Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis
School Psychologist, Casa Grande Elementary School District
Lessons Learned
- When working with a child who has suffered maltreatment, the number and nature of the positive, supportive relationships he/she has is a better predictor of outcome than what happened to them.
- Before traditional interventions (e.g. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) can be effective, the child must first be regulated and feel relationally safe. Bottom-up approaches are much more effective than top-down approaches.
- When considering whether an intervention/strategy/policy etc. will be appropriate, effective, and respectful of the individual’s neurobiology, one must consider the 6Rs (from Dr. Perry) and determine whether it is in line with these characteristics. The 6Rs are: Rhythmic, Repetitive, Relational, Rewarding, Respectful, and Relevant (relevant includes developmentally matched).
- Stress is needed to change, but we have to provide appropriate doses of challenge with adequate space for recovery in order to build resilience. The dose of stress or challenge that a child can tolerate is based on the individual.
Resources Developed
- We started to create a website, www.nmestatecheckin.com, to use with students. This website allows users to complete scheduled “check-ins” where they rate their “state” (based on Dr. Perry’s Neurosequential Model) to indicate their level of regulation and what regulation activities they prefer. This site keeps data over time so that the student’s state, based on their check-ins, can be monitored and sends alerts to the teacher when they have a student who has checked in as dysregulated.
- While working in the Florence Unified School District, my husband and I developed a high school psychology course to teach high-school students about Dr. Perry’s Neurosequential Model (with approval and in consultation with Dr. Perry) and co-taught this class. Ben’s general education 9th grade students collaborated weekly through Google Meet with my high school students in ED-P to develop this curriculum and share their experiences.
- Chapter Activities for "Boy"
My husband also taught these concepts to his 8th grade students with whom he worked during the COVID shutdowns. These students then created and shared their own presentations and presented at the district SEL conference. I came into his classes once a week to help teach the concepts and answer questions. Here is one of the student-created presentations: - We have developed a 1-hour overview of the neurosequential model and adapted this overview as we work with different audiences. Here are some examples:
- We have developed a 10-hour introductory course to introduce the Neurosequential Model to school staff as an alternative to the 100 hour official certification course. Using Dr. Perry’s vocabulary, we refer to each class as a “dose.” This introduction provides an overview of all of the core concepts and a book study of Dr. Perry’s “The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog” but without the longer commitment that deters some individuals from enrolling in the full certification. Here are a couple of the “Doses”:
- Chapter Activities for "Boy"
Suggested Resources
- Dr. Bruce Perry and his books “The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog” and “What happened to You?”
- Dr. Stuart Ablon’s “The School Discipline Fix” and Ross Greene’s “Lost At School”
- My husband, Ben Curtiss, an amazingly talented and innovate teacher with a knack for immediately apply concepts and sharing what he has learned with his students.
Collaborative Areas of Interest
- How to implement trauma-informed approaches at a broader, district level.
- How to create sustainable change that is not person dependent.
- How to get this information to parents, soon to be parents, and the broader community.
- How to help school leadership understand that these approaches are not separate from academic learning. When we improve a child’s ability to be regulated and develop relational connections, their ability to learn academic content also improves dramatically.
Posted:
18 January, 2024
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