Building Resilience in Students Impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiences

Nearly half of all children have been exposed to at least one adverse childhood experience such as poverty, divorce, neglect, substance abuse or parent incarceration. This book uses trauma-informed strategies to show how to make a whole-school change to establish a healthy social-emotional climate for students and the staff who support them.

Use trauma-informed strategies to give students the skills and support they need to succeed in school and life

Nearly half of all children have been exposed to at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE), such as poverty, divorce, neglect, homelessness, substance abuse, domestic violence, or parent incarceration. These students often enter school with behaviors that don’t blend well with the typical school environment. How can a school community come together and work as a whole to establish a healthy social-emotional climate for students and the staff who support them? 

This workbook-style resource shows K-12 educators how to make a whole-school change, where strategies are integrated from curb to classroom. Readers will learn how to integrate trauma-informed strategies into daily instructional practice through expanded focus on:

• The different experiences and unique challenges of students impacted by ACEs in urban, suburban, and rural schools, including suicidal tendencies, cyberbullying, and drugs
• Behavior as a form of communication and how to explicitly teach new behaviors
• How to mitigate trauma and build innate resiliency through a read, reflect, and respond model 

Let this book be the tool that helps your teams move students away from the school-to-prison pipeline and toward a life rich with educational and career choices.

"I cannot think of a book more needed than this one.  It gives us the tools to support our students who have the most need while practicing the self-care necessary to continue to serve them."
—Lydia Adegbola, Chair of English Department
New Rochelle High School, NY 

"This book highlights the impact of trauma on children and the adults who work with them, while providing relevant and practical strategies to understand and address it through reflective practices."
—Marine Avagyan, Director, Curriculum and Instruction
Saugus Union School District, Sunland, CA 

Foreword by Gary R. Howard
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Chapter 1 ACEs and the New Normal
ACEs Are an Equal Opportunity Occurrence
Lost in Translation
The New Normal
Chapter 2 Put on Your Own Oxygen Mask Before Helping Others
Burnout or Compassion Fatigue?
The New Normal: A Case Study Intervention
Self-Care Is an Ethical Imperative
WWAD?
Chapter 3 It’s Easy to Have High Expectations—Hard to Grow a New Mindset
Knowing Myself Precedes Teaching Students
Knowing My Students and Knowing Pedagogy-Growing Mindset
Knowing My Strengths, Knowing the Strengths of My Students Fosters Resiliency
“I Can’t Learn From You Because You’re White”
Progress Not Perfection
Knowing Myself and Responding to Change Are About Self-Care
Knowing Myself Matters—Because When Negative Bias Shows Up, Students Are Miseducated
Good Teaching Is Not Enough—The New Normal Warrants Transformationist Teaching
Chapter 4 The Effects of Trauma on the Brain
Acknowledging That Trauma Is Sitting in the Classroom Is Transformational Teaching
ACEs and Learning
ACEs and Behavior
Trauma Has Many Forms
If I Knew Then What I Know Now
Chapter 5 Teaching Behaviors, Differentiating Interventions, Changing Pedagogy
Relationships Precede Learning
Talk, Trust, Feel, Repair
Schools and Classrooms Have a Culture and Culture Is Learned
Response to Intervention (RTI)
Looking at Behavior Management Through a Trauma-Informed Lens
Change Is Hard and Leadership Matters
Talk, Trust, Feel, Repair: My Rookie Year
Schools Are Ideal for Social Working
Chapter 6 Plan With the End in Mind: Visioning a Compassionate School
The Innovative School District PreK–12th Grades
SEL Data Team/Self-Assessment Checklist
Case Study: ISD’s Response to Behavior Interventions
Changing Positions to Change Lives
What Does It Mean to Work in a Trauma-Informed School or School District?
Chapter 7 From Theory to Practice: Transformationist Actions Convert ACEs to Aces
Transformationist Schools and School Districts
Transformationist Instructional Staff
Transformationist School Counselors and School-Based Social Workers
Transformationist School Psychologists and School Nurses
Transformationist Support Staff (Office, Cafeteria, Custodial, Bus Drivers)
Chapter 8 The Process, the Plan, the Transformation
The Process
Step 1: Assessing Capacity
Step 2: Building Capacity
Step 3: Implementation
Step 4: Evaluating Program Effectiveness
Where Is Our Sense of Urgency?
The Plan: Implementation Guide to Transformation
Implementation
Evaluation and Planning
Chapter 9 In Their Own Words
Antwone Fisher
Cleressa Brown
Conor Black
Maria Gonzales
The Salomon Martinez Family
Additional Reading and Resources
Glossary of Terms
References
Index