Attach 2015 What counts as success · ATTACh conference,,September,25,,2015,,Minneapolis,,MN....
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Attachment and School: What Counts as Success? Lessons from a traumafocused RTC Robert Burroughs, PhD, Research Fellow, Calo ATTACh conference, September 25, 2015, Minneapolis, MN
Transcript of Attach 2015 What counts as success · ATTACh conference,,September,25,,2015,,Minneapolis,,MN....
Attachment and School: WhatCounts as Success?Lessons from a trauma-focused RTC
Robert Burroughs, PhD, Research Fellow, CaloATTACh conference, September 25, 2015, Minneapolis, MN
Learning Objectives
1) Identify the problems that school poses for students with trauma and attachment issues.
2) Discuss the limitations in conventional school approaches with traumatized children.
3) Describe a process for determining definitions of “school success” for traumatized children.
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The Road Map
• The problems that school poses for children with trauma and attachment
• Why conventional school interventions are less likely to work with traumatized children
• How relationship-based instruction can help traumatized children in school
• How parents and teachers can negotiate school success
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How do we learn?
•All learning is based insocial interaction
•Social interaction isbased on relationship
•Learning is based uponrelationship
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Classroom Learning Requires:
•Safety
•Trust
•Community
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Our students’ core beliefs
• Because of our students’ core beliefs, they struggle with safety, trust, and community.
– “I won’t try, because then I can’t fail”
– “I don’t trust teachers”
– “Once I get close to teachers, I push them away”
– “If I‘m having success, that makes me anxious”
– “I’m stupid”
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How Trauma Affects Attention
•Students are hyper-vigilant in school, since the world is unsafe to them.•Hyper-vigilance creates anxiety, which compromises students’ abilities to:–Concentrate on tasks–Mentally process information–Have relationships with peers and teachers
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Shame + Anxiety = ?
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The Road Map
• The problems that school poses for children with trauma and attachment
• Why conventional school interventions are less likely to work with traumatized children
• How relationship-based instruction can help traumatized children in school
• How parents and teachers can negotiate school success
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The Difficulties ofSchool Organization (Smith, 2010)
• External vs Internal• School organized around schedules, curriculum, rules• Child’s internal need for control to feel safe
• Group Activities• Most activities of school are group-based• Child has to deal with multiple people as once, stimulating anxiety
• Delayed Gratification• Approval, achievement, report cards = delayed gratification• Child focuses on gratification in the moment to stay safe
• Dual Role of teachers• Teachers are dispensers of resources + limit-setters• Child sees limits as arbitrary and unworthy of respect
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The Difficulties with Conventional School Inventions (Smith, 2010)
• Behavioral Evaluations• The either/or nature of evaluating behavior: eg, good/bad• From child’s POV: child’s behavior has a strategic purpose
• Conventional Behavior Plans• Behavior plans are based on consistency• Child’s POV: plan is “worked” for child’s goals• Rewards and incentives often have little impact
• Zero Tolerance• Runs the risk of an escalating cycle of consequences• From child’s POV: school becomes a power struggle
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How “Core Beliefs” Receive…
• Correction/Criticism• Irrelevance to student’s goal of safety • Confirmation of negative self image
• Praise• Challenges core belief, which causes anxiety• Confirmation that teacher can’t be trusted
• Success• Challenges core belief, which causes anxiety• Triggers “sabotage” to restore core belief
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The Road Map
• The problems that school poses for children with trauma and attachment
• Why conventional school interventions are less likely to work with traumatized children
• How relationship-based instruction can help traumatized children in school
• How parents and teachers can negotiate school success
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Relationship-based Learning
• Current socio-cognitive theories of learning (e.g., Bruner, 1990) stress the importance of learning in the context of others.
• At CALO, relationship is at the center of everything we do.
• Because developmental trauma is created in relationship (abuse, neglect, inconsistency), it can be healed only in relationship.
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CALO’s clinical model
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Commitment
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•We begin with Commitment on the care-giver’s part. •For CALO, that is the parent, guardian, or primary attachment figure that commits to sending their child to us and commits to working with us in the goal of reuniting at treatment’s end. •It begins also with our commitment as caregivers to treat the child, to “go the distance,” as we say here.
Acceptance
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•Commitment leads to needs to Acceptance.• Acceptance by the parent and by CALO can be a complicated process, but at its fundamental level it is a recognition that developmental trauma and attachment is driving the child’s behavior, not attitudes, laziness, or narcissism. •We have to accept that it is not a matter of “trying harder” for our kids, but of learning how to trust others and ultimately themselves.
Security
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•Once our kids feel accepted, they can begin to feel secure, or safe, both physically and emotionally. •With that feeling of safety, they can begin to form relationships with therapists, teachers, coaches—even our canines.
Attunement
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•When students begin to form relationships, then there is the possibility of attunement.•With attunement comes the ability to co-regulate emotions, which is crucial for our students.•This is not a linear process, of course, but is recursive, with fits and starts, which the dotted line is meant to indicate.
Trusting Relationships
• Because the focus of our treatment is trusting relationship, school provides another venue in which students can experience relationships.
• Our first priority is establishing that relationship. As I tell my teachers: it is not about the content of the curriculum, but the content of our relationships.
• But because our students often have had such deep difficultly with school, our model is effective but not efficient. And it’s messy, as students struggle to connect with each other and with teachers.
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The Henry Method
• Long history of school difficulties and learning disabilities• Spent time at several different residential programs before CALO.• Arrived at CALO in a wheelchair, but was so school phobic that we couldn’t get him into a classroom.• So, we• Had him work with a trusted coach 1:1• Let him attend just one class to start--science• Used his interest and proficiency in PowerPoint to assess• Built on his success to move him into other courses
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The Progress of Henry
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Course Attendance Missing Work GradesLanguage Arts 22% 4 79Algebra 1 16% 2 77Biology 50% 0 78US History 0% 7 47
Fall 2013
The Progress of Henry
Course Attendance Missing Work GradeLanguage Arts 78% 4 93Algebra 1 75% 2 80Biology 92% 1 82US History 60% 5 71
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Spring, 2014
The Progress of Henry
Course Attendance Missing Work GradeFilm Studies 76% 2 95Psychology 58% 2 80Science Experiments 100% 0 100Sports Math 85% 1 92Study Skills 80% 2 86US History (CR) 75% 3 95
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Summer, 2014
Effective, but not efficient
• Committed to helping Henry become more comfortable with school, even when he didn’t want to have anything to do with it.
• Accepted his fear and anxiety about school.
• Made it secure for him by shrinking down the task and giving him a safe relationship to work within.
• Attuned with him and guided him into other experiences when he was ready for them.
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Tips for Teachers (Smith, 2010)
• Truth vs Belief• Just explaining the difference can be helpful• Can become basis for suggesting child’s erroneous beliefs
• Challenging Beliefs• Direct challenge rarely works• Suggest that child flip the belief• When met with resistance, be curious
• Accountability for Beliefs• Before praise, ask if child would believe it• If yes, give praise;; if no, withhold
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The Road Map
• The problems that school poses for children with trauma and attachment
• Why conventional school interventions are less likely to work with traumatized children
• How relationship-based instruction can help traumatized children in school
• How parents and teachers can negotiate school success
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The Importance of Regulation
• Responsive• Engaged• Focused• Calm
Dysregulation Regulation DysregulationHypo-arousal• Defiance• Resistance• Depression• Withdrawal
Hyper-arousal• Anger• Hyperactivity• Fidgetiness• Vigilance
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Forbes & Post (2006), citing Perry (2003) identify dysregulation in traumatized children as either stemming from hypo-arousal or hyper-arousal.
Why regulation matters in school classrooms• In a review of research literature, Duckworth & Carlson (2013) note:
self-regulation is often a better predictor of academic outcomes than is IQ or grades. With school achievement levels controlled, children who were rated one standard deviation above the mean on [a measure of] attention span/persistence at age 4 years had 39% greater odds of completing college by age 25. (p. 215)
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Calo School Approach
Emotional Regulation
Classroom Conventions
Executive Functioning
Academic Content
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Fairness Is Getting What You Need
• Fairness = Treating all the same?
• Fair treatment = everyone is treated according to what they need
• The relevance of comparing children
• When traumatized children raise fairness, usually code for:• “Things aren’t going my way”• “I don’t want to be held accountable”
• So what do traumatized children need in school?
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Controlling Classroom Anxiety
•Safety
•Trust
•Community
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Resources for Teachers
• Forbes, Heather. (2012). Help for Billy: A beyond consequences approach to helping challenging children in the classroom. Boulder, CO: Beyond Consequences Institute, LLC.
• Geddes, Heather. (2006). Attachment in the Classroom. London: Worth Publishing
• Smith, Lawrence (2010). Oil and water: The attachment disordered child and school. http://Attachmentdisordermaryland.com
• Helping Traumatized Children Learn: 5 Core Ideas http://traumasensitiveschools.org/tlpi-publications
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References
• Bruner, J. (1990). Acts of Meaning: Four lectures on mind and culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Duckworth, A. L., & Carlson, S. M. (2013). Self-regulation and school success. In B. W. Sokol, F. M. E. Grouzet, & U. Müller (Eds.), Self-regulation and autonomy: Social and developmental dimensions of human conduct (pp. 208-230). New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Forbes, H.T & Post, B.B. (2006). Beyond consequences and logic and control: A love-based approach to helping children with severe behaviors. Orlando, FL: Beyond Consequences Institute.• Perry, B.D. (2003) Keynote Address. Neurons to Neighborhood 2003 Conference. Los Angeles, CA
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Questions & Comments?
•Copies of presentation?
Bburroughs@ca-lo.com
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