By Correspondent Aug 15, 2019 for The Spokesman Tribune
When classes start at Logan Elementary later this month, teachers and staff will have just completed new training designed to teach them how to support students affected by adverse childhood experiences thanks to a $35,000 grant from the Hagan Foundation.
“They fully funded the entire program,” said Logan Principal Brent Perdue.
The new training is the next step in years of studying the problem of childhood trauma and how it affects learning, Perdue said.
“We’ve been on this journey of becoming trauma informed,” he said. “The trauma kids go through changes their brain chemistry.”
Childhood trauma isn’t limited to abuse or neglect. It can also include the stress from “household dysfunctions” such as divorce, domestic violence, substance abuse or mental illness. Increased stress leads to more production of the hormone cortisol and long-term higher levels of that hormone can lead to an exaggerated flight-or-fight response that can trigger abnormal behavior, Perdue said.
A child’s behavior is often the only language they know to express that something is wrong, he said. “If kids are distracted by their worries, their stress comes out in their behavior,” he said. “They’re trying to tell us that they’re hurting.”
This fall the school will begin using the Miss Kendra program that was developed by a clinical psychologist in Connecticut who specializes in post-traumatic stress disorder. It centers around “The legend of Miss Kendra,” a book about a woman who lost her child who started volunteering at a local elementary school. Miss Kendra became known as someone who listens to children who are having problems.
Each classroom at Logan will be outfitted with a special mailbox so students can write a letter to Miss Kendra if they are having a problem at home or at school.
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