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

Who am I, and why am I doing this?
How am I? 1-10?
One frustration I have with this issue…
Anything else you might need to know…
While I am doing this, Tell us your name, position, school
where you are based
Name one frustration with helping students you know who
are suffering from trauma, neglect, and abuse…


Take five minutes to write your name, position, school where
you are based, and e-mail on the note card provided
Describe one frustration with helping students you know who
are suffering from trauma, neglect, and abuse…





Who are you?
Tell us your name, position, school where you
are based
On a scale of 1-10 how are you today?
Tell us anything else we need to know…
Turn in your note card





Review the ways trauma affects students
Discover greatest issues you and the district
have with helping traumatized children learn.
Discuss ways to assist teachers to help and
understand traumatized children.
Provide you with resources to continue
your work.
Anything else?

12:30-2:00
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦

Introductions, housekeeping, etc.
Wyoming state statistics
Dropout Prevention Statistics and Information
Identification of the wounded child
Wounded by School
2:00-2:10
◦ Break-Restroom, phone calls, snacks, etc.
◦ Back in seat at 2:10 when lights flicker

2:10-3:20
◦ How external trauma affects academics,
relationships and behavior in children
◦ Power point and activities

3:20-3:30-Finish up, answer questions, etc.

3:20-3:30◦ Draw the winner of the free registration
◦ Finish up, answer questions, etc.
◦ Provide resources

Rules of Engagement
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
Put name tent on its side when you want to share
Put phones on vibrate
Leave to use restroom when needed
Participate fully-be in the moment
Use parking garage when as appropriate
Anything else?

My needs
◦
◦
◦
◦
A timer
A hander-outer/collector of stuff
A mood-monitor
Everything you see/hear will be available for you to
access on a flash drive or on the school web site
786
1,304
13%
7.4%
•Number
of
children
victims
of
abuse &
neglect
•Number
of
children
in
foster
care
•Percent
of
children
living in
poverty
•Percent
of 1619 year
olds
not in
school
Taken from the most recent Children’s Defense
Fund Information November, 2008
Percentage of middle school students who had ever been in a physical fight.
6th
7th
8th
•48.9
•53.2
•54.7
Males: 66.4% Females: 39.7%
Percentage of high school students who had ever been in a physical fight in
the last 12 months.
9th
• 36.1
10th
• 34.6
Males: 39.7% Females: 21.6%
11th
• 28.5
12th
• 21.9
Percentage of middle school students who had ever been bullied on school
property.
6th
7th
8th
•53.2
•55.7
•50.2
Males: 54.1% Females: 52.3%
Percentage of high school students who had ever been bullied on school
property in the past 12 months.
9th
• 33.0
10th
• 25.6
Males: 23.5% Females: 25.5%
11th
• 19.7
12th
• 17.2
Percentage of middle school students who had ever seriously thought about
committing suicide.
6th
7th
8th
•16.6
•20.9
•23.0
Males: 16.8% Females: 25.7%
Percentage of high school students who had ever seriously thought about
committing suicide in the last 12 months.
9th
• 18.4
10th
• 18
Male: 13.6% Female: 21.2%
11th
• 17.3
12th
• 14.4
Percentage of middle school students who had ever tried to kill themselves.
6th
•5.8
Males: 6.2% Females: 9.5%
7th
•7.8
8th
•8.4
Percentage of high school students who had ever tried to commit suicide in
the last 12 months.
9th
• 8.8
10th
• 11
Male: 7.9% Female: 10.9%
11th
• 8.5
12th
• 7.8
Percentage of high school students who felt so sad or hopeless almost every
day for two weeks or more in a row that they stopped doing some usual
activities during the past 12 months.
9th
• 26.9
10th
• 26.7
Not asked of middle schoolers
Male: 19.2% Female: 35.3%
11th
• 25.5
12th
• 28.4
Percentage of high school students who had ever been physically forced to
have sexual intercourse when they did not want to.
9th
• 9.5
10th
• 14.5
Not asked of middle schoolers
Male: 8.6% Female: 18.0%
11th
• 13.4
12th
• 14.7
Percentage of high school students who had sexual intercourse for the first
time before the age of 13.
9th
• 7.1
10th
• 7.8
Not asked of middle schoolers
Male: 8.8% Female: 3.0%
11th
• 4.7
12th
• 3.2
2008-2009 Number of dropouts disaggregated by grades 7-12
7th
8th
9th
10th
11th
12th
Total
13
31
131
312
284
273
1044
2008-2009 Number of dropouts disaggregated by race/ethnicity in grades 9-12
Am.
Indian
70
Asian
Black
Hispanic
White
Male
Female
Total
4
16
137
765
599
401
1000
2008-09 Completion Rate (Reported rates are comparisons of completers to all exiters (dropouts +
completers) from a four-year cohort of students. Completers receive any type of diploma or certificate.
Am.
Indian
46.64%
Asian
Black
Hispanic
White
Male
Female
Total
91.03%
77.65%
73.52%
84.85%
79.72%
84.98%
1000
2008-09 Graduation Rate (Graduates are regular diploma recipient.)
Am.
Indian
45.94%
Asian
Black
Hispanic
White
Male
Female
Total
88.46
76.47
71.78
84.04
78.72
84.18
81.35
School Year
Overall
Graduation
Rates
Number of
Overall
Graduates
Graduation
Rates for
Students with
Disabilities
Number of
Graduating
Students with
Disabilities
2008-2009
79.29
5,483
59.72
553
2006-2007
79.1%
5,409
52.1%
474
School Year
Overall Dropout
Rate
Overall number
of dropouts
Dropout Rates
for Students
with Disabilities
Number of
Dropouts for
Students with
Disabilities
2008-2009
5.06%
1,365
7.08%
218
2006-2007
5.3%
1,384
7.70%
228
Dist.
Grad
Rate
High
School
Dropout
Rate
Cohort
Graduated Difference
77.1
Triumph
28.42%
130
50
80
77.1
Central
3.50%
366
320
46
77.1
East
4.93%
461
374
87
High Expectations: We believe students with disabilities can
meet or exceed district expectations.
Shared Responsibility: We believe the measure of success
must be based on the learning of all students. We believe
everybody who interacts with students has the shared
responsibility to positively impact their lives.
Maximizing Learning Opportunities: We believe in results-
oriented instruction focused on continuous learning for all
students and staff. We believe the learning of all students
will be maximized by making data driven decisions.
Human Connection: We believe in modeling what we expect
from others. We believe in treating everyone with dignity and
mutual respect. We believe in developing positive
relationships with every student, parent. staff and member of
the community.
How do you know stakeholders are fulfilling the following:
We believe everybody who interacts with students has the shared
responsibility to positively impact their lives.
What data do you use to make data driven decisions?
How do you measure whether or not “We believe in treating
everyone with dignity and mutual respect.” is truly
happening?
The dilemma
You are caring humans who have a passion for
the students in your schools who are wounded,
traumatized, unable to cope, unable to learn,
unable to form relationships, unable to thrive in
the classroom.
You are the experts in therapy, identification, and
counseling.
The teachers are the experts in instruction,
curriculum, assessment, and classroom
management.
The dilemma
Yet, you are not teachers, you can’t be in every
classroom.
And these young people MUST go to school, this
school, or else…


Outward appearance shows no wounds
Internal wounds are identified by behaviors,
not physically.

Outward appearances (usually) show no
definite characteristics-teachers don’t know
which students have been traumatized and
which ones haven’t been. They only see the
inappropriate behavior or the inability to
thrive.


When are you brought in to the picture to
assist in the identification of possible trauma
that is causing learning and behavior
difficulties?
Describe the process in your school and your
satisfaction level.

Small Group Discussion (10 minutes)
◦ List the ways your expertise is used (in the context
of identification of a child who has been wounded,
neglected, traumatized, and/or abused).
◦ Share with large group-record on flip chart paper
◦ Before break, place a red dot on the most effective



Frequently moved from school to school with
poor transitions for new students
Labeled as “less than” academically (especially
students with IEPs)
Have experienced humiliation in a variety of
ways and for many reasons-academics,
physical characteristics, popularity, social
class-in the school setting



Have been bullied by those in authority
Have frequently been singled out as being
“less than,” “wrong,” or not “capable”
Have not been protected by those who should
protect them






Loss of pleasure in learning
Belief that they are not smart-especially LD
Re-live the painful, burning memories of
shaming experiences
Exhibit chronic, habitual anger toward
teachers and those in authority
Low appetite for risk-taking academically and
in other areas (“I don’t care”)
Over-attachment for the “right” answers
What can you do to help teachers and
principals?
What can you do to help teachers and
principals?
 Report the bullies!
◦ Help me understand why a counselor, who is aware
of serious bullying on the part of a teacher, feels
it’s not his/her obligation to take it to the next
level?
What can you do to help teachers and
principals?
 Bring pleasure back into learning
◦ Assist in finding ways to celebrate all student
achievements
What can you do to help teachers and
principals?
 Avoid labeling
◦ Provide teachers with alternatives to “sending them
to the resource room” as a way to exclude them
◦ Insist on confidentiality-reinforce with whatever it
takes
◦ Ensure that teachers/principals understand the
seriousness of the behavior plan and that it is
followed
What can you do to help teachers and
principals?
 Help students regain the belief they can learn
◦ Are teachers allowing students to have some choice
in their topics, their method of learning, their
method of showing what they have learned?
What can you do to help teachers and
principals?
 Understand the deep wounds of shame
◦ Raise your hand if you remember a shameful
incident from school.
◦ Can you even tell a colleague sitting next to you
about a “shameful” incident that happened in your
early schooling?
What can you do to help teachers and
principals?
 Understand the deep wounds of shame
◦ Might “fear of shame” prevent a student from
sharing, reciting, participating, risking making a
mistake?
◦ Might “fear of shame” cause a rise in a student’s
anxiety level triggering negative behaviors?
What can do to you help teachers and
principals?
 Understand hostility and anger is directed
towards the system, not at them
◦ How often do you witness teachers reducing
themselves to the maturity level of their
traumatized student by “engaging” in a power
struggle?
◦ Remind them that one of them is an adult,
the other is an adolescent.
Do you all know a “moody b^&*(“?
What can you do to help teachers and
principals?
 Take small steps when involving risk
◦ Encourage teachers to break down large
assignments into small “bites”
◦ Allow students to choose their own “due dates”
within certain parameters
◦ Allow students to “opt out” in certain
circumstances-providing them with an
alternative to the risky behavior
What can you do to help teachers and
principals?
 Less emphasis on “correctness” more
on “learning”
As a new teacher I thought the more I wrote all over the
paper (in red), the better teacher I was–I’m so embarrassed

It’s best for teacher to understand that they CAN’T
understand where many students are coming from.
◦ Often teachers will view the students through their own
histories and tell students they know how they feel.

Wounded children are very sensitive to feelings of
judgment by others.
◦ Serious reluctance to turn in homework allowing another to
“judge” them.

Wounded children have low self-esteem and poor
relationships.
◦ Inappropriate discipline will reinforce those beliefs.

As a school, concentrate on delivering meaningful,
consistent, and clear consequences that make
sense.
◦ Sometimes the “canned” programs do make sense.
 Remember,
being bad, is
ALWAYS preferable to being
stupid.

As professionals, are you ever asked
for advice regarding appropriate
discipline?

Teachers need help understanding how their own
communication style brings on behavior that
hinders learning (disruption, passivity, anxiety).
◦ How can you help?

Wounds need to be brought to the surface-this
takes time-and is not the teacher’s
responsibility-it is up to you, the professional.
◦ What can you do when a teacher wants to be the
“therapist?”
◦ What do you do when a teacher pushes for
confidential information about a student?
◦ When might it be appropriate to share some
information about a student with a teacher?




How can you help a teacher understand the
triggers (transitions, interruptions, etc.) that
bring on behavior that hinders learning
(disruption, passivity, anxiety).
What can you do when a teacher wants to be the
“therapist?”
What do you do when a teacher (or principal)
pushes for confidential information about a
student?
When might it be appropriate to share some
information about a student with a teacher?



Assign a recorder
List possible solutions
Be prepared to describe-give examples

Language and Communication Skills

Language and Communication Skills
 failing to understand directions
 overreacting to comments from teachers and peers
 misreading context
 failing to connect cause and effect, and other forms of
miscommunication

Language and Communication Skills
◦ Organizing Narrative Material
 Student may have been raised in households in which
rules and routines are subject to the whim of the
parent.
 Students respond well to classrooms in which there are
orderly transitions and clear rules and that offer them
assistance with organizing their tasks.

Language and Communication Skills
◦ Cause and Effect Relationships
 Traumatized children sometimes have difficulty
internalizing a sense that they can influence what
happens to them.
 They can be left wary of the future, which feels to them
both unpredictable and out of their control. This may
cause some children to become extremely passive.

Language and Communication Skills
◦ Cause-and-Effect Relationships
 Break down events into very clear cause and effect
logical sequences. Make no assumptions that students
always understand what will come next.
 Create opportunities for students to make choices, to
predict aloud the possibilities of future events and
why.

Attentiveness to Classroom Tasks
◦ anxiety and fears for their own and others’ safety
chronically occupy their thoughts.

Attentiveness to Classroom Tasks
◦ anxiety and fears for their own and others’ safety
chronically occupy their thoughts.
◦ focused on “interpreting the teacher’s mood.”

Attentiveness to Classroom Tasks
◦ anxiety and fears for their own and others’ safety
chronically occupy their thoughts.
◦ Focus is on “interpreting the teacher’s mood.”
◦ disassociates from the immediate environment
Scanning the room all the time for
danger. Sights, smells and sounds
can trigger desperate feelings of
panic as reminders of past trauma.
Danger may come from behind
Life feels safer that way
It feels too dangerous to ‘get it
wrong’
Too much anxiety to be able to
listen
Panic sets in when in crowds
It feels chaotic inside so it feels
safer if its around outside as well
I was left helpless – I’ll never be
helpless again. Life may feel like a
lie – I am not sure who I am or what
the truth is.
I don’t know the difference between
fantasy and reality
It is clear when math and spelling
is ‘wrong’ and being wrong may
lead to rejection AGAIN
The child has no words to describe
his/ her feelings - looking sulky is a
cover up

Regulating Emotions
◦ The lack of capacity for emotional self-regulation
so critical to school functioning is probably the
most striking feature of these chronically
traumatized children.
Hyper-vigilance…
◦ Cannot shift away from distressing cues in the
service of maintaining emotional regulation.
◦ Reassure students about the distraction, prepare
for it, explain the consequences of it
◦ Regulating Emotions
 Ability to identify and express feelings is often
underdeveloped and poorly regulated.
 Expresses emotions without restraint and seem
impulsive, under-controlled, unable to reflect, edgy,
oversensitive, or aggressive.
 Overreacts to perceived provocation in the classroom
and on the playground.
◦ Regulating Emotions
 Help teachers understand the need to practice using
words that describe emotions-new words: depressed,
anxious, peeved, irate, concerned-and give student
opportunities to describe their own feelings.
 Help teachers understand the importance of providing
opportunities for students to predict how they are
going to feel and find alternative ways to deal with
those feelings.
◦ Regulating Emotions
 May appear disinterested, disconnected, or aloof.
 Disassociating—completely disconnecting emotions
from the events with which they are associated.
◦ Regulating Emotions/Misdiagnosis
 Many traumatized children who exhibit the symptoms
of anxiety, hyper-vigilance to danger, and languageprocessing problems are diagnosed as having
attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
◦ Regulating Emotions/Misdiagnosis
 Many traumatized children who exhibit the symptoms
of anxiety, hyper-vigilance to danger, and languageprocessing problems are diagnosed as having
attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
 Research shows that ADHD and trauma often coexist,
but because both disorders have similar symptoms,
trauma may be overlooked when a diagnosis of ADHD
is made.
Regulating Emotions
 If a child is suffering from both ADHD and trauma,
appropriate treatment can be provided that responds
to both sets of problems.
 Thus, it is important to assess whether a single
diagnosis is masking the need to evaluate for trauma.

Executive Functions
◦ Executive functions are very important for achieving
academic and social success and for establishing
vocational goals.
◦ A bleak perspective, expectations of failure, a low sense
of self- worth, and a foreshortened view of the future, all
disrupt this ability to plan, anticipate, and hope.
◦ No “internal maps to guide them” and that,
consequently, they “act instead of plan.”

Executive Functions
◦ Boys with severe abuse histories had particular
difficulty with executive-function tasks that
required them to refrain from taking actions that
would lead to adverse consequences.

Reactivity and Impulsivity
◦ It is helpful for teachers to know what triggers
might cause a traumatized child to become hyperaroused or to re-experience a traumatic event in
the classroom.
◦ Behaviorists may be able, through careful
observation, to identify some of the child’s triggers.
Often, however, the help of a mental health expert
is needed to be sure of what may be triggering a
particular behavior.
In the brain of someone who has experienced a variety of
emotional, behavioral and cognitive stimuli, a “top heavy” ratio
develops.
In this ratio, the brain matures to moderate the more primitive
instincts of the midbrain/brain stem.
When the developing brain is both deprived of sensory stimuli
and experiences traumatic stress, the brainstem/ midbrain to
cortical/limbic ratio is profoundly altered.

Offer your services
◦ Invite teachers who have difficult students in their
classrooms to observe them in a different teacher’s
classroom.
◦ Offer to observe students in their classroomlooking for triggering events for specific behavior.

Aggression

Defiance

Withdrawal

Perfectionism
Relationships with School Personnel

Traumatized children often vie for power with classroom
teachers, since they know that they are safe only when
they control the environment.

Relationships with School Personnel
◦ Intense dislike of surprises or spontaneous events,
which are perceived as dangerous or out of their
control.
◦ Particular difficulty with transitions during the
school day.
Positive role models who assist students when
dealing with peers can play a major role in the
healing process and lead to strong academic,
social, and behavioral outcomes.
Researchers point out that it is important for
traumatized children to form meaningful
relationships with caring adults.
In cases where trauma is known, an
understanding of its effects on learning and
behavior will help educators plan the most
effective responses and support.


Most suitable for a student who has been
wounded by school
Most suitable for a child victim of external
trauma








Calm, yet industrious
Transitions are predictable and planned
Room is orderly
Work is challenging, yet not overwhelming
Each child knows his/her role in certain situations (fire drill,
etc.)
Students have choice and voice
Teacher is consistently predictable, calm, hopeful, and kind
Homework is reasonable and valuable







Lessons are broken down into small tasks
Teacher begins where students are, not where they should be
Bullying and sarcasm do not exist
Emphasis is on learning, not test scores
Few surprises or interruption in routine without advance
notice
Children trust their teacher to protect them
More?










Administrator
Teacher
Special ed teacher/paraprofessional
School Nurse
Parents
Case Worker
SRO
Counselor
Social Worker
School Psychologist







BIT meetings
MOU’s
Confidentiality
Suspicion of lack of discretion
Discuss level of “need to know basis”
Plan is put in place
Monitoring is taking place
Helping Traumatized Children Learn
Massachusetts Advocates for Children: Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative
http://www.massadvocates.org/helping_traumatized_children_learn
Wounded by School-Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up to Old
School Culture

Kirsten Olson
Reaching the Wounded Student

Joe Hendershott
Scars of Love, Tears of Hope
Deborah Goforth, with Mark Graham
The School Leaders’ Guide to Student Learning Supports
Howard S. Adelman and Linda Taylor
The Implementation Guide to Student Learning Supports
Howard S. Adelman and Linda Taylor
The Classroom of Choice
Jonathan C. Erwin