Category: School
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Seclusion Prevented My Son from Reaching His Potential
Every child deserves to be treated with dignity and deserves to be safe regardless of their race, socio-economic status, or cognitive/physical abilities. All children need love and kindness to thrive in the world. Abraham Maslow created the following hierarchy of needs in his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation.” In order to move up…
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Kids of the World Should Be in Charge of Their Learning
Have you ever wondered who changes schools? Who makes it different? Well, I have realized who does, and they shouldn’t be. We should be; the kids of the world should be in charge of their learning! I believe kids should have the right to their own learning because kids like different topics in school, kids…
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A Trauma-informed Lens on Behavior
Students who have experienced trauma may not always display behaviors that immediately evoke empathy. Managing and expressing emotions can be challenging for these children due to the impact of trauma on their brains. The trauma alters their brain’s instinctual response to “fight, flight, or freeze,” making emotional regulation difficult.
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In Alice’s Own Words
“I’m a female human child,” Alice proclaims as I strap her into her car seat after her first day of school. Seven and a half years into my parenting journey, I still don’t always fully comprehend the impact of Alice’s words when I hear them. She is minimally or unreliably speaking and often uses an…
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Students with Disabilities Have as Much Right to be in Public Schools as Non-disabled Students
The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees every individual is allowed equal protection and due process of Federal and state rights. Yep, even children. Public school is either local or state-controlled. Public school is a public service program. It is the same as public sidewalks, meaning all citizens are allowed equal access to and…
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What About the “Other” Children?
What about the other children? The very problem with this question is that it is coming from a place that only holds space for neurotypical children who don’t appear to need more support. I say appear because there are so many children who are simply better at masking but would absolutely benefit from the same…
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How Do We Teach People Better Ways of Preventing Behavioral Escalations in Classrooms?
You may have seen the comments on a recent Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint social media post about seclusion rooms. We saw many responses to that post. Some of the responses to the post were troubling, some from people who genuinely don’t know how to keep all children safe, and others looking for meaningful dialogue…
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Creating a Culture of Belonging with Affect Imagery
We are all prewired with a need for connection and belonging. From the moment we enter any given space, our nervous systems scan the environment for the presence of threats and the existence of connection. The absence of connection often creates feelings of fear, isolation, and pain, all of which are conditions that make learning…
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Wrong Way Wisconsin: We Should Not Use Deadly Force for Classroom Disruptions
On October 23rd, a bill (SB 542) was introduced in the Wisconsin Senate that is quite concerning. The bill was introduced by Senators Rachael Cabral-Guevara, Duey Stroebel, and Cory Tomczyk and cosponsored by Representatives Gustafson, Murphy, O’Connor, Schmidt, Brandtjen, and Moses. The bill has been referred to the Committee on Education. The purpose of the bill…
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Point and Level Systems: Misguided, Ineffective, Discriminatory, and Potentially Illegal
Point and level systems are another (misguided) tool in the behaviorist toolkit. The point and level system approach seems to have evolved from the idea of token economies based on B.F. Skinner’s operant conditioning principles. A point and level system is a behavioral management approach often used by educators in programs for students who exhibit behaviors of…