whiteboard pictures for others to see.

You might change it up by doing one more Doodle Draw after this, especially if students

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need further help regulating. It goes like this, “Erase your boards in 3-2-1, and now, it’s time for . . . a . . . FAST draw!” Students never know which kind of draw you are going to announce, so they have to pay attention. They also have to be ready for the next direction, whatever it might be. For example, “Now . . . it’s . . . time . . . for . . . a . . . S-L-O-W draw,” “Now it’s time for a ‘just right’ draw.” These are short drawing periods during which many students simply draw scribble designs, and no matter what, it is typically best to end with a “just right” draw so students can regulate to the green zone and thus be ready to learn.

TRY THIS • What group techniques or activities have you used to help down-regulate youth

arousal states from a pink zone to a green zone on the River of Feelings visual? • What group techniques or activities have you used to help up-regulate youth

arousal states from a blue zone to a green zone on the River of Feelings visual? • What resources can you tap into to learn more group regulation techniques and

brain breaks? (Hint: In my experience, music teachers, PE teachers, and art teachers could be your closest and best experts.)

Helping all youth learn regulation strategies by providing group practice, as these examples illustrate, builds capacity for managing life stress for all students throughout their lives. Most importantly, with safety, healthy relationships, and regulation in place, youth can then be ready to learn.

UNIVERSAL STRATEGIES TO HELP ALL STUDENTS LEARN The ultimate goal in trauma-sensitive schools is to facilitate high levels of learning for all students. Trauma-sensitive educators know that before students can learn, they must first feel safe, become connected, and get regulated. This section explores how providing “just right” instruction, including in the area of improving executive function, and using other trauma- sensitive instructional strategies are key to helping students learn.

Provide “Just Right” Instruction To facilitate learning, trauma-sensitive educators must pay attention to the Goldilocks principle, meaning that what we need to teach each student cannot be too hard or too easy; it must be “just right.” When learning challenges are “just right,” students are able to experience school success in direct relation to personal effort, which contributes to and potentially strengthens a growth mindset (Tough, 2016). The goal is to maximize challenge for students to keep expectations high but without compromising students’ alert processing state or lessening their internal resources for self-regulation (Lillas & Turnbull, 2009).

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In this way, instruction in trauma-sensitive schools must be differentiated based on individual student needs. This requires that educators assess students’ knowledge and skills before providing instruction as well as during instruction to make sure that what we are doing with students is “just right” for their learning. Educators must focus on results. Data, then, drives instruction and ensures that students master essential learnings and skills. For most students, core instruction (Tier 1) is “just right” for mastery. For some, supplemental instruction in addition to core (Tier 2) is “just right,” and for a few, intensive intervention in addition to core (Tier 3) is “just right,” depending on the skill. Focusing on what to teach, how to assess for learning, and then how to respond when students have mastered the content or skills—as well as how to respond when students have not mastered the content or skills— is the work of our PLCs. Furthermore, any “just right” instruction is scaffolded, sequenced, and amplified in accordance with MTSS that match students’ needs, whether the focus of that instruction is on social-emotional learning, executive function, other 21st century skills, physical development, academic content, or the arts. The sections that follow look at several instructional strategies related to improving student executive function, as well as other general practices that can help us provide “just right” instruction for students, including those who have been traumatized.

Core Instruction for Improving Executive Function Skills In order to improve all students’ executive function, trauma-sensitive educators provide core instruction related to inhibition of responses, decision making, and problem solving. They also tie 21st century learning skills to each academic content area to ensure that students are learning and practicing study skills, test-taking skills, and others in context. Helping students set goals and monitor progress are critical. Educators also need to facilitate the development of a growth mindset whereby staff and students believe that success is based on hard work and effort, rather than innate abilities (Dweck, 2006). All staff and students need to embrace the understanding that perseverance is necessary to help oneself overcome challenges and meet goals. Coaching for regulation, as described previously, along with teaching positive self-talk are crucial. Educators should ultimately tie all skills to college, career, and civic readiness.

More specifically, educators can use various games to help build executive function and other skills for all youth; creative or dramatic play as well as songs can also help students practice and strengthen impulse control (Yeager & Yeager, 2013). One of my favorites is to play my own version of Simon Says, which I call Ms. Jen Says (e.g., “Ms. Jen says touch your nose, Ms. Jen says touch your knees, touch your belly button”). Students who carry out a movement when Ms. Jen didn’t say “Ms. Jen says” are out. Another variation is to always say Ms. Jen says, but do the actions with students until the leader says one thing and does another. Students should follow the words and not the actions or they are out (if desired). Getting out, however, may not be best. Everyone can simply laugh and try again after mistakes are made. This way, children are not sitting out on movement opportunities but are instead practicing acceptance of mistakes in themselves and others. Of course, feel free to use your own name instead of Ms. Jen in the game.

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Other games that help younger students practice and strengthen executive function include the following:

• Red Rover or Duck, Duck Goose, which require turn-taking, walking, sitting in a circle, and using gentle touch (Sorrels, 2015)

• Red Light, Green Light or Mother May I, which require listening carefully to directions (Sorrels, 2015; Yeager & Yeager, 2013)

• Freeze Tag, which involves a variety of skills related to executive function (Yeager & Yeager, 2013)

• Hand-clapping games or songs, which require behavioral control (Sorrels, 2015)

• Rhythm instruments to a beat, which builds behavioral control (Sorrels, 2015)

• Memory games, which help students practice their use of focusing attention, listening, and working memory

• Storytelling activities whereby one student adds onto something another student shared, which promote cognitive flexibility as well as turn-taking and listening skills

• Hot Potato, which helps children modulate their behavior (Sorrels, 2015)

Volume- and movement-based games that ask students to answer, sing, or speak in voices of varying volumes (e.g., monster voice versus mouse voice), or change the intensity or speeds of their actions (e.g., creating a rainstorm together with instruments or simply using snaps, claps, and taps; giving varying directions as students move to music), build skills related to behavioral control and modulation.

Improving executive function with older students is also important. Terry Kottman wrote two books with colleagues that detail adventure therapy activities that can easily and inexpensively be used in educational settings for youth of various ages, including adolescents. These activities can build executive function in addition to helping students practice and process many other skills related to personal, relational, and school success. These useful resources for trauma-sensitive educators include Adventures in Guidance: How to Build Fun Into Your Guidance Program (Degraaf, Ashby, & Kottman, 2001) and Active Interventions for Kids and Teens: Adding Adventures and Fun to Counseling (Ashby & Kottman, 2008).

Day-to-Day Trauma-Sensitive Instructional Practices What does helping all students learn look like in our day-to-day practices? To get started, consider the following:

• Using consistent, nonverbal cueing systems to help students focus and pay attention

• Teaching students how to set both short- and long-term goals as well as monitor their progress toward meeting those goals

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• Designing lessons that incorporate a multisensory approach

• Encouraging students to apply new learning as soon as possible (Craig, 2016)

• Offering choices and helping students explore, develop, and tap into personal interests, strengths, and passions

• Discussing students’ lifelong dreams and actively building hope for the future through a variety of activities and projects linked with college, career, and civic readiness

Proactive instruction in the areas of safety, relationships, regulation, and learning is good for all kids as well as for traumatized kids. The essentials of the trauma-sensitive school truly help us teach the whole child or adolescent in a way that emphasizes skill building, which is crucial not only for school success but also for life success. Tier 1 instruction is enough for most kids, but some kids will need more in addition to core instruction. See Appendix 11, A Starter List for Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 Intervention, for a summary of the strategies discussed in this chapter and those discussed next. Chapter 8 digs deeper into the other trauma-informed tiers of the RTI pyramid. I will meet you there next.

“If you think you’re too small to make a difference, you haven’t spent a night with a mosquito.”

–African proverb

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