Social Emotional Wellness In Schools

1. Social Emotional Wellness In Schools

2. What We Will Cover This Morning • MBI • Big ideas • Critical components • Administrator role • IERS • Who we are and what we do • Trauma-informed Positive Behavior Supports (TI-PBS) • Students, Trauma, and Resilience (STAR) • Secondary Traumatic Stress and Self Care • Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) • Bullying Prevention and Internet Safety • Psychological First Aid (PFA)

3. What is PBIS/PBS/MBI???? • PBIS is a method for defining, teaching, and supporting appropriate student behaviors to create positive school environments while providing a continuum of positive behavioral support for all students within a school community.

4. MBI • Helps students increase positive behaviors and decrease negative behaviors • Supports students in behavior change rather than controlling behavior • Helps build positive relationships between students, staff, and families and helps build a sense of community

5. Implementing MBI • 3 tiered system to provide academic (RtI) and behavioral (MBI) supports that are consistent, proactive and preventative • Establish school environments that support long term success of effective practices • Focus on prevention and instruction • For all students • Typically a 3 to 5 year process

6. Tier 2 Specialized Group Systems for Students w/At-Risk Behavior Tier 3 Intensive: Individualized Systems for Students w/High- risk Behavior ~5% Tier 1 Universal School wide and ~15% Classroom Systems for All Students, ~ 80% of Students Staff, and Settings CONTINUUM OF POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT

7. Supporting Social Competence and Academic Achievement 4 MBI Elements OUTCOMES Supporting Decision Making DATA SYSTEMS Supporting Staff Behavior PRACTICES Supporting Student Behavior

8. What is Your Role in MBI?

9. Administrative Leadership • Feature Purpose: • Administrators publicly support the MBI process in their school/district and community • Active members of the MBI team • Provide ongoing leadership and support leadership of other team members • Feature Outcomes: • Administrators provide resources to implement and sustain MBI • Indicate commitment by assuring MBI is one of top 3 goals/missions, regularly attending meetings, and providing regular opportunities for dissemination of MBI related topics to staff

10. Examples of Administrative Leadership • Include MBI in School Improvement Plan • Write MBI into school policy • Serve as gatekeeper for “high yield” strategies • Provide support/training for all staff • Counsel and support teachers not implementing MBI • Provide financial support/time for MBI team and activities • Establish a representative MBI team including teacher leaders, support staff, etc. • Recruit and support the MBI Coach

11. Examples of Administrative Leadership • Collaborate with team to establish process for communicating to whole school about MBI • Prioritize time for MBI team members and acknowledge their efforts • Share public support for MBI with all staff, students, and families • Make MBI a standard faculty meeting agenda item • Provide ongoing info about MBI goals and activities to key school groups

12. Examples of Administrative Leadership • Expect teachers to list social skills lessons on posted class schedule and to post classroom expectations, common routines, and lesson of the week/month • Support the establishment of a system to provide specific positive feedback to students when they meet expectations • Support teachers in using the building process for addressing behavior violations • Establish a data collection and reporting process that provides complete and accurate “time out of instruction” information • Regularly use data for decision-making

13. Administrative Commitment • Commitment and support begins at the district level • District leaders need to be informed and dedicated to the implementation of MBI • Building administrators are expected to be actively involved in implementation • A majority of school staff needs to support implementation of MBI

14. Education Revolution Preview

15. Universal MBI Strategies • Building positive relationships • Define expected behaviors • Teach expected behaviors • Encourage expected behaviors • Discourage problem behaviors • Data-based decision making

16. Define Expected Behavior • 3 to 5 overarching values • Creates a common language and vision • Define what the expectations look like in your school • Matrix becomes “The Behavior Curriculum” in your building • Gives specific observable examples • Keeps expectations positive

17. Teach Expected Behaviors Once you have developed school-wide expectations, it is not enough to just post the words on the walls of the classroom… You’ve got to TEACH THEM!

18. Encourage Expected Behavior • Positive feedback—4:1 ratio • Rates of positive interactions • Reinforcement systems—for ALL kids • Precorrects • Active supervision

19. Research • Acknowledging positive behaviors coincided with a 62% reduction in office discipline referrals • 80 % of behavior problems can be eliminated by increasing the frequency of praise statements

20. Discouraging Problem Behavior • We will still use negative consequences in schools • Why?...Because they are effective for many students • BUT… too often we keep using negative consequences when they are not effective in changing behavior • Happens once… shame on student – Happens three, four, ten times… shame on me

21. Defining Problem Behaviors • Operationally define • The critical feature is that all staff agree on mutually exclusive and operationally defined labels and definitions • Once defined whole school trained on the definitions

22. A reason to define problem behaviors…

23. Looking At The Big Picture! • Instructional Time Lost • Each minor incident takes an administrator about 25 minutes to process • Students are losing instructional time when minor incidents are handled in the office • Classes are interrupted whenever the teacher has to write up a student and get them to the office

24. Major Discipline Incidents Defined • Discipline incidents that must be handled by the administration—these may include, but are not limited to: physical fights, property damage, drugs, weapons, tobacco, etc. Purpose • Once problem behaviors are operationally defined, it is essential that the team distinguish the major discipline incidents from the minor to determine the appropriate consequences

25. Minor Discipline Incidents Defined • Discipline incidents that can be handled by the classroom teacher and usually do not warrant a discipline referral to the office. These may include, but are not limited to: tardiness to class, lack of classroom materials, incomplete classroom assignments, gum chewing, etc. Purpose • To determine appropriate consequences and where the consequences should be delivered

26. Discipline Referral Process • This process must be defined, taught, and agreed upon with all staff, and must include definitions for: • major discipline incidents • minor discipline incidents • emergency or crisis incidents • a continuum of discipline procedures

27. Why Aren’t Traditional Consequences Effective? Not aligned with school rules/ expectations Not aligned with what’s being taught and reinforced Not related to the function of the behavior! If a student tries to avoid a task by disrupting and the teacher sends him to the office or to time out, then… the behavior has served its function the task has been avoided, and the student will see no need to change

28. Sample minor consequences • Reteach the expectations/rules • Restitution/ “Apology of Action” • Student contracts/conferences • Problem-solving • Provide choices • Failure to earn a privilege • Consequences that teach

29. Corrective Consequences Assign corrective consequences based on the purpose/motivation (function) of the problem behavior • Get attention, activities, objects, etc. • Avoid attention, activities, tasks, etc. • Use consequences that teach Example: tardy = 1st bell monitor, tally instructional time lost

30. All consequences should include teaching Staff trained to immediately correct and respond consistently: • Name problem behavior • State school-wide expected behavior • Model expected behavior • Ask student to demonstrate behavior • Provide acknowledgement to student

31. Sample Schoolwide Consequences Prevention activities: reminders, precorrections, practice expectations, reinforcement systems Warning 1 Enforceable statements Warning 2 Repeated redirect Warning 3 Take space in class/reteach a.s.a.p. Office Referral R1: Parent call/conference Office Referral R2: Parent call/conference Reflection sheet Counseling session Office Referral R3: Parent call/conference Behavior Intervention Plan OSS Administrative Decision Drugs/Weapons/Fighting

32. Points to Remember • If the number of violations for specific misbehaviors continues to increase … the consequence for that misbehavior is not effective • Reinforcements (at a 4 to 1 ratio)are more effective than punishments • Always ask: Is what we are doing working?

33. Data-Driven Decision Making The concept isn’t new – Using it tenaciously to focus change and evaluate effectiveness is new!

34. “School often functions as a collection of independent contractors united by a common parking lot.” Richard DuFour Using data gets staff working as a team in an efficient and effective way and provides the common focus. – as opposed to the common parking lot.

35. Data • Big 5 Reports are generated using ODRs and reviewed monthly (number of referrals per day per month, location, problem behaviors, time and students involved) • Multiple data sources are used for mapping of resources and action planning • Data used to identify students needing Tier 2 and/or Tier 3 supports

36. Office referrals per day/month Referrals by problem behavior Disruption Lang. Harass Defiance Skip Cafeteria 12:00 Hall Commons Class

38. Tier 2 Specialized Group Systems for Students w/At-Risk Behavior Tier 3 Intensive: Individualized Systems for Students w/High- risk Behavior ~5% Tier 1 Universal School wide and ~15% Classroom Systems for All Students, ~ 80% of Students Staff, and Settings CONTINUUM OF POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT

39. Institute for Educational Research and Service (IERS) • Montana Safe Schools Center • Bullying prevention • Suicide prevention • Psychological First Aid • Emergency preparedness • National Native Children’s Trauma Center • Trauma awareness • Trauma-informed PBIS • STAR • CBITS

40. What is Trauma? • Trauma is: • Not an event, but a response to a stressful experience, where one’s ability to cope is overwhelmed • Trauma overwhelms the ability to adapt and generates feels of helplessness and terror

41. Acute vs. Complex Trauma • Acute Trauma: • “A single traumatic event that overwhelms a child’s ability to cope.”(Fitzgerald and Groves) • Complex Trauma • The experience of multiple or chronic and prolonged, developmentally adverse traumatic events, most often of a personal nature (sexual or physical abuse, family violence, war, community violence) and early life onset. • These exposures often occur within the child’s care giving system (Spinazzola, et al)

42. A Range of Traumatic Situations • Automobile accidents • Life-threatening illness • Witnessing violence • Natural disasters • Terrorism • Physical or sexual abuse • Neglect • Abandonment • Death or loss of a loved one • Bullying • Living in a chronically chaotic environment • Military deployment • Substance abuse in caregivers • Depression or mental health disorder in caregiver • Intergenerational trauma • Historical trauma

43. Childhood Traumatic Stress • “ Childhood traumatic stress occurs when children and adolescents are exposed to traumatic events or traumatic situations, and when this exposure overwhelms their ability to cope with what they have experienced.”(NCTSN) • It occurs because the event(s) pose(s) a serious threat to: • The individual’s life or physical integrity • The life of a family member or close friend • One’s surrounding environment

44. What happens with children that experience traumatic events? • Resilient Children: 2/3 of children will not suffer child traumatic stress from experiencing an adverse childhood event • 1/3 will experience symptoms of childhood traumatic stress • One of every four children attending school has been exposed to a traumatic event

45. Responses to Trauma • Hyperarousal • Feeling scared for no reason • Feeling “crazy” or out of control • Being on guard; feeling like something bad is going to happen • Jumping when there is a loud noise • Re-experiencing • Nightmares or trouble sleeping • Thinking about the trauma all the time • Flashbacks • Intrusive thoughts • Sense of Foreshortened future • Withdraw from family/friends • Decrease in interests/activities

46. Responses to Trauma • Changes in affect • Feeling anger, sometimes for no reason • Feeling shame • Feeling guilty • Feeling sadness/grief/loss • Avoidance and Numbing • Wanting to NOT think or talk about the trauma • Avoiding places, people, or things that are connecting with the event • Not being able to remember parts of what happened • Having physical health problems and complaints

47. Impact on Learning • Lower GPA • Increased drop-out rates • More suspensions or expulsions • Decreased reading ability • Adversely affect memory and attention • Spacing out • Interfere with effective problem-solving • Result in overwhelming frustration towards school • Reduce ability to focus, concentrate, organize, and process information • Negative attitude • Diminished language and communication skills

48. Impact on Behavior in School • Lack of capacity for emotional regulation • Hyperalert • Focus on non-verbals of others • In a constant state of “survival mode” • Difficulty describing feelings and internal experiences • Poor impulse control • Use of aggressive behavior • Self soothing behaviors • Dissociation • Difficulty complying with rules • Replaying of trauma • Difficulty communicating

49. Adaptive Responses to Trauma Perry, 2009

50. Understanding Trauma It begins with the ACE Study The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study is one of the largest investigations ever conducted on the links between childhood maltreatment and later-life health and well-being.