Question
What are some best practices for the classroom in a trauma-informed environment?
Answer
Recognize the Signs of Trauma
Signs of trauma include difficulty focusing and struggling with creating and maintaining friendships. Some may be overly tired and/or have poor self-regulation. Other signs include excessive absences, changes in school performance, and withdrawal from activities or other people.
Provide Consistency and Structure
Children thrive with consistency and structure, so daily schedules should be structured and contain elements of academics, entertainment or play, and physical exercise or movement. While doing research, I found that the more obvious things are, the better a child will be able to succeed, especially when they have experienced some exposure to trauma. In the classroom, a schedule can lay out what the day will look like. Depending on the child's age, you can use pictures with your schedule to help them follow what is going on. As the day progresses, take down the image of the activity or task that was just completed. This is a great visual tool for the schedule. Weave in aspects of self-regulation skill building during the day as well.
Utilize Social-Emotional Learning
When we utilize social-emotional learning and teach social skills, we bring self-awareness, self-control, social awareness, and interpersonal skills to children. We can teach great techniques to children, but if they never put them into practice, they're not going to develop the social-emotional skills they need to grow well and be stable adults.
Use Restorative Practices Over Zero-Tolerance Policies
Zero-tolerance policies are ineffective and harmful. They focus on the offense and are rooted in punishment. The child or teen is punished for committing an infraction with detention, suspension, or expulsion. It removes the student from the classroom environment but does not consider the student as an individual and what might have led to the misbehavior. Remember, a trauma-informed environment focuses more on why the person is acting this way to help them, not just focusing on the behavior itself and stopping it.
