Page 109 - Impact: Collected Essays on the Threat of Economic Inequality

in trauma and its impact in the classroom . In these sessions, staff can review difficult cases and process their own experiences, learning from each other and from the clinician .”53
The actual programs and skills that are necessary and effective in implementing trauma-informed care include those where staff learns de-escalation techniques, and behavior management techniques, including how to reduce bullying . Staff will develop opportunities to role-play communications with parents, and create lesson plans . Additionally, teachers will learn to present material in several different ways to appeal to different learning styles, and identify a child’s “island of competence .”54 They will certainly utilize nonverbal approaches to learning .
Staff training includes clarifying the different roles of the mental health professional and the teacher .55 The flexible framework does not intend for teachers to become therapists . Rather, it teaches educators to recognize the signs of trauma, and asks what support (both externally and internally) the staff may need in order to work with traumatized children .
Once teachers are given tools to control the classroom and utilize a standard of trauma-informed care, they must also engage and re-engage their students who are no longer connected to the classroom . Some students who have disengaged from the learning process can develop or have already developed behavioral, emotional, and/ or learning problems . There are a variety of strategies for re-engagement, but some include: discussing openly with the student why, specifically, they have disengaged from learning, eliminating testing and performance standards that leads to scaled evaluation of students, highlighting student accomplishments, and creating opportunities for decision-making .56
In addition to trauma-informed care, schools may adopt a range of restorative justice and behavioral models to improve the school climate . Restorative justice models seek to build students’ social and emotional skills through collaborative, community building processes . One example is restorative circles where harm has occurred to individuals in the school . These circles provide students with a sense of belonging and responsibility . Restorative justice programs also provide alternative interventions in lieu of punitive suspensions .57
There are also evidence-based positive behavior management programs and collaborative problem-solving models that can be utilized effectively in conjunction with trauma-informed care in schools .58
53 hTcl, supra note 38, at 58.
54 These are just a few of the examples that Helping Traumatized Children Learn suggests.
55 HTCL, supra note 38, at 52.
56 ucla cenTer for menTal healTh in schools, supra note 49, at 8. Performance-based standards in lieu of the national testing focus mandated by No Child Left Behind may be extremely effective for all students, not only those who have disengaged.
57 See, e.g., Belinda Hopkins, Restorative Justice in Schools, 17 Support for Learning 3 (2002), available at http:// www.transformingconflict.org/system/files/libraryfiles/Doc%205%20-%20Restorative%20Justice%20in%20 Schools%202002%20-%20Support%2; Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, http://www. morningsidecenter.org/publications.
58 See, e.g., Positive Behavior Management Strategies http://www.safeandcivilschools.com/; Dr. Ross Green, losT aT school (2014) (discussing Collaborative Problem Solving in schools)
Lessons from New York City
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