Being Trauma-Informed

     It is rare, so very rare, when you hear someone speak and what he has to say touches your very soul.  I was blessed to have this experience Thursday, October 12^th, right here in Hutchinson, Kansas!  I didn’t even need to leave town.

     We were honored to have Mr. Jim Sporleder speak to the public.  Mr. Sporleder is a retired principal from Walla Walla, Washington.  Under Mr. Sporleder’s leadership, Lincoln High School, an alternative education school, became a Trauma-Informed school, gaining attention across the United States due to the dramatic drop in out of school suspensions, increased graduation rates and the number of students going on to post-secondary education.   Because of these changes at Lincoln High School, the successes caught the attention of Jamie Redford, who spent a year filming a documentary, Paper Tigers, which tells the story of Lincoln High School.

     In Jim’s talk on Thursday, he stated that, we, as educators need to break away from the tradition mindset of testing being tied to teacher evaluations and from the traditional, fear-based, forms of discipline, which only add to a student’s trauma and use fear to manipulate the situation.  He went on to say that our children are the most hurting population in our communities across the United States.  He says that people use punishment to cause pain and this type of action feeds into the cradle-to-prison pipeline.  He also stated that the children of affluent and middle class families are the most hurting.

     With regard to ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences), Mr. Sporleder says that these are hands no one should have to hold.  He went on to say that the ACEs pyramid (pictured below) is a very adequate predictor.

                                                                                                  

     When anyone experiences trauma, that person goes into a “flight-fight-freeze” mode.

·      Flight-Avoidance, anxiety, or fear.

·      Fight-Irritability, defensiveness, loss of temper

·      Freeze-numbing, detachment, giving up easily

When a person is exhibiting one of these responses to trauma, their brains go into a “survival mode,” and it is physiologically impossible for them to de-escalate.

     Mr. Sporleder said that the traditional way of discipline was that the behavior was recognized by the teacher, then the teacher reacted to that behavior, and this caused the student to escalate.  This is the type of reaction is the kind of reaction we need to break away from.  He said this is a dysregulated adult dealing with a dysregulated student.  As adults, we need to work at building caring relationships with our students.  To do this, Mr. Sporleder gave those in attendance the following keys:

·      We, as teachers, need to be self-regulated

·      A child’s behavior is a reaction to fear of failure

·      Intervention needs to be a calm, teachable moment

·      Approach the intent with a positive intent

     When dealing with a student who is experiencing trauma, the teacher needs to allow the student time to de-escalate and to self-regulate.  Ask the student what caused the behavior.  More often than not, the behavior has nothing to do with the current situation, but something happening outside the school setting.

     Trauma-Informed holds kids accountable to a higher level.  A caring adult give the child hope and helps them heal, when that adult is asking and responding, not reacting and telling.  The influence of one caring adult can change a life path for a child.  The unconditional love of that adult teaches love and forgiveness.  Being Trauma-Informed wipes out racial and social lines.  Mr. Sporleder says, “Being trauma-informed is not what we do, it’s who we are.”  He challenges us all to be that one caring adult for our kids.

     I will leave you with two quotes from the evening:

“You cannot reach 100% of your students, but you can love them all 100%.”

“Not every story can be a success story, but every story can be a love story.”