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The ‘Capturing Kids Hearts’ Initiative encourages educators to ask students these four questions when they are "off-task":
- What are you doing?
- What are you supposed to be doing?
- Are you doing it?
- What are you going to do about it?
For children without a history of trauma and stress, these questions may be effective and might help a student re-focus and get back on track. However, for stressed and traumatized students who have limited access to cognitive function, these questions do not work–they are not trauma informed or resilience focused and incorrectly assume that the students:
- Are consciously aware of what they are doing.
- Know what they “should” be doing.
- Can regulate their emotions and behavior.
- Can make a decision or solve a problem.
- Can use words to describe their experience.
A trauma-informed and resilience-focused approach to a student who is “off-task” should involve the educator ASKING THEMSELVES these four questions before approaching the student to help:
- Am I currently able to regulate my own emotions and behavior?
- Which one, or more, of this student’s universal needs is lacking right now? (Belonging, Mastery, Independence, Generosity)
- How can I help this student regulate his emotions and/or behavior in this moment?
- How can I make this a learning opportunity for this student?
Any school staff, regardless of their own background or role in the school setting, can help these students thrive academically, behaviorally, socially, and emotionally. Our Trauma Practitioner-Educator Certification is specifically designed for those who work in education and will guide school personnel through the necessary steps to create a trauma informed classroom, school or district. Register for the whole package, or take one course at a time.
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