Earlier this summer, my friend Lisa McCarthy and I had a vision: highlighting the long-term consequences for failing to address children who struggle with learning to read. After 10 weeks of hearing from psychologists, nurses, authors, teachers, and parents, we were blown away by not only the material they shared, but the new things we learned. I want to take a moment to thank each and every person who attended and presented during the “When Learning is Trauma” series. Thank you for your time and dedication to a truly important—and life-changing—topic.
The takeaways from each session were consistent: Trauma occurs when children fail to learn to read at the same rate as their peers. Here’s a quick review of each week, and you can find more detailed info on their takeaways here.
Dr. Steve Dykstra: The brain is not a book or a series of books. It needs interrelated experiences to connect to function effectively.
What do I take away from this statement? When children struggle, it not only affects learning and their ability to progress in school, it impacts every part of their brain and thus their life. This became the theme throughout the series: Every part of a child's social, emotional, and academic life is impacted—often negatively. When I am teaching my most vulnerable students, I make sure to create a positive environment with interrelated experiences.
Hilderbrand Prezlner III: Recognize early when children are failing and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! It is not enough to recognize that children are falling behind, hoping they might catch on; we must do something!
Rosalyn Abagail Kyre Nartley: When the only assessment measurement is through "academics," traumatic experiences in school are accepted. Learning involves more than academic achievement. What are our children learning in school? Do they know they are of value? Or what other messages are being sent?
Lenore Hall: Stressed children operate under the "fight or flight" mode. Under such circumstances, children quickly lose control of their behaviors. For our children to learn and succeed in school, they first need to feel safe and accepted. For children to learn, they must know it is safe to make mistakes!
Don Winn, a dyslexia author, had a very simple message: Kids don't learn when they are in pain! Don knows all too well about learning and failure. He lived it. Know that learning environments need to be socially and emotionally safe for student growth.
Martin Bloomfield also lives with failing too many years in school. A school is a place where teachers are modeling behaviors—of acceptance, value, and understanding. If students are ostracized for failure to learn in the classroom, what are the other students learning? So powerful!
Ashley Roberts is the mother of a dyslexic child. The language we use: Learning disability, specific learning disability suggest problems with the learner. Let's check our language and language use!
Amy Maharba is also the mother of two dyslexic children. She became a "mini-paralegal" in the fight to educate her son's. She is also the founder of the Jonathon Foundation, which supports parents of students needing additional support.
Colleen Trolongo, a mother of a dyslexic child, describes her role as a "symphony conductor." It takes a "village" to educate our children.
Dr. Neil Alexander-Passe provided examples of what parents can do to help children overcome trauma.
1. Praise effort
2. Find and build on strengths
3. Believe in your child
4. Use a child's passions to include reading and writing
5. Have students become experts in a field
6. Parents value what makes the child feel good
I loved each and every one of our conversations, as their knowledge added to the awareness that learning is complex and involves more than passing exams.
My own takeaways: love and believe in our children, especially when the odds are against them. It is during this time that they need us more than ever!
