This is the second article in the Trauma Informed series written by Darby Munroe, Ph.D. student from Nova Southeastern University.
Learning,
Behavior, and School Conflict issues can be tied to ACEs
Adverse
Childhood Experiences can cause learning, behavioral, and school-based conflict
issues. Using ACEs as a lens, and not a
label, can help administrators, teachers, and peer mediators a filter through
which to see common school problems in a different way. Knowing how the trauma of ACEs can affect the
brain should be a starting point for instruction, classroom management, and
school wide disciplinary procedures.
What
fight, flight, or freeze looks like in the classroom
The
body can respond differently to trauma.
Reactions that were once were survival mechanisms can now happen in
situations that are not always related to life and death. Common reactions that can occur are fight,
flight and freeze. The fight reaction, in a life or death situation, might look
like standing up to an attacking wild animal, ready to physically battle it out
in order to survive. The fight reaction might be the most well known in a
classroom. This may look like a defiant
student who gets in physical fights, talks or yells back, is aggressive or
argumentative, or hyperactive. These are
the students who get the most referrals, who get sent to the office the most,
and who get in the most trouble.
However, the other two reactions also deserve to be noted.
The
flight response, in a life or death situation, would look like running away
from an attacking wild animal, in order to survive. Teachers may recognize this in students who
abscond from class, with or without a hall pass. While some students might leave without
permission, others may ask to go to the bathroom a lot, or to the office, in
order to evade a lesson or activity.
There might be a student that is habitually late or truant, from one or
two classes, or all of them. Some students
might be totally disengaged in class, listening to music, looking at their
devices, talking to others, drawing, or even sleeping. Some students might try to hide under hats or
hoodies in order to feel safe.
The
last reaction is the freeze response. In
a life or death situation, the freeze response would look like standing very
still or playing dead until an attacking wild animal lost interest and walks
away. Opossums are famous for this. In the classroom, this is going to look like
the student that has checked out. They
might be there physically, but their mind is somewhere else. The student could be in a dissociative
state. Think about students that have
blank looks and stares, who aren’t responsive.
Out
of these three reactions students can have related to trauma and ACEs, teachers
might be most familiar with the fight response because it causes the most
distracting behavioral issues. But
flight and freeze are also problematic, especially from a learning
perspective. If students are triggered
and stuck in any of these reaction states, it will be hard for them to learn.
The
different parts of the brain and what they do
Humans
have a triune brain, made up of three main parts, the hippocampus, the
amygdala, and the pre-frontal cortex.
The base of the brain, or the reptilian brain (lizard brain), the brain
stem, is called the hippocampus.
Lizards, small reptiles, have a small brain that is basically all brain
stem. Lizards are concerned with
survival. They eat and dodge harm. The hippocampus in humans is also responsible
for survival. When a child, or someone
of any age, experiences trauma, the hippocampus goes into survival mode. This is where fight, flight, or freeze kick
in, until the person starts to feel safe again.
If stuck in survival mode, the other areas of the brain might be
inaccessible. The brain stem cannot
process and execute higher level functioning and thinking that are required for
learning from and participating in a lesson.
It is however good at survival, but in a classroom that might translate
into an unruly student that can’t be controlled by normal classroom
commands. If teachers and administrators
can recognize a student is in fight, flight or freeze mode, they might be able
to see regular tactics won’t work until the student feels safe. The body is having a physical reaction to
fear.
The
amygdala is kind of in the middle of the brain.
It sends all sorts of signals out to the body, especially in stressful
situations. It is like the precursor to
going into survival mode. Imagine a
child that experiences a lot of yelling and screaming at home. That student might be extra sensitive to
noise and tone of voice. If a teacher
raises his or her voice in order to get the classes attention, that student’s
amygdala is going to start pumping hormones into the body, causing a fight,
flight or freeze response. The amygdala
is super sensitive to threats, or even potential threats, like the teacher’s
tone of voice, if that is something the student has had a scary, but unrelated,
experience with in the past.
The
pre-frontal cortex is the front portion of the brain (think about the area
behind the forehead). This is where all
of the classroom activity learning happens.
This is where there is higher order thinking, use of words and
vocabulary, the ability to problem solve and function. If a student is not participating in class,
can’t seem to explain why, or is in fight, flight or freeze mode, that student
is not able to access and utilize the pre-frontal cortex. Instead of administration and teachers looking
at students who are stuck in fight, flight and freeze mode as problems, they
could be looking for ways to help all children feel safe at school (not just
physically safe). If a child is shut
down or being problematic, view the situation through an ACEs lens, and
understand the child is operating out of a different part of the brain than
what is required for optimal learning.
Physical
and brain-based responses can cause conflict at school
Dr.
Dan Siegel, a neuroscientist, developed the hand model of the brain to help
people understand how the brain functions.
The wrist area represents the hippocampus. Folding the thumb into the palm represents
the amygdala. The other four fingers
folded over the thumb represent the pre-frontal cortex. When the brain is operating as it should, it
is called the wise mind. However, when
triggered, students might flip their lid.
Imagine all four fingers opened up, revealing the amygdala and
hippocampus. It is reminiscent of the
little teapot song, where it loses its lid when it gets all steamed up, shouting.
Knowing
most fights are reactions to things happening in the brain, schools can use a
brain-based approach towards handling conflict.
Learning about ACEs and using a trauma lens to understand how students
are struggling can reshape school policies on discipline and consequences. Peer mediation and restorative justice
practices, when implemented properly and accepted and embraced on a school wide
level, can be a large part of the solution to reduce and prevent conflict
through reliance building relationships.
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