Amy Curtiss

Amy Curtiss

School Psychologist, Florence Unified School District 

[email protected]

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

• 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 Who Was Raised As a Dog” 
• 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: NME States Lesson 2

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.
• Overview of the Neurosequential Model

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.