Creating Trauma Informed
Schools within a Multi-Tiered
System of Supports
Vermont PBIS Presentation at the
Northeast PBIS Leadership Forum
May, 2015
Today’s Agenda
Agenda
3. Trauma Informed
Practices within
MTSS-B
2. Understanding
Trauma
1. Vermont MTSS-B
Popula'on:*
630,000%
*
Schools:**
324%
*
Students:**
93,625%
*
SU/SD:**
62%
*
School*boards:*
285%
PBIS*in*Vermont*
After 7 years of
implementation:
SU/SD with
at least
ONE
PBIS
School!
•  43% of VT Schools
•  85% of SU/SDs
•  Impacting 29,583
students!
Vermont%PBIS%System%of%Support%
STATE LEVEL
SCHOOL LEVEL
SU/SD LEVEL
REGIONAL LEVEL
School
Coordinators
(128)
SU/SD
Coordinators
(54)
Implementation Trainers/State TA’s
(6)
Coaches
(5)
Professional Learning Calendar
Scope and Sequence
Targeted Team
Training
CICO
Universal Team
Training
•  Six
Components
•  Data tools
•  Classroom
management
Screening
Social Skills
FBA/BSP
Trauma
LSCI
Data tools
Intensive Team
Training
Expand targeted
supports
BSP Strategies
Trauma
Consultation
webinars
Data Tools
Are there really more cows in VT than
people?
No, although Vermont does have the largest
number of cows in the country per capita. An
estimated 150,000 cows reside in VT and produce
three billion pounds of milk each year.
Ben’s Story
UNDERLINE WHAT STANDS OUT FOR
YOU
HOW IS THIS INFORMATION HELPFUL
WHEN THINKING ABOUT EDUCATING
BEN?
What is trauma?
Trauma is not just an event itself, but
rather a response to a stressful
experience in which a person’s ability
to cope is dramatically undermined.
source = Helping the Traumatized
Child Learn
What is Developmental trauma?
• A psychological and neurobiological
injury that results from protracted
exposure to stressful events
•  Derails typical development across all
domains
•  Experiences often occur in the caregiving
system.
•  Impact is immediate and long term
•  Effects will require multi-tiered
interventions
7 DOMAINS OF IMPAIRMENT
BIOLOGY:
BODY AND
BRAIN
BEHAVIOR
ATTACHMENT
AND
RELATIONSHIP
COGNITION
AND
LEARNING
DISSOCIATION
Source = Bruce Perry
EMOTIONAL
REGULATION
SELFCONCEPT
Sources of Trauma
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
Sexual abuse
Physical abuse
Emotional abuse
Neglect
Domestic Violence
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
Torture
Bullying
Prolonged exposure to traumatic stress
Intrauterine stress
Epigenetics
–  Neighborhood violence
Neocortex
Abstract thought
Concrete Thought
Affiliation
"Attachment"
Limbic
Sexual Behavior
Emotional Reactivity
Motor Regulation
Diencephalon
"Arousal"
Appetite/Satiety
Sleep
Brainstem
Blood Pressure
Heart Rate
Body Temperature
All rights reserved © 2006-2011 Bruce D. Perry and The ChildTrauma Academy
Brain Builders
http://www.albertafamilywellness.org/
resources/video/how-brains-are-builtcore-story-brain-development
The still face experiment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=apzXGEbZht0
Developmental Agenda
Impact of Neglect on the
Brain
Bottom up, Inside out
Sequential Thinking
A child’s successful completion of many
academic tasks depends on the ability
to bring a linear order to the chaos of
daily experience. Traumatic experience
can limit this ability to organize material
sequentially, leading to difficulty in
reading, writing and communicating
verbally.
From Helping the Traumatized Child Learn
Effects of Trauma on Brain
Functioning
Thalamus
Prefrontal Cortex
(Integration and Planning)
Visual, auditory, olfactory,
kinesthetic, gustatory
Amygdala
Hippocampus
(cognitive map)
(Intensity/significance)
Normative Danger Responses
Autonomic Nervous Response
System
•  Fight
•  Flight
•  Freeze
•  Flock
Reason
Relate
Sequence of
Engagement
Regulate
All rights reserved © 2007-2014 Bruce D. Perry
Competing Demands
•  Survival vs. learning
–  It is nearly impossible to dedicate your full
attention and energy to survival and
learning at the same time.
Consistency
Routines
and Rituals
Predictability
How to
Intervene
Patterned
and
Repetitive
Managing
Affect
Attunement
Targeting the Tiers, PBiS
approaches
Intensive
FEW
Brain stem/
diencephalon
targeted
SOME
limbic
universal
ALL
cortex
FEW%
(Intensive)
Anger%Mgt.%
MTSS%
Math%
SOME%
(Targeted)
Science%
Adult%RelaJonships%
ALendance%
ALL%%
(Universal)
Reading%
Peer%InteracJon%
All Interventions Across Tiers
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
Movement
Yoga
Attunement activities
Mindfulness
Safe Touch
Indigenous music
The key of “G”
When do we ask for help?
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
Physical symptoms
Self-regulation difficulties
Inconsistent academic performance
Over or under-reacting to events
Severe reactions
Long duration (more than 1 month)
Mental%Health%supports%are%%
needed%at%every%level%of%PBIS!%
How Do we turn this…
Braiding Academic and
behavior supports
Ben
BIOLOGY:
BODY AND
BRAIN
BEHAVIOR
ATTACHMENT
AND
RELATIONSHIP
COGNITION
AND
LEARNING
DISSOCIATION
EMOTIONAL
REGULATION
SELFCONCEPT
Resources
Targeted Activities for Trauma Sensitive Practices (APP)
Classroom Strategies (APP)
Chair Yoga (APP)
Activities that Promote Self-Regulation and Resiliency
(handout and APP)
•  Changing Behaviors by Changing the Classroom
Environment
http://www.uvm.edu/~cdci/best/pbswebsite/
Resources/ChangingBehaviors.pdf
•  Trauma Informed Learning Environment Action Plan
(handout and APP)
•  Ben Scenario (handout and APP)
• 
• 
• 
• 
Resources Cont’d
•  Complex Trauma in Children and Adolescents http://www.traumacenter.org/products/pdf_files/
Complex_Child_Trauma.pdf
•  Core Concepts in Understanding Trauma http://www.nctsn.org/resources/audiences/parentscaregivers/what-is-cts/12-core-concepts
•  Children of Trauma – What Educators Need to Know http://aap.uchc.edu/documents/
NCFA_ADOPTION_ADVOCATE_NO63.pdf
Trauma Informed Action Plan
Questions?????