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SHINE A LIGHT
This project intends to shine a light on the social/emotional issues that impact students with
disabilities in and outside of the classroom.The project will help to build cultural awareness as it
relates to the social and emotional issues that impact students with disabilities. By building awareness
among teachers, the project intends to develop a more welcoming school community for students with
disabilities and their families.

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Workshop Schedule and Agenda
 Jan. 21, 2014-Looking at the Roots of Special Education
(Special Education Overview and Project Opening)
 Feb. 18, 2014-Trauma and the Brain; Select student for case
study
 March 25, 2014-Signs, Signals, and Reactions of Trauma;
Quick write and statement of confidentiality; Explore the
cum; Explorations with case study
 May 4, 2014-Psychological 1st
Aid/Teacher Self-Care; Case
study discussions; Student interview results; Final quick write

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(Let’s Review!) Signs and Signals of a
Stress Reaction can be Organized into
4 Categories
Physical
Cognitive
Emotional
Behavioral
What are some of the signals your
student displays that indicate he/she is
experiencing a stress reaction?

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Agenda
 Review
 Student survey results (pre and post)
 Psychological First Aid for School
 Self Care for Teacher (caring for yourself so you can care for
others)
 Take 5 minutes to browse the cum looking for information to
further inform you about social emotional issues that may be
impacting the student
 Final quick write (10 minutes)

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Psychological First Aid for School
 PFA is an evidence-informed approach for assisting children,
adolescents, adults and families in the immediate aftermath
of a critical incident, disaster, or school crises. PFA is
designed to reduce the initial distress caused by traumatic
events and to foster short and long-term adaptive
functioning.
 Listen
 Protect
 Connect
 Model
 Teach
As we discuss these categories add one suggestion to each
area on your chart.

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Listen
 Listen to what they say and how they act.
 Encourage children to share experiences and express
feelings of fear or concern.
 Be willing to listen and respond to verbal and nonverbal
cues (Observe non verbal communication. Remember
that student(s) may also show their feelings in nonverbal
ways, such as increased behavior problems or increased
withdrawal.)
 Give children extra reassurance, support, and
encouragement.
 Listen: You want to convey your interest and empathy.
Where were you when this crisis happened? What were
your first thoughts? What do you remember about that
day?

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Protect
 Protect by maintaining structure, stability and
consistency. (Maintain daily routines, activities and
structure with clear expectations, consistent rules.)
 Children need to hear that what happened is not their
fault and that they did the right thing by telling.
 Validate the student’s life experiences. Provide
opportunities for your student to talk, draw and play, but
don’t force it.
 Make adjustments to assignments to be sensitive to
students’ current level of functioning.
 Protect:What’s the most difficult thing to deal with right
now? Are you worried about how you are reacting? Are
you worried about your safety? (i.e. around other
students, around adults at school or outside of school?)

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Connect
 Connect through interaction, activities and resources.
 “Check In” with student(s) on a regular basis.
 Encourage interaction, activities, team projects with friends,
teachers.
 Refer/take student to meet school support team. Find resources
on campus that can offer support to student.
 Keep track of and comment on what’s going on in the student’s
life.
 Share positive feedback from parents, teachers and other
adults.
 Connect:What would make things easier to cope with?What
can I do to help you right now? What can your teacher do to
help?What can your friends do to help?What can your family
do to help?

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Model
 It is good to be aware of your thoughts and feelings, and
reactions about the event.
 They can affect your students.
 Your students will be watching you for both verbal and
nonverbal cues and it will influence how your students
cope and behave.
 Monitor conversations that student may hear.
 Do not express shock or anger at the possible perpetrator
or event.

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Teach
 Teach about normal changes that can occur when
traumatized.
 Acknowledge the normal changes that can occur in
people who are traumatized or grieve (physical changes,
emotional, cognitive changes).
 Student(s) may have different reactions, even to the same
event.
 Encourage your student to identify and use positive
coping strategies to help them after the event.

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Teach (cont.)
 Help your student problem solve to get through each day
successfully
 Help student set small “doable” goals and share in these
achievements as “wins.”
 With time and support, students generally do better. (If they
do not, they should be encouraged and taught to seek
assistance from a parent or a teacher they know.)
 Protective Factors to increase resiliency in children: caring
relationships with adults (safety,basic trust,listening, high
expectations,validating messages,guidance,structure,
challenges)
 Opportunities for meaningful contributions: Making decisions,
giving voice and being heard

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A Message to Students
 What can you do if you recognize that you are experiencing
traumatic stress?
 Come to school and stay in school
 .The safest place for students is in school.
 The best way to relieve traumatic stress is to go back to your
regular routine with teachers and friends.
 Be easy on yourself.
 Calm down and “breathe”
 You may think you are “going crazy” for feeling the way you
do but it is normal for someone who is experiencing
traumatic stress.

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Message to Students (cont.)
 Spend a little more quiet time at home and with friends at
school.
 Share the load.
 No one is an island. (Talk to an adult you trust about how you
are feeling. If it’s too hard to talk to your parents, talk to an
adult at school or a relative.)
 Help is available everyday.
 If your feelings or reactions are getting in the way of getting
back to your normal routine (like going to school or paying
attention in class), tell your parents or teacher.
 Counseling and support is available at school and in your
community.

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The Goals of Psychological First
Aid
 Protect the child
 Stabilize the emotions and behaviors of the
students
 Return the student in an improved mental and
emotional state to engage in learning
Every adult on campus plays an important role!

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Self-Care for Teachers: how to care for
yourself so you can care for others, avoid
burn-out, and set healthy boundaries
 Say yes when you mean yes and no when you mean no.
 Recognize your limits and do what is most important.
 Trying to be super-teacher has consequences.
 Take breaks often:You will be amazed at what a five
minute break will do.Whether it’s spent just relaxing
your brain and body, eating a healthy snack, or
meditating, you will be rejuvenated so the work you do is
more efficient.

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Self-Care for Teachers: how to care for
yourself so you can care for others, avoid
burn-out, and set healthy boundaries
 Exercise: Research shows that exercise can help increase
energy, improve concentration, and decrease stress and
depression. It also allows you to focus on yourself and
take care of your body. Both are important for reducing
burn-out.
 Nutrition:When feeling stress you may want to eat all of
the time (trying to fill up the empty feelings) or you may
have a loss of appetite. It is important to eat daily
portions of food from each of the four basic food groups
and healthy snacks.

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Self-Care for Teachers: how to care for
yourself so you can care for others, avoid
burn-out, and set healthy boundaries
 Drink Plenty of Water: Under stress, the body muscles tighten
up and use more body fluid.Water helps to maintain proper
muscle tone by giving muscles their natural ability to contract
and by preventing dehydration.Water also helps rid the body of
waste.
 Know your own threshold for stress: Recognize the first signs of
stress. These may include increased heart rate, changes in
appetite, fatigue and irritability. Pay attention to what triggers
stress for you and either avoid those situations or learn
relaxation techniques so you can manage your stress
effectively. Modeling these skills for your students will teach
them how they can handle their own stress. Focused breathing
and deep muscle relaxation have been proven to work.

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Self-Care for Teachers: how to care for
yourself so you can care for others, avoid
burn-out, and set healthy boundaries
 Find at least three activities that relieve stress for you:
Do these things consistently. Planning ahead of time to
prevent stress or becoming aware of what you can do
when you become stressed will help decrease burn-out.
 Start your day on a positive note: Begin your day by doing
something that lifts you and makes you feel good. It may
be enjoying quiet time in meditation or prayer, thinking
about the positive things that are in store for you that day,
taking a walk or conversing with your
spouse/friend/colleague about positive things.
 What you do first can set the tone for how you manage
your entire day.

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Final Quick Write (10 minutes)
 Looking through a social emotional lens, take the
position of a student advocate and write a thoughtful
letter to the child’s teacher for next year.
 As you write the letter your intent is to help the new
teacher want to embrace and work to understand this child
right away (Write from the loving place in your heart. If this
was your own child what tone would you like the letter to
capture?)
 Using your notes from Ms.Temores’ presentations, the
video, the cum, the social emotional prompts, your charts,
and your own observations, what have you learned that you
can share with next year’s teacher so that this child will
have a smoother transition into his/her new environment
and be received with welcome?
 Refer to the child by the name he/she prefers to be called.

20. +
References
 Bryan,T., Burstein, K., & Ergul, C. (2004).The social-emotional
side of learning disabilities: A science-based presentation of
the state of the art. Learning Disability Quarterly, 45-51.
 Durlak, J. A.,Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B.,Taylor, R. D., &
Schellinger, K. B. (2011).The impact of enhancing students’
social and emotional learning: A meta analysis of school‐ ‐
based universal interventions. Child development, 82(1), 405-
432.
 Zins, J. E., & Elias, M. J. (2007). Social and emotional learning:
Promoting the development of all students. Journal of
Educational and Psychological Consultation, 17(2-3), 233-255.