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History of Trauma

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In this blog series, Leslie and Joshua Stamper have taken a deeper look at essential aspects of trauma informed practices, Trust Based Relationship Interventions, and Restorative Practices from the perspective of a parent and a school administrator. You can find our previous posts here: In the Face of Trauma and The Language of Behavior . Josh and I (Leslie) are parents to five wonderful children. We were also foster parents for five years. One of the greater challenges in raising children with a history of trauma is understanding the motivation behind behaviors. Specifically, realizing that behaviors are the result of emotional dysregulation and not necessarily willful disobedience. Without a relationship built upon trust, which takes time and consistent connection, children who have a history of trauma may not have the tools and awareness to regulate themselves, which means the behaviors we see are not willful disobedience. The groundwork of TBRI ( Trust-Based Relational Interv...
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Capturing Culture

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In this blog series, Jeff Veal and Joshua Stamper will be taking a deeper look at the essential aspects of creating a healthy and effective campus culture. Part one of the series is written by Joshua Stamper.   When my family moved from California to Minnesota, we quickly learned that fishing, both during the summer and winter, was a large part of the state’s culture. Minnesota is full of lakes and state parks, and I had never experienced outdoor recreational activities. The first time my family went fishing on the St. Croix river was full of frustration. No matter what tactics I used, I couldn’t catch a thing outside of lake weeds and branches. The longer I didn’t catch a fish, the angrier and louder I became. Every so often, my mom or dad would come over and give me some advice and try to calm me down. By the end of the evening, tiredness and disappointment set in. I felt like a huge failure. On the way back to camp, I continued to ask my parents, “why didn’t I catch anyth...
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The Language of Behavior

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I find it necessary to increase awareness about the academic and emotional needs of children who have been impacted by trauma within the education community. I invited my wife to join me again on this blog post to add her voice and perspective to   continue the conversation  on incorporating trauma-informed care in the classroom . We were foster parents for five years, and during that time were able to adopt three of the children placed in our home. We closed our foster license after our third adoption, but the education, training, and ongoing research on the field of childhood trauma will forever be impactful to our lives and incorporated into our parenting and educational strategies. I (Leslie) have found two practices that we learned in our behavioral management training have been the most helpful to me as a parent. Though these techniques were developed for kids impacted by trauma, they work wonderfully with all five of my children. The first strategy ...
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In the Face of Trauma

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My wife, Leslie, and I were foster parents for 5 years. During those years, we had a couple foster placements who were able to be reunified with their family, and three of our five children were adopted from foster care. I invited my wife to join me on this blog post to add her voice and perspective to the necessary awareness of meeting the educational and emotional needs of children who have been impacted by trauma. A few weeks ago, 60 Minutes had a segment on the impact of trauma on children. An increasing amount of research, literature and media around trauma-informed care, trauma-informed classroom management, Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) and Adverse Childhood Experiences surveys (ACEs) has been made available to the public and incorporated into mainstream practices in pediatricians offices and school classrooms over recent years. We've implemented trauma-informed care in our home for years, starting when we first became licensed as foster parents....
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