Category: Neuroscience-aligned
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My Students Understand. Why Don’t Some Adults Get It?
Of those things people recognize me by at this point, yesterday one of my 4th graders pointed at it and asked, “What do ALL those words mean?” Not just one—every single one. So instead of brushing it off, we sat down and talked about it, and honestly, it turned into one of the most meaningful…
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When the Mind Can Only Take Us So Far, the Body Brings Us Back Home: What Lives Under the Challenges We Seek to Understand
I remember sitting in my daughter’s room during a moment of overwhelm, saying the supportive things I’d read in the books, trying a different approach to the situation, and allowing her to have space to unravel. I remember that forced calm inside of me that I perfected in my career as a nurse, and noticing…
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The Power of “I Don’t Know That I Don’t Know”: How Authenticity in a Chaotic Moment Created Inconvenience and Expansion
In our tiny slices of reality, which are completely unique to us and created by our programming and experiences, we bump up against what we label as problems or challenges. We believe that our current reality is something that is fixed. We tighten into the triggers and divert up to our intellect to figure it…
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Autism Acceptance Month Is Not a Celebration—It’s a Reckoning
Every April, the world turns its attention to autism. The posts go up, the slogans circulate, and suddenly everyone is talking about “awareness” again. But if I’m being honest, awareness has never been the issue. Autism is not hidden. It is not rare. It is not misunderstood because people haven’t heard of it. It is…
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What Happened Before That Moment?
Sometimes a small sign says a lot about how we think about children. Today I walked past a table with a sign that said: “All emotions are okay, but not all child behaviors are okay.” And I stopped. Because that phrase gets repeated in education spaces as if it’s wisdom. People nod along like it’s…
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Choice Doesn’t Fix It: Why PBIS Still Harms Kids
When I was a little girl, I didn’t speak until I was four years old. I remember the way adults looked at me—like I was broken, like my silence defined me. They didn’t see the potential bubbling beneath, only the ways I failed to fit the mold. That early experience taught me something I carry…
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My Journey: Heart-Strong International Changemakers for Children
This past week, I was very proud to receive my certificate in the Heart-Strong International Changemakers for Children course, taught by Sandi Lerman. Signing up, I already knew that anything Sandi and Heart-Strong International had put together was going to be amazing! AASR has a long-running relationship and collaboration with Sandi and Heart-Strong International, including…
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It’s All Just Part of the Routine: How Touch Becomes Restraint in Early Childhood Education
Every child deserves to feel safe in their body. Every early educator wants to be someone a child can trust. If we truly want to build environments rooted in care, we have to be willing to pause, reflect, and make changes. There are amazing, wonderful things happening in early childhood education settings every day. I…
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Awareness and Repair: We All Experience Dysregulation
Sometimes, when learning about the neuroscience behind human behavior, we mistakenly think that dysregulation is this big bad thing that should always be avoided. We think that the only way to keep ourselves and our children feeling safe is to become experts at only experiencing regulation. We think that regulation means being calm or happy. …
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From Tough Love to Trauma-Informed: An Educator’s Journey Toward Transformational Teaching
Twenty-six years ago, I began my teaching career with a passion for making a difference and the advice, “Don’t let them see you smile until January.” My first position was teaching third grade in a predominantly Black, low-income community. I entered the classroom ready to love my students and lead them with firm expectations and…