Trauma senstive schools for adolescents

Working in a high poverty school has had me thinking about the root of the challenge for my kids. I do not feel that poverty is the underlying cause. It is trauma. One type of trauma is poverty and the various forms of insecurity that accompany it- primarily food and housing. Many of my students are children living with only one parent or a guardian. Many live in houses where abuse is or was occurring. Many are exposed to substance abuse or are now using themselves. Many have untreated medical or dental problems, especially mental health. These kids need extensive support to help them engage in the learning process. Susan E. Craig's book, Trauma-Sensitive Schools for the Adolescent Years: Promoting Resiliency and Healing, Grades 6-12, tackles this concern head on.

Craig defines trauma as "exposure to experiences that exceed one's capacity to cope" (p. 8). Once a first trauma has occurred subsequent resiliency is impaired and individuals are more easily traumatized again. The author acknowledges the link between trauma and disengagement, something I see in the classroom. Trauma limits the "ability to use higher-order thinking to regulate subcortical brain activity" (p 7). She recommends acknowledging the academic challenge and then actively working to counter the fear response of fight or flight. The strategies she recommends to deal with this impaired brain include promoting integration of new and old information, fostering collaboration and perspective taking.

This work takes time. The brain has been impacted by trauma and needs to develop new patterns of use. New dendrites need to be built and reinforced so that old, dysfunctional to learning patterns are overwritten. It relies on the development of relationships with often relationship shy young people. Clear and precise language  needs to be used to talk about strategies that will be successful in school for solving challenges. From an instructional standpoint, she recommends using differentiated instruction and dialogic teaching.

She recommends teaching and reinforcing strategies for stress management. We cannot eliminate stress from anyone's life. A little stress is good- it pushes us to be mindful, study or be careful. Too much is a problem. When students approach unhealthy stress levels they need productive ways to deal- visualization, yoga, and deep breathing are examples. Each person needs to find their method. For my son, deep breathing was a nonstarter. We could sometimes prompt him to refocus on relaxing topics. He learned to have a book handy when it was likely he was going to have to wait. Each individual needs their own tool box of stress management.

Trauma exposed people tend to focus on the negative rather than the successes. They need the adults in their lives to celebrate and help them recognize their successes and opportunities. Many people exposed to trauma see the future as a black hole. We need to help them imagine a future of possibilities. We need to help them plan for positives rather than wallow in their problems and past.

Disrupting Poverty part 2

Kathleen M. Budge and William H. Parrett's book, Disrupting Poverty: Five Powerful Classroom Practices, begins with a discussion of poverty and it's impact on children. The first comment that hit me was their insistence that "labeling students 'poor' can provide an excuse for holding low expectations" (p 23). It struck me that we do this with many subgroups- students with disabilities, English language learners, poor kids, children of single parent households... We use that yardstick to define how far they can go and excuse their behaviors and performance. Unfortunately some kids are given a raw deal. If we use those situations to excuse their performance or behavior, we are limiting them. It sucks, but sometimes you have to work harder than your peers to achieve the same. Your boss doesn't care if you had an argument with your wife before getting to work late. We cannot excuse the kid who is chronically tardy because his life has some terrible thing in it. We need to figure out how to get him to class on time. Ignoring it merely teaches that it is ok to not meet the standards and that is a road that leads to perpetuating low success.

I have long thought we tend to ignore the factors that contribute to low performance in school because as teachers we have little control over them.

• material resources: not having the internet or a computer to do assignments, limited clothing and food resources, crowded spaces, childcare concerns are areas that schools are trying to impact through free/reduced lunches and breakfast, wrap around school care, and clothing closets.
• health and well-being- poverty increases problems, starting with poor prenatal care and moving to inadequate access to doctors. I will never forget the 7 year old I worked with. The local dental school provided free check ups and care for all the kids in the school. This young kid needed two root canals and five cavities filled. How could he be expected to learn?
• Food insecurity- yes, we have lunch and breakfast programs but that is only 5 days a week during the school year. 42.2 million people lived in households with food insecurity in 2016 (p. 37). If you are hungry, it is hard to learn. Moreover, chronic stress causes other issues for people.
• neurocognitive and neurobehavioral development- Poverty contributes to problems with executive function- issues in areas such as self-regulation, working memory, focusing, and prioritizing. Chronic stress cause the brain to reshape as a result of bombardment by cortisol. While the brain is plastic and can learn new tricks, we are often ill-equipped to teach these skills. Further, they can seem irrelevant to someone living the life, reducing motivation to learn them. "When people are preoccupied with the reality of living with severely limited financial resources, the impairment in their cognitive functioning compares to a 13 point drop in IQ" (p 99). It is a functioning issue that is nearly a standard deviation.
• housing instability- this leads to fear, stress, inability to keep stuff  like school supplies and clean clothes, health and hygiene concerns. Schools can provide showers and laundry facilities. Being open before and after school can reduce these stressors.
• Family stress and trauma- I think we are only beginning to see the tip of the iceberg on this one. We need to find ways to reduce the stress so that we can increase their capacity to learn.
• Neighborhood risk factors- unsafe places outside, resource poor neighborhoods, gang presences all add up to problems. They are linked to delinquency, drug use, conduct disorders and teenage pregnancy.
• Interrupted scheduling- students who change schools often have easy to identify problems. What about the kid who travels between different households with different rules and resources. Child care responsibilities interfere with schooling.
• language and literacy development- well established differences in vocabulary between high and low income children. They have less background knowledge and less vocabulary, reduced access to books and people using sophisticated language with them. This is an exponential difference that seems to only expand as children age.
• social and cultural capital- less access to informal networks that share how to interact successfully with school. "Middle class and low income parents behave differently when visiting their children's classrooms" (p 147). Low income parents are more hesitant and less likely to advocate for their children.  Upper and middle class families are spending more than ever on enrichment for their kids- camps, instruments, lessons, tutoring, college career planning, and SAT prep are all examples of opportunities that children in poverty miss out on.

This list is hard to face and deal with. It takes a community to address. We need to establish and maintain safety nets to help these poor communities. Welfare and food stamps help, as do food pantries and clothing closets. We need medical services to be accessible, increased availability of low income housing, and childcare.

So what can teachers do?

• Build caring relationships and advocating for students.
• Hold high expectations and provide needed support.
• Commit to equity-- not equality
• Accept professional responsibility for learning.
• Have the courage and will to take action.

I have written about some of these strategies in my ramblings about poverty here, here and here.