Trauma sensitive approaches to

supporting pupils and students.

Kate Levy and Jo Charlton

Introductions

What is your role and setting?

Introduce yourself in the chat

Let ’s get thinking…

How much do you currently feel you know about developmental trauma and trauma informed approaches.

• Nothing at all

• A little bit

• Quite a lot

• Expert level!

menti.com

Aims • To provide a brief overview of Developmental Trauma and the 7 areas of impact

• To look at the three R’s (Bruce Perry) and what this shows us about where to start

• To consider some key principles underlying trauma informed education.

• To reconnect you with what you already know and are already doing

Looking after ourselves

Developmental Trauma Bessel van de kolk

• The impact of early

repeated trauma and loss

which happens within the

child’s important

relationships and usually

in early life

• Early trauma creates an

‘assault’ on a child’s

development over time

➢Sensory development

➢Dissociation

➢Attachment

Development

➢Emotional Regulation

➢Behavioural

Regulation

➢Self Esteem

➢Cognitive Problems

Brain development and the impact of ‘toxic stress’

https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/

Grows resilience and increases

coping strategies in later life

Manageable in the context of other

strengths, particularly relational

Has a lasting impact on brain and

body development

Ref: Holt and Jordan Ohio dept of education

Brainstem. Somatic sensory.

• Chronic activation of the fear response leads to an ‘over-active stress response system’. This means the child/YP is in a persistent state of fear which they cannot switch off.

• Hyper-arousal: the brain sensitizes the pathways for the fear response and creates memories that automatically trigger the fear response without awareness.

• The child or YP has an altered baseline for arousal – small things trigger a survival response and feel as dangers as ‘life or death’.

What fear might look like

Fight & flight

• Vigilant and wary

• On the go

• Hot and bothered

• Aggressive

• Disruptive

• Disrespectful

• Loud

• Chaotic

• Lots of somatic complaints

• Running and hiding

Freeze & collapse

• Withdrawn

• Floppy and clumsy

• Stubborn

• Avoidant

• Can’t focus

• Dreamy

• Sleepy and yawning

a lot

Dissociation• “Dissociation” describes the

mechanism that the brain uses to keep traumatic memories away from the person’s awareness of what has happened to them.

• It is an instinctive biological mechanism (Porges, 2011)

• Holding the trauma in one’s conscious memory would be a dangerous dilemma –especially if the child depends on the abuser

What dissociation might look like

• Daydreaming /zoning out/lack of focus leading to

underachievement

• Sometimes seem very young for their age

• Memory problems. Child - can do a task one day and not

the next, unable to remember events

• The child is forgetful about things they should know

• Difficulties with recalling sequence of events and poor

sense of time

• Lying and sincere denial

• Extreme behaviour changes or mood swings

• Voice hearing

Attachment

The function of attachment behaviours are:

1. To reduce the likelihood of danger or abandonment

2. To elicit comfort and care

3. To establish safe proximity to carers (close, but not too close)

4. To create predictability in relationships

Attachment as adaptation

• Roughly 60% of us develop secure attachment strategies/patterns ( Shaver and Hazan 2020)

• 40% of us develop ‘insecure’ attachment strategies which fall into 2 broad categories: coercive and avoidant

• Stress, threat and danger are the problems; attachment is the solution that ensures survival (Crittenden)

• Thinking about strategies implies hope, strength and adaptability. Disorder can imply that there is something fixed and unhelpful

• We are highly adaptable as a species and can use different strategies depending on the context

What attachment insecurity might look like

• Difficulties following adult direction/demand avoidance

• Finding it hard to ask for help or always asking for help

• Over compliance or disruptive behaviour in class

• ‘Attention’ seeking (attachment seeking)

• Friendship difficulties

• Struggles with transitions and change

• Over dependence on academic perfection or underperformance

Emotional and Behavioural Regulation

• A narrower window of tolerance – apparently

small events can trigger a big response

• Child with DT haven’t had the experience of

being consistently attuned to or soothed to calm

• They don’t always accept or seek co-regulation

to get back into their window.

• ‘Hardwired to move straight into survival’ (Stephen

Porges –polyvagal theory)

• Beacon House – Window of tolerance.

Dr Dan Seigal

What low self esteem might look like

• Not feeling worthy of or able to accept praise

• Becoming upset at any perceived criticism

• Becoming anxious when the teacher pays attention to others

• Saying “I’m stupid” or “everyone hates me”

• Highly distressed at failure

• Self doubt and self criticism

• Not trying or fear of getting things wrong

• Reassurance seeking

• Deep shame about not being good enough or unlovable

Impact on cognition

• Memory

• Planning

• Organisation

• Processing Information

• Problem Solving

• Completing Tasks

Emerging Developmental Gaps

The developmental lag

continues to widen over

time for children with

perinatal adversity.

Hambrick et al 2018

Quick think…lets take a breather.

➢What takes you out of

your window ?

➢What is your go to

survival response ?

➢What helps you get

back into your

window?

Some Core principles – what you

already know…..

• Behaviour as communication – iceberg

analogy

• We consider what has happened to

someone not what is wrong with them .

• We adjust the context not the child or

young person.

Reaching the

learning brain- How

to respond:

The 3 R’s

Bruce Perry’s learning brain model

courtesy of Beaconhouse.org.uk

Reaching the Learning BrainBruce Perry’s 3 Rs

• Regulate Help the child to regulate and calm their stress responses.

• Relate Connect with the child through attuned, sensitive relationship. Empathise and validate the child’s feelings so that they feel seen, heard and understood

• Reason When the child is calm and connected, they are able to engage in learning

More R’s - Support should

be• Relational, (in the context of a safe

relationship)

• Relevant, (developmentally matched)

• Rhythmic, (resonant with neural patterns)

• Repetitive, (patterned )

• Rewarding, (pleasurable)

• Respectful: (child, family, culture)

Bruce Perry

Relational Approaches

• Research on attachment suggests that a relational rather than behavioural framework is most effective for supporting and managing behaviour.

• Behavioural approaches (based on rewards and consequences) can induce deep shame in traumatised pupils, and their behaviour deteriorates.

• The most effective way of regulating a traumatised pupil is through key and safe relationships in school.

(Bergin and Bergin, 2009, Riley, 2010, Cozolino, 2013)

How to respond:The Evidence for the impact of Relationships

• Research is showing us that having good relationships with adults has an even stronger and more profound impact on development than early adverse experiences. (Bruce Perry)

• Research by the Rees Centre at Oxford University found that Children who have high levels of quality relational support across their ecological system (extended family, teachers , TA’s , school clubs, community support) exhibit higher levels of functioning than children with less support.

Key adults

• Ideally you should develop a small network of ‘adults who help me’.

• A key adult becomes a ‘secondary attachment figure’ and offers a secure base for the pupil in school.

• A Key Adult greets the pupil on arrival, checks in at agreed times throughout the day and says goodbye to the pupil.

• The pupil is able to go to a key adult to ‘touch base’ when needed.

• The Key Adult does a HUGE amount of empathising, caring, nurture and makes a bridge with parents/carers

Be aware of your own

strategy…• We don’t all start from a secure attachment style

• Being a professional in school doesn’t make us less vulnerable to being influenced by our attachment style

• In order to be genuine and authentic in our helping roles we need to be aware of what might get in the way

• Being a secure base

• Responsive and attuned to the other

• Holding the others emotions while regulating my own

PACE – a relational approach

Form of empathic communication that increases connection and understanding

• Playfulness

• Acceptance

• Curiosity

• Empathy

Dan Hughes

Relate: Time in

• Identify a safe place where the pupil can go to when needed; or during specific trigger times.

• The space needs to be quiet, calm – it could have music, sensory/ fidget objects, colouring pens, books, bean bags, gym balls, blankets

• ‘Time in’ is an alternative to isolation or ‘time out’ – bring pupils closer to key adults when they feel anxious or make ‘poor choices’ due to fear .

Relate : A culture of emotional awareness

• Have multiple direct and indirect messages that emotions matter

• Notice, name and validate pupils’ emotional experiences

• Make direct connections between how one feels and how one can problem-solve, remember and learn new information?

• Connect problems in their mind with problems in their body

• Model/share how you are feeling.( Authentically and appropriately !)

Anxiety as a barrier to working together

• Anxiety makes everyone

anxious

• It has a way of seeping

into the system and

making everyone feel

stressed and paralysed

Anxious behaviour in

adults is often

misinterpreted

Anxious, overwhelmed

parents/carers can be

experienced as ‘difficult’

and ‘unreasonable’

Anxious overwhelmed

teachers can be

experienced as ‘uncaring’

and ‘disinterested

Young People’s Voices

• Young people (in foster care) themselves report that when they FEEL safe and secure; when they FEEL that someone genuinely cared about them and when FEEL they could trust others, then they can begin to engage with individual teachers and the learning opportunities they are offered

• (www.reescentre.education.ox.ac.uk/research/educational-progress-of-looked-after-children/)

Regulate

Movement breaks: for any/all kids

Opportunity to move about every

10-30 minutes

Use “heavy work” activities e.g:

• Rhythmic movement (walking, dancing)

• Stretchy bands

• Monkey bars

• The ‘heavy rucksack’

• Crossing the midline

Sensory Diets: bespoke

• Calming spaces with bean bags

• Weighted lap pads (deep

pressure not light touch)

• Ear defenders

• Calming music

• Fidget box

• Regulating snacks and drinks

• A quiet workstation near to the

teacher

Regulate Exercises to make the body calm and ready to learn

• Tension stretches in transitions between work/lessons or at the end of the day

• Regular whole-class mindfulness & breathing exercises

• Breaktimes and after school activities: Yoga, dance, drumming, gym

• Go Noodle

Learning task

Regulation task

Regulate : Grounding strategies • “Look around the room, tell me in detail

everything you can see…and what else…and what else…and what can you smell, hear, feel?”

• Grounding object (e.g. a stone). “Take out your stone, squeeze it really hard and tell me what it feels like, how would you describe it, what does it make you think of, move it from hand to hand…”

• Grounding smell

• Grounding statement

• Grounding body and mind -Butterfly hugs/tapping

Quick think

What do you to regulate

yourself?

Can you share this with

the group

What pupils need from us

• To know what to expect every day

• To know that the environment is safe, predictable and

consistent.

• To learn that adults can be safe, predictable and

consistent

• To learn how their body responds when they are

anxious and some things that will help

• To not feel judged and to learn that when things go

wrong, adults will help and keep them close

• To learn that adults can help them make sense of their

experiences.

What pupils need from us (cont)

Regular opportunities which:

• Address the pupil’s underlying developmental

needs

• Invite opportunities for attunement and

connection

• Create moments of shared pleasure and fun

• Involve parents/carers

Trauma informed education• Multiple, safe, attuned relationships are

viewed as central for learning

• The r’s relate, repair, regulate,

• Understanding behaviour as communication and as having a function

• Emphasis on what has happened to a pupil, not ‘what is wrong (deficit)

• Look at how we can change to context, not the pupil

• High structure, high nurture

• Work with the child’s developmental age not chronological age .

• Brainstem calming activities included regularly throughout the day

• Learning interspersed with movement breaks

• Expectations are developmentally matched, not age matched

• Discipline based on time in and empathy, rather than time out and shame

• The more healthy relationships a child has, the more likely he will be to recover from trauma and thrive. Relationships are the agents of change and the most powerful therapy is human love.

• People, not programmes, change people.

• Bruce Perry

Let ’s get thinking…

How much do you now

feel you know about

developmental trauma

and trauma informed

approaches.

• Nothing at all

• I have learnt a bit more

• I have learnt quite a lot

more

• Expert level!

Next steps ……

What are you already doing ?

Who can you connect with to share hopes and ideas about developing trauma informed practice?

Useful references

LINKS

• Flipping your lid (Dan Siegel) youtu.be/G0T_2NNoC68

• Empathy (Brene Brown) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw

• My first sports coach (Ian Wright)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYNWGI6JvnI

• Beacon House - Resources beaconhouse.org.uk/useful-resources/

• Inner World Work innerworldwork.co.uk

• Applying the 4 Rs of Trauma-Informed Approaches in the return to school

(epinsight.com)

BOOKS• Bessel Van der Kolk – The Body Keeps the Score

• Bruce Perry – The boy who was raised as a dog

• Daniel Siegel (The Whole Brain Child

• Betsy de Thierry Simple Guide to Child Trauma

• Karen Treisman – A Therapeutic Treasure Box (and other resources)

Education

• Emma Gore Langton and Katherine Boy Becoming an adoption friendly school

• Rebecca Brooks The Trauma and attachment aware classroom

• Paul Dix When the adults change, everything changes

Regulation

• Gabi Garcia Listening to my body

• Nancy Mucklow The sensory team handbook: A hands on tool to help young people

make sense of their senses and take charge of their sensory processing

• Lauren Brukner The kids guide to staying awesome and in control

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