Ch. 8 Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools

"Trauma-sensitive schools scaffold information about trauma onto already-established best teaching practices. Staff members work in teams to create a blend of services, supports, and opportunities that are sensitive to individual needs while maintaining high standards of academic and social performance.  Emphasis is placed in helping children gain acess to and use available resources so that family or community violence does not undermine educational success (Cole et al.,2005).  Trauma-sensitive schools do not replace learning with discipline (Garbarino et al., 1992).  Rather, they use personal relationships and responsive teaching to nuture children's inherent capacity for self-control while developing their potential for academic and social competency."

Ch. 7 Managing the Emotional Demands of Teaching

"Teachers are an invaluable resource to children exposed to violence or relational trauma.  Their emotional availability and consistent presence help these children reestablish a sense of trust and learn to regulate their emotions and behavior.  The intensity of this type of responsive teaching depletes a teacher's personal and professional resources.  This demoralizes teachers and puts them at risk for burn-out or compassion fatigue.  Supports need to be in place to help teaches manage the emotional dimensions of their work and maintain their own sense of competence and well-being.  These include a willingness to take the time necessary to protect one's own physical, emotional, and spiritual health; adminstrative support for collaborative teaming; and frequent opportunities for training."

Ch. 5 Creating Opportunities for Self-Regulation & Ch. 6 Supporting the Acquistion of Reading & Writing Skills

"Children with histories of exposure to violence or relational trauma often enter school without age-appropriate self-regulatory skills.  Classroom activities that promote choice making and self-reflection help children experience themselves as competent and in control.  A classroom climate of encouragement and support provides the safe haven that these children need to face the future with confidence and hope."

"A trauma-sensitive approach to reading and writing instruction provides children with opportunities to experience the pleasure of shared reading in the company of a caring adult.  Teachers use mediated learning experiences to produce purposeful readers and precise, accurate writers.  Care is given to provide children with the emotional safety and support they need so that they can focus on what they are doing and be successful.  Comprehension strategies are introduced and practiced within a social context; in turn that encourages collaboration with one another to arrive at a better understanding of what they are reading.  Children are then better able to use what they are learning to set and achieve personal goals."

Ch. 4 The Impact of Family Violence on Relationships

"Children exposed to violence or other forms of relational trauma have difficulty forming satisfying relationships with caring adults.  Damaged by the effects of insecure or disorganized patterns of attachment, these children develop behavioral coping mechanisms that trigger negative reactions from both adults and peers.  Classroom environments where teachers reinforce safety and provide ongoing support give children the hope they need to survive.  Opportunities to form meaningful relationships with teachers can help children overcome their perception of the world as a dangerous and hostile place."

Ch. 3 How Family Violence Influences Children's Language & Memory

"Early exposure to violence influences children's functional use of language in ways that impede their ability to learn and remember.  Stress and hyperarousal make it difficult for them to attend to the content of instruction.  Emotionally charged fragments of implicit memory often sabotage relationships with peers and adults, making it difficult for the children to participate in classroom activities and rountines.  They need relationships with teachers who are willing to scaffold classroom rountines through the use of procedural and automatic memory pathways. They also need a classroom climate that is conducive to the formation of positive emotional memories associated with learning."

Ch. 2 Exposure to Violence Changes How Children Learn

"Exposure to violence changes how children learn and how they think about learning.  Traumatized children need learning experiences that foster competence and improve their sense of personal agency, therby changing their explanatory narrative.They need classrooms that recognize their intense need for safety in addition to providing tools to manage stress and allow the children to stay calm enough to learn.  They need to bring their attention under their control through direct instruction in how to train their brain to reflect."

Ch.1 Family Violence: A Problem of Epidemic Proportions

"Misbehaviors are within a child's control and they can choose how they wish to behave (Watson & Westby, 2003).  This is not always the case for traumatized children.  Their apparent "opposition/defiance, agression, emotional disengagment, and avoidance of responsibility" are often produced by traumatic stress reactions over which they have little control (Henry, Sloane & Blake-Pond, 2007).  As a result, using consequences to achieve compliance with school or classroom rules is seldom effective, and may in fact, escalate negative behaviors when children are unable to comply for reasons neither they nor their teacher understand."

Book Synopsis

Through clear and readable explanations of current research and enlightening vignettes, educators will understand how violence and other forms of trauma affect the key elements of a child's school and social success, including behavior, attention, memory, and language. Then they'll find dozens of simple, creative ideas—easy to use in any classroom, on any budget—that show them how to

• adapt instruction to address the learning characteristics of children exposed to trauma
• help students develop the most important skills they need to succeed in school
• use positive behavior supports so children can stay calm and focused on learning
• build meaningful, appropriate, and supportive teacher-student relationships
• encourage positive peer relationships through cooperative games, group projects, and buddy systems
• provide predictable routines that instill a sense of safety and control
• avoid burnout and reduce the effects of "compassion fatigue"
• integrate a trauma-sensitive perspective across an entire school

Throughout the book, realistic sample scenarios demonstrate how teachers can make the strategies work in their classroom, and challenging What Would You Do? quizzes sharpen educators' instincts so they can respond skillfully in difficultsituations. With this timely, much-needed guidebook, education professionals will create supportive classrooms and schools that meet the complex learning needs of children who hurt—and help the most vulnerable students build resilience and hope.