References for Why use Reggio Emillia Video
Flow Research Collective. (2023, March 20). IntraConnected: Exploring Chaos and Rigidity in the Self with Dr. Dan Siegel [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQn9gcFcFIg
Gobbel, R. (2023). Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors: Brain-Body-Sensory Strategies That Really Work. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Miller, L. (2022). Tabular Summary of Studies about Token Economy.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1efew1C-pQn0l7NvEFvuKfzbJQARfYZ-FfGOD4kiC4ZQ/edit?tab=t.0
Rauktis, M. E. (2016). "When you first get there, you wear red": Youth perceptions of point and level systems in group home care: C & A. Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal, 33(1), 91-102. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-015-0406-4
Riel, J., & Martin, R. L. (2017). Creating great choices: A Leader’s Guide to Integrative Thinking. Harvard Business Press.
Sherrington, T. (2017, April 28). The Progressive-Traditional Pedagogy Tree. Teacherhead. https://teacherhead.com/2014/03/15/the-progressive-traditional-pedagogy-tree/
Vernberg, E. M., Jacobs, A. K., Nyre, J. E., Puddy, R. W., & Roberts, M. C. (2004). Innovative Treatment for Children With Serious Emotional Disturbance: Preliminary Outcomes for a School-Based Intensive Mental Health Program. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 33(2), 359–365. https://doi-org.libproxy.boisestate.edu/10.1207/s15374424jccp3302_17
Winfrey, O., & Perry, B. (2021). What happened to you?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing. Boxtree.
Advancing Comprehensive School Mental Health: Guidance from the field. (2019). In National Center for School Mental Health. https://www.schoolmentalhealth.org/media/som/microsites/ncsmh/documents/bainum/Advancing-CSMHS_September-2019.pdf
A look at Trauma-Informed School Practices in Idaho, Podcast
Annotated Bibliography
Linda Miller
Created for English 102, Boise State University
Ann (Alias), Personal Communication, October 1, 2019
Ann (Alias), an educator at an Idaho alternative high school, explains the need for investing personal initiative to connect with at-risk and struggling teens. Ann provides us with background information on the reasons for the extreme behavior in the class. She helps us understand that youth want to do well. She discusses how punishment can escalate behavior.
I was impressed with her relaxed demeanor and her care for students. She discusses how the teachers support one another, including training sessions for teachers at her school, and some of the methods employed.
Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health. https://www.bcidahofoundation.org/healthyminds/
This is a resource referenced by Dr. Charlie Silva, providing instructions for partnering with local providers to bring mental health services into schools. This is one of the most exciting developments I found in my research, and it is of special interest to those of us in the parent network who have been seeking more effective and accessible ways to offer services to waiting youth. It is a step-by-step guide for partnering with agencies that are already expressing interest in becoming a partner; they are the ones who wrote the manual. This was also sponsored by Terry Reilly, Southwest Health Collaborative, St Luke's, Lifeways, Pathways, and the Nampa school district.
Brown, Jennifer, Personal Communication, September 30, 2019.
Ms. Brown, a third-grade teacher at Pepper Ridge Elementary, takes us on a tour of her classroom and explains the importance of connecting with her students. I was able to see the props around the room, including comfortable seating areas and various sensory manipulatives. Ms Brown is one of two teachers at the school who try to use trauma-informed practices. She explains some of the class management strategies, but more importantly, she discusses her relationship with the students. Ms. Brown later explains, off the record, her motivation for teaching at-risk students. I am impressed with her dedication to using trauma-informed practices, even when no one else has asked her to do so.
Cox, G. L., Arnold, K. F., Kummer, T. R., McCullough, D. K., & Settle, A. E. (2017). Hand in hand: a manual for creating trauma-informed leadership committees. Boulder, CO: Beyond Consequences Institute, LLC.
I chose this book to share the philosophy behind trauma-informed practices. We find a nice definition for a trauma-informed school system. The book then instructs teachers and administrators on implementing trauma-informed practices. This book is important to include because it is a manual for implementation. It is a companion book to Help for Billy.
Forbes, H. T. (2013). Help for Billy: A Beyond Consequences Approach to Helping Children in the Classroom. Cork: BookBaby.
I chose this book as part of my research because it provides excellent case studies and stories that illustrate the types of behaviors that are symptoms of trauma. Behaviors like hitting, throwing things, violence of other types, and also avoidance. Ms. Forbes walks us through the brain and explains the changes that can occur in the brain due to trauma. She explains the fight, flight, or freeze response governed by the central parts of the brain and the amygdala. We learn that due to these changes in the brain, what looks like “won’t” is actually “can’t”, at least until the child has a regulated body system. We learn about regulation, dysregulation and the window of tolerance, and about hypo-arousal and hyper-arousal. This is basically trauma 101.
The book is written for educators. It is sensitive to the problems and goals of education systems. It provides practical, day-to-day methods and examples of how they have been helpful in the classroom.
Hoover, S., Lever, N., Sachdev, N., Bravo, N., Schlitt, J., Acosta Price, O., Sheriff, L. & Cashman, J. (2019). Advancing Comprehensive School Mental Health: Guidance From the Field. Baltimore, MD: National Center for School Mental Health. University of Maryland School of Medicine.
This reference was created by a collection of contributors to provide information to administrators. Statistics referenced by Dr. Charlie Silva appear on pages 14-15 of this scholarly paper. As stated in the report, “This report offers collective insight and guidance to local communities and states to advance comprehensive school mental health systems. Contents were informed by examination of national best practices, performance standards, local and state exemplars, and recommendations provided by federal/national, state, local, and private leaders.”
I included this source to give statistics that emphasize the need for trauma-informed systems. Trauma-informed is a subset of a comprehensive school mental health system. The fact that the statistics were significant enough for Dr. Silva to quote them suggests that the paper has reached individuals in the state who have the authority to influence changes.
The paper then summarizes the necessary changes. It gives a timeline of work that has been done and lists the agencies involved. The article also summarizes, “Effective comprehensive school mental health systems contribute to improved student and school outcomes, including greater academic success, reduced exclusionary discipline practices, improved school climate and safety, and enhanced student social and emotional behavioral functioning.” These are all goals that educators consider important.
Jarvis (Alias) and Leon (Alias), Personal Communication, October 1, 2019
Jarvis (Alias) and Leon (Alias), Administrators at an Idaho alternative high school, share the unique challenges for administrators working with at risk youth at an alternative high school. They discuss the underlying problems the students face. Leon emphasizes the importance of teachers knowing how to de-escalate a situation rather than escalating it. They explain a process that they used to train teachers at their site. They offer some strategies for calming students and helping them prepare to learn. They speak about the training for their building teachers and administrators. From the trainings, Jarvis mentions that the most transformative thing for him was to learn about current brain research. Leon and Jarvis then discuss the usefulness of compassion in connecting with students. Jarvis predicts that we will need to examine public education through a new lens and expresses his enthusiasm for this approach.
I was impressed with how calm and collected Jarvis and Leon were as they spoke about serious issues. They seem invested and capable of making changes.
Marzano, R. J., Warrick, P. B., Rains, C. L., Dufour, R., & Jones, J. C. (2018). Leading a high reliability school. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
I am including this book because it was part of the research process. I attended a back to school night at my own child’s alternative middle school. The book was introduced to show some of the principles followed at the school. It talks about using teams effectively and uses the term Positive learning community, or PLC. There is an emphasis in the book on keeping statistics and on testing. The focus is on creating leadership teams among the teachers. There is also a focus on maintaining standards by encouraging teachers to support one another and to promote the curriculum.
While the principles in the book are important, there was one key focus that was missing, that was the focus on the needs of the child. It was concerning to me as it is my child who they seem to overlook. Ironically, no team meetings had been proposed at the time of me doing this research to discuss his needs, even though he is still on record there but not attending.
My purpose in attending the event was to listen to the presentation and hopefully ask for an interview. I did ask for the interview, but was rejected the next day.
Psychological and Behavioral Impact of Trauma: Middle School Students. (2008). PsycEXTRA Dataset. doi: 10.1037/e563382009-001
This article was referenced to help define situations that are traumatic and to give us some background ideas and stories of how trauma can affect learning. I wanted to find examples of behaviors in the classroom that may indicate trauma.
I liked that the authors explained that students can act out and act in. Behaviors of avoidance also negatively impact a student and can be symptoms of trauma. “Be aware of both the children who act out AND the quiet children who don’t appear to have behavioral problems. These students often “fly beneath the radar and do not get help.” was given as an explanation.
Ultimately, I did not use the case studies as I felt they did not communicate the emotional depth of the problem. I will use stories from the other sources. The list of symptoms provided in this article was useful as a summary.
Silva, Charlie, Dr., Personal Communication, October 1, 2019
Dr. Charlie Silva, Director of Special Education Services with the Idaho State Department of Education, reaffirms the importance of trauma-informed practices, offers national statistics, and shares current efforts and future plans for trauma-informed training of educators in Idaho. Off record, she reminded me of the Family and Community Engagement conference and the corresponding Safety conference that the department was sponsoring. I was able to attend the conference and participate in an idea-gathering activity focused on safety. There were numerous opportunities to contribute to the ongoing conversation about trauma-informed practices and training.
Interviewing Dr. Silva was part of an ongoing conversation that I, along with a few other parents in the Federation of Families Parent Network, have had with her. A year ago, she met with us. She has been gracious enough to listen to our challenges and discuss with us the plans the state has for mental health and promoting trauma-informed education. At that time, we gave her an idea that I had for a therapeutic school. She liked the idea, but helped us understand that the direction that she needed to promote at the time was moving forward to get the trauma training to educators. She helped us see the need to lift every school, not just build one special school.
Bessel van der Kolk defines trauma not just as a past event, but as a persistent, ongoing impact on the individual's mind and body. It's the "current imprint of pain, horror, and fear living inside people," altering their perception of danger and leaving them stuck in a state of helplessness and terror.
Peter Levine defines trauma as a physiological process where the body's natural stress response is interrupted and becomes stuck, leading to dysregulation and dissociation. He views trauma not as a disorder or disease, but as a wound to the psyche, a disruption of the body's natural flow, and a manifestation of unresolved fight, flight, or freeze responses.
Daniel Siegel defines trauma as an experience that overwhelms an individual's capacity to cope. In simpler terms, if someone lacks the necessary coping skills or resources to handle a distressing event, it can become traumatic. This definition highlights that not every negative experience is traumatic; it depends on an individual's ability to process and integrate the event.
Bruce Perry defines trauma as "an experience, or pattern of experiences, that impairs the proper functioning of the person's stress-response system, making it more reactive or sensitive". Essentially, trauma is a type of stress that overwhelms the body's natural ability to regulate and return to a balanced state, leading to a heightened and more sensitive stress response.
Gabor Maté defines trauma not as the event itself, but as the psychological wound or "wound" that results from it. This means it's the internal impact of an event, the beliefs and behaviors that arise from it, and the ongoing effects on a person's life. Trauma, in Maté's view, is a "psychic wound that hardens you psychologically that then interferes with your ability to grow and develop,
Stephen Porges, the developer of Polyvagal Theory, defines trauma as a chronic disruption in connectedness and a disruption in the body's ability to feel safe. He emphasizes that trauma is not solely about the event itself, but rather about the long-term physiological and psychological responses to the event, particularly the impact on the nervous system's ability to regulate and connect.
Pat Ogden defines trauma as any experience that overwhelms an individual, causing them to feel helpless, frightened, or profoundly unsafe. This definition emphasizes the individual's subjective experience of the event, regardless of whether it was objectively dangerous. In essence, trauma is not just about the external event, but also about the internal experience of being overwhelmed by it.