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Amplifying the Voices of Unaccompanied Minors

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10 Things Educators Need to Know about Unaccompanied Minors

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10 Things Educators Need to Know about Unaccompanied Minors

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At this point, you've probably seen the news. Nearly 19,000 children, mostly from Central America, were apprehended at the border in March 2021 alone. While this phenomenon of unaccompanied minors arriving at the border isn't new, the number of arrivals is definitely greater than usual. For instance, in FY2019 (pre-COVID), just under 70,000 minors crossed the border and were in the Office of Refugee Resettlement's (ORR) care over the course of the entire year (also a record at the time).

Why are so many minors coming? While some of the "push factors" may be increasing (i.e. violence, poverty, climate change, privatization of natural resources, etc.) and there are always seasonal migration patterns, one could argue that the biggest factor is changes to Title 42. This is a rule that was enacted on March 20, 2020 that allowed the government to immediately expel those arriving at the border because of the risks related to COVID-19. This included asylum-seekers and unaccompanied minors. Ultimately, this resulted in 15,867 unaccompanied minors being turned away at the border in 2020.

The Biden Administration is still utilizing Title 42 and expelling families and single adults, but they are NOT turning away unaccompanied minors. Therefore, we have a backlog. We have a year's worth of unaccompanied minors who are all trying to come at the same time. For more information on the "whys" and the complexity of this situation, check out this article from Time Magazine.

Now let's look at what's most important for educators to know, so that we can be proactive and prepared for when many of these children end up in our classrooms this Fall.

1. The time to prepare is now. Unaccompanied minors are first apprehended by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and placed in the "jail like facilities" that we often see on the news. By law, they are supposed to be released to ORR shelters within 72 hours, but this has been taking longer due to a shortage of beds and other factors. Once in an ORR shelter, each child is usually there for 100+ days (average was 102 days in FY2020), while a suitable family member or other sponsor is located and screened. This means it's likely many of these children will be released and ready to enroll in school over the summer or early Fall.

2. You can look up data on unaccompanied minors released to your area. The federal Office of Refugee Resettlement keeps detailed data on their website that anyone can view. It's broken down by state and county. If you want to look at previous federal fiscal years, you can see that data here. Use this data to advocate for programming and services for these students!

3. Many of these students have limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE). This means it's time to "beef up" your SLIFE programming and/or start to advocate for this type of thing if you don't have it. There is tons of great professional development out there on working with SLIFE! For example, English Learner Portal has a new SLIFE course starting on June 21. In addition, Seidlitz Education and Multilinguals Forward held a virtual SLIFE conference in 2020 and all of the presentation recordings are free!

4. Youth from Guatemala make up the largest percentage of unaccompanied minors and many of these youth have indigenous/Maya roots. This means many unaccompanied youth are Native Americans with their own cultures and languages. For example, common languages spoken are Mam, K'iche', and Q'anjob'al. Many Maya youth do not speak Spanish (or they speak Spanish as a second language) and these students are not Hispanic / Latino. This is crucial when you think through your registration process, home language surveys, bilingual programming, interpretation and translation services for caregivers, and so on.

5. Learn about trauma-informed practices for immigrant and refugee students, including unaccompanied minors. Sometimes districts have extensive trauma-informed PD and initiatives, but fail to recognize the unique needs and strengths of immigrants, refugees, and English Learners. Our favorite resource on this topic is from Dr. Heidi Ellis and her team at Boston Children's Hospital: the Refugee and Immigrant Core Stressors Toolkit Refugee and Immigrant Core Stressors Toolkit. This model recognizes that what immigrant and refugee students are going through is NOT just about trauma experienced in the home country. It's also about trauma and violence in one's community in the U.S. as well as the difficulties with acculturation and learning English, poverty and basic needs, legal immigration issues, isolation, and discrimination. They have done a significant amount of work implementing school-based, multi-tiered mental health programming in various school districts. They utilize cultural brokers in their programming and recognize that family engagement, assistance with basic needs, and acculturation support are crucial parts of mental health treatment. You can check out their book here.

6. Teachers (not just school counselors, etc.) play an incredibly important role in the mental health and social-emotional support of unaccompanied minors. Research shows that "school connectedness" and "peer support" are two of the biggest protective factors for immigrant and refugee youth that help mitigate the risk factors and core stressors mentioned above. In other words, anything you do to help your newcomer students feel like they belong and have friends is key! So start up the lunch bunches and clubs, create a peer mentoring initiative for newcomers, make sure you respond to bullying, and so on!

7. Unaccompanied minors receive six hours of instruction per day while in ORR care. (Note: not while they are first in DHS/CBP custody.) There is very little written about what this education actually looks like and the education varies greatly between ORR facilities, but a couple of articles are here and here. We also include a webinar we did with teachers at an ORR shelter in Chicago in our online course on supporting unaccompanied immigrant youth that includes a lot of great information.

8. For a number of reasons that are too long for this blog post, the U.S. government does not consider most of these youth to be refugees. All of the youth in ORR custody are in deportation proceedings. They are released to a family member or other sponsor while their immigration case works through the system. The government also does NOT provide these youth with an attorney, so they need to find an attorney or they'll go to immigration court on their own. Some of this youth may be able to eventually get asylum or another status which will allow them to permanently stay in the U.S., but this will require a lawyer. It is recommended that school counselors, social workers, and/or parent liaisons keep a list of organizations that provide low-cost or pro bono attorneys for immigrants. A good place to start is here.

9. ORR's definition of unaccompanied minor is NOT the same as McKinney Vento's but there is overlap in the two populations. By law, an "Unaccompanied Alien Child" is someone who a) has no lawful immigration status in the United States; b) has not attained 18 years of age; and c) has no parent or legal guardian in the United States or no parent or legal guardian in the United States who is available to provide for their care and physical custody. Of course this is a different definition than what is used in K-12 education, particularly with the McKinney Vento Act. The youth we're talking about WERE unaccompanied (at least not with a parent or legal guardian) when they crossed the border, but now they are living with a family member or other person who agreed to be their sponsor (unless that placement fell apart). Depending on who they were released to and who accompanies the student to register for school, your homeless liaisons may or may not become involved.

10. These students are NOT just the EL teacher's responsibility. Like all English Learners, these students are everyone's students. They should have the opportunity to build relationships with and learn from general education teachers, administrators, school counselors, social workers, and more. Furthermore, their caregivers (whoever ORR released them to) should have an opportunity to connect with parent liaisons or other family engagement staff for support.

If you would like more information about unaccompanied minors, please join me for a FREE webinar we're doing in partnership with English Learner Portal on May 26 at 7 pm ET. It will be 30 minutes with 15 minutes for Q and A.

If you're ready for more detailed information on how to support this population, sign up for the 5 hour self-paced online course that I (Laura Gardner) teach through our partnership with English Learner Portal and Brandman University. The next section starts June 21! Or if you prefer, we can facilitate a live virtual workshop for your group - just email laura@immigrantsrefugeesandschools.org to discuss.

Final Resources

At this point, you've probably seen the news. Nearly 19,000 children, mostly from Central America, were apprehended at the border in March 2021 alone. While this phenomenon of unaccompanied minors arriving at the border isn't new, the number of arrivals is definitely greater than usual. For instance, in FY2019 (pre-COVID), just under 70,000 minors crossed the border and were in the Office of Refugee Resettlement's (ORR) care over the course of the entire year (also a record at the time).

Why are so many minors coming? While some of the "push factors" may be increasing (i.e. violence, poverty, climate change, privatization of natural resources, etc.) and there are always seasonal migration patterns, one could argue that the biggest factor is changes to Title 42. This is a rule that was enacted on March 20, 2020 that allowed the government to immediately expel those arriving at the border because of the risks related to COVID-19. This included asylum-seekers and unaccompanied minors. Ultimately, this resulted in 15,867 unaccompanied minors being turned away at the border in 2020.

The Biden Administration is still utilizing Title 42 and expelling families and single adults, but they are NOT turning away unaccompanied minors. Therefore, we have a backlog. We have a year's worth of unaccompanied minors who are all trying to come at the same time. For more information on the "whys" and the complexity of this situation, check out this article from Time Magazine.

Now let's look at what's most important for educators to know, so that we can be proactive and prepared for when many of these children end up in our classrooms this Fall.

1. The time to prepare is now. Unaccompanied minors are first apprehended by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and placed in the "jail like facilities" that we often see on the news. By law, they are supposed to be released to ORR shelters within 72 hours, but this has been taking longer due to a shortage of beds and other factors. Once in an ORR shelter, each child is usually there for 100+ days (average was 102 days in FY2020), while a suitable family member or other sponsor is located and screened. This means it's likely many of these children will be released and ready to enroll in school over the summer or early Fall.

2. You can look up data on unaccompanied minors released to your area. The federal Office of Refugee Resettlement keeps detailed data on their website that anyone can view. It's broken down by state and county. If you want to look at previous federal fiscal years, you can see that data here. Use this data to advocate for programming and services for these students!

3. Many of these students have limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE). This means it's time to "beef up" your SLIFE programming and/or start to advocate for this type of thing if you don't have it. There is tons of great professional development out there on working with SLIFE! For example, English Learner Portal has a new SLIFE course starting on June 21. In addition, Seidlitz Education and Multilinguals Forward held a virtual SLIFE conference in 2020 and all of the presentation recordings are free!

4. Youth from Guatemala make up the largest percentage of unaccompanied minors and many of these youth have indigenous/Maya roots. This means many unaccompanied youth are Native Americans with their own cultures and languages. For example, common languages spoken are Mam, K'iche', and Q'anjob'al. Many Maya youth do not speak Spanish (or they speak Spanish as a second language) and these students are not Hispanic / Latino. This is crucial when you think through your registration process, home language surveys, bilingual programming, interpretation and translation services for caregivers, and so on.

5. Learn about trauma-informed practices for immigrant and refugee students, including unaccompanied minors. Sometimes districts have extensive trauma-informed PD and initiatives, but fail to recognize the unique needs and strengths of immigrants, refugees, and English Learners. Our favorite resource on this topic is from Dr. Heidi Ellis and her team at Boston Children's Hospital: the Refugee and Immigrant Core Stressors Toolkit Refugee and Immigrant Core Stressors Toolkit. This model recognizes that what immigrant and refugee students are going through is NOT just about trauma experienced in the home country. It's also about trauma and violence in one's community in the U.S. as well as the difficulties with acculturation and learning English, poverty and basic needs, legal immigration issues, isolation, and discrimination. They have done a significant amount of work implementing school-based, multi-tiered mental health programming in various school districts. They utilize cultural brokers in their programming and recognize that family engagement, assistance with basic needs, and acculturation support are crucial parts of mental health treatment. You can check out their book here.

6. Teachers (not just school counselors, etc.) play an incredibly important role in the mental health and social-emotional support of unaccompanied minors. Research shows that "school connectedness" and "peer support" are two of the biggest protective factors for immigrant and refugee youth that help mitigate the risk factors and core stressors mentioned above. In other words, anything you do to help your newcomer students feel like they belong and have friends is key! So start up the lunch bunches and clubs, create a peer mentoring initiative for newcomers, make sure you respond to bullying, and so on!

7. Unaccompanied minors receive six hours of instruction per day while in ORR care. (Note: not while they are first in DHS/CBP custody.) There is very little written about what this education actually looks like and the education varies greatly between ORR facilities, but a couple of articles are here and here. We also include a webinar we did with teachers at an ORR shelter in Chicago in our online course on supporting unaccompanied immigrant youth that includes a lot of great information.

8. For a number of reasons that are too long for this blog post, the U.S. government does not consider most of these youth to be refugees. All of the youth in ORR custody are in deportation proceedings. They are released to a family member or other sponsor while their immigration case works through the system. The government also does NOT provide these youth with an attorney, so they need to find an attorney or they'll go to immigration court on their own. Some of this youth may be able to eventually get asylum or another status which will allow them to permanently stay in the U.S., but this will require a lawyer. It is recommended that school counselors, social workers, and/or parent liaisons keep a list of organizations that provide low-cost or pro bono attorneys for immigrants. A good place to start is here.

9. ORR's definition of unaccompanied minor is NOT the same as McKinney Vento's but there is overlap in the two populations. By law, an "Unaccompanied Alien Child" is someone who a) has no lawful immigration status in the United States; b) has not attained 18 years of age; and c) has no parent or legal guardian in the United States or no parent or legal guardian in the United States who is available to provide for their care and physical custody. Of course this is a different definition than what is used in K-12 education, particularly with the McKinney Vento Act. The youth we're talking about WERE unaccompanied (at least not with a parent or legal guardian) when they crossed the border, but now they are living with a family member or other person who agreed to be their sponsor (unless that placement fell apart). Depending on who they were released to and who accompanies the student to register for school, your homeless liaisons may or may not become involved.

10. These students are NOT just the EL teacher's responsibility. Like all English Learners, these students are everyone's students. They should have the opportunity to build relationships with and learn from general education teachers, administrators, school counselors, social workers, and more. Furthermore, their caregivers (whoever ORR released them to) should have an opportunity to connect with parent liaisons or other family engagement staff for support.

If you would like more information about unaccompanied minors, please join me for a FREE webinar we're doing in partnership with English Learner Portal on May 26 at 7 pm ET. It will be 30 minutes with 15 minutes for Q and A.

If you're ready for more detailed information on how to support this population, sign up for the 5 hour self-paced online course that I (Laura Gardner) teach through our partnership with English Learner Portal and Brandman University. The next section starts June 21! Or if you prefer, we can facilitate a live virtual workshop for your group - just email laura@immigrantsrefugeesandschools.org to discuss.

Final Resources

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10 Things Educators Need to Know about Unaccompanied Minors

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At this point, you've probably seen the news. Nearly 19,000 children, mostly from Central America, were apprehended at the border in March 2021 alone. While this phenomenon of unaccompanied minors arriving at the border isn't new, the number of arrivals is definitely greater than usual.

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Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science

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The Refugee and Immigrant Core Stressors Toolkit (RICST): Understanding the Multifaceted Needs of Refugee and Immigrant Youth and Families Through a Four Core Stressors Framework - Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science

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Research indicates that refugee and immigrant youth commonly face four core stressors during resettlement in a new country and culture: trauma, acculturative stress, resettlement stress, and isolation. This Four Core Stressors framework can be used to educate providers about these populations' unique needs and support assessment of relevant socioecological factors influencing health.

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Supporting Unaccompanied Immigrant Students, with Laura Gardner

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Overcoming Trauma and Finding the Strength and Capability of Newcomers with Dr. José Luis Zelaya

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Overcoming Trauma and Finding the Strength and Capability of Newcomers with Dr. José Luis Zelaya

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How does trauma that migrant children experience manifest in the classroom, and what impact does it have on their ability to communicate and develop relationships at school? What can educators who do not share the lived experiences of their students do to best support them, and why is better representation so crucial? How can those entering higher education or other realms where they may be underrepresented or experience imposter syndrome draw motivation and support from their community? We discuss these questions and much more with Dr. José Luis Zelaya.

Dr. Zelaya is a Dreamer born in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. At 13 years of age, he was obligated to flee Honduras and embark on a journey to the United States as an unaccompanied minor. He fled Honduras after living for many years as a street child in absolute poverty and violence levels. After a dangerous 45-day journey, he was found in American soil by immigration officers and months later reunited with his mother and sister in Texas. With the help of his mother, he enrolled in school, and like so many of our students,, he started to build a new life in this country.

A graduate of Texas A&M University Department of Education and the CEO of Dr. Zelaya Educational Consulting LLC. At Texas A&M, Dr. Zelaya pursued a bachelor's in interdisciplinary studies, a master's in education in Curriculum and Instructions, and a Doctorate in Urban Education. He attributes each of his academic accomplishments to his family, mentors, and community who have supported his dreams of educational progress. As you'll hear in our conversation, Dr. Zelaya is also an inspirational example of the grit, tenacity and adaptability that so many migrant students bring to our schools and communities. It was a privilege to talk with him on Highest Aspirations - I won't soon forget our conversation. We hope you enjoy it as well.

You can find additional resources and episode takeaways on our ELL Community page at ellevationeducation.com/ellcommunity. If you haven't done so already, we invite you to join our ELL Community while you're there so you get weekly resources, strategies and tips from that you can use right away.

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Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/highest-aspirations/message

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s6/e19: overcoming trauma and finding the strength and capability of newcomers with dr. josé luis zelaya

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‎Highest Aspirations: S6/E19: Overcoming Trauma and Finding the Strength and Capability of Newcomers with Dr. José Luis Zelaya on Apple Podcasts

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‎How does trauma that migrant children experience manifest in the classroom, and what impact does it have on their ability to communicate and develop relationships at school? What can educators who do not share the lived experiences of their students do to best support them, and why is better represe...

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Florian Scharpf is a doctoral researcher at the Department of Psychology at Bielefeld University, Germany. In his research, he focuses on the mental health of children and adolescents who have been exposed to war and violence. Currently, he investigates the risk and protective factors for the mental health of refugee children living in refugee camps, with a focus on investigating associations between family-related factors, e.g. parental mental health and parenting, and children's adjustment.

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A systematic review of socio-ecological factors contributing to risk and protection of the mental health of refugee children and adolescents

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Florian Scharpf is a doctoral researcher at the Department of Psychology at Bielefeld University, Germany. In his research, he focuses on the mental health of children and adolescents who have been exposed to war and violence.

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Unaccompanied Children in Schools: What You Need to Know

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Unaccompanied Children in Schools: What You Need to Know

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During the past several years, numerous unaccompanied children from Central America have traveled to the United States in high numbers.

The following tips offer useful, basic information about this group of students, their strengths and challenges, and what schools need to know to best meet their needs.
Note: This article has been updated from its original version, published in 2014 as a tip sheet.
Who are unaccompanied children?

Unaccompanied children are young immigrants under age 18 who arrive alone at the southern U.S. border. The vast majority of these children come from the Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras where poverty, unemployment, and violence have risen to alarming levels in recent years.

They have come to the U.S. to reunite with family members, to escape the sharp increase in drug trafficking and gang violence in Central America, and for economic reasons, which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the region was hit hard by two powerful hurricanes in 2020 that have also fueled migration north.

Unaccompanied children: By the numbers

The United States has seen increases of unaccompanied children in recent years, with particularly high numbers in 2014, 2019, and currently in 2021. According to the Migration Policy Institute, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has processed more than 305,000 unaccompanied children at the Mexico-U.S. border since 2014.

As of April 2021, there are approximately 12,900 unaccompanied children under the supervision of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS);[1] in the latest months an average number of 261 received referrals and the discharge rate was 2%.[2]

According to 2020 data, over 80% of these children come from Guatemala (46%), Honduras (25%) or El Salvador (14%), where poverty, unemployment and violence have risen to alarming levels in recent years.

Of these children, 72% are over the age of 14 and 68% are boys.

Unaccompanied children's experiences

The journey that most children have taken most likely has been long, lonely, and perilous. Their trips may have lasted weeks or months. In transit, youth may be exposed to extortion, rape, violence, harsh weather conditions, hunger, dehydration, injury, and other dangers - including the maiming, assault, or death of other migrants along the route.

Once the children arrive at the U.S. border, they turn themselves into Border Patrol agents and claim asylum. They remain in custody of the federal government until a sponsor (usually a family member) can be identified. While they are not supposed to remain in Border Patrol custody for more than 72 hours, backlogs can contribute to long delays and overcrowded shelters. Border Patrol transfers unaccompanied children to special shelters run by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement across the country. Unaccompanied children spend weeks, or sometimes months, in ORR shelters while waiting to be placed with a sponsor. While in custody, children can face stresses related to caring for younger family members, uncertainty regarding their next steps, and difficulty communicating - especially for those who speak neither English nor Spanish, who may not be connected easily with an interprete r.

In addition, some children may have actually traveled to the U.S. with family members but are now separated from family members because:

their relatives were not eligible to claim asylum and they sent the children ahead to the U.S.

they traveled with relatives other than their parents (including their caregivers such as grandparents or aunts and uncles) and were separated from them at the border based on human trafficking laws.

For any children who have been waiting in Mexico recently for the chance to claim asylum, they also may have experienced difficult and dangerous conditions within migrant camps and shelters in Mexico.

News and updates

For more information on the current increase of children at the border, see the following:

Starting a New Life in the U.S.

Unaccompanied children can face complicated situations after they arrive in the U.S., such as the following:

They may live with their parents or guardians, but they can also be placed with other family members, friends or foster parents.

They may have not seen (or perhaps even met) their parents or relatives in a long time.

They may be struggling with feelings of abandonment if their parents traveled to the U.S.

They may be surprised to find that reunification is more complicated than they expected.

They may have new siblings or step-relatives.

In addition, children may have other concerns and responsibilities, such as:

immigration proceedings that include court hearings, legal appointments, and complex paperwork

caring for younger family members

working at a job to support family members (who may have lost jobs during the pandemic) or to pay back the money used to get them to the U.S.

Unaccompanied children's strengths

One thing that educators who teach unaccompanied children frequently mention is their students' strengths, which include resilience, resourcefulness, and determination. While it is important to understand the challenges facing this population, it is also important to understand their strengths and gifts in order to support their chances for future success.

Related resource

Videos: Serving unaccompanied children in schools

Video: The kinds of trauma immigrant students are experiencing

Dr. Karen Woodson describes the many different kinds of trauma that many immigrant students, particularly unaccompanied youth, and students in immigrant families face.

Video: Supporting immigrant students' social emotional health

Dr. Karen Woodson describes some steps she took as a school leader to build a more robust support network for immigrant students, including unaccompanied youth from Central America.

Video: The unique needs of unaccompanied children

Award-winning ESOL teacher Anne Marie Foerster Luu describes how colleagues in her school district collaborated to address the needs of a growing population of unaccompanied children.

Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Unaccompanied children may have also experienced unique challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic including:

navigating a new school in a virtual setting, sometimes with limited educational experience

learning new technology

handling other family responsibilities or jobs

economic stresses related to income and housing

figuring out how the pandemic has impacted the processing of their immigration case.

See more in this article:

Patrick Synan is a high school ELL teacher for newcomer students and students with interrupted formal education in Boston, MA. Many of his students are unaccompanied children from Central America. In this clip, he talks about the experience of teaching students how to use technology remotely and how far they have come since the beginning of the pandemic.

Language Considerations

It is critical for schools to note that many of these students may speak languages other than Spanish or English, such as indigenous languages that are spoken in their home countries. For example, there are two dozen languages spoken in Guatemala in addition to Spanish, including 22 Mayan languages such as K'iche' and Mam.

Even if students had some schooling in Spanish in their home countries, they may not speak, read, or write Spanish comfortably. This means that bilingual English-Spanish programs should not be a default or automatic option when they enroll. At the same time, students may feel a stigma about speaking their language and may try to avoid drawing attention to it. Due to this stigma, families may also not indicate that they speak a language other than Spanish.

For practical ideas about how best to serve Indigenous students, see Supporting Indigenous Latinx Students' Success in U.S. Schools.

Special education referrals

Extra care should be taken in any special education evaluations or referrals made since Spanish-language assessments most likely will not yield valid results for speakers of indigenous languages. In addition, any special education process should center on a team approach where factors such as trauma, physical health, educational background, and language background can be comprehensively evaluated.

To learn about one school's experiences, read about Wolfe Street Academy in Baltimore, MD and their discovery that they had a hidden population of Mixtec speakers from Mexico.

Related news headlines

Video: Partnering with families who speak indigenous languages

Dr. Karen Woodson shares some valuable lessons she learned about partnering with families from Guatemala who speak indigenous languages.

What Can Schools Do?

1. Understand the context of your students' immigration.

A number of books and films offer more information about this student population and their experiences. One of the most compelling and detailed is Enrique's Journey by journalist Sonia Nazario, which follows the trek of one young man north from Honduras and offers an in-depth portrait of what Nazario calls a "modern-day Odyssey" - a trip she herself made in order to experience it first-hand.

Video: Sonia Nazario on what schools need to know about unaccompanied children

Sonia Nazario, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Enrique's Journey, describes the reasons that so many young people are coming north, the dangers they face along the way, and the kinds of supports they need once they get to the U.S.

2. Know immigrant students' rights.

All students have the right to a public K-12 education regardless of their immigration status and language background - including unaccompanied children. If you feel that your school is not meeting student needs, ask for guidance from an administrator, ESL director or your state education department.

3. Establish contact with students' family or guardian.

As with any other student, it is essential to establish a positive relationship with students' caregivers / guardians. These tips on communicating with multilingual families may give you ideas on how to get started. It's also important to keep emergency contact information updated, particularly when working with immigrant families.

Once you connect with families, there are many things you can do to welcome immigrant families within your school communities, even during distance learning.

4. Lay the foundation for a strong personal relationship with your immigrant students.

Look for ways to build relationships with your students by:

making them feel welcome

learning about their interests

showing appreciation for their strengths and building upon those strengths in the classroom

looking for ways in which students can share information about their language and culture in creative and meaningful ways

encourage them to join school activities such as sports or clubs (and looking for ways to make those activities accessible informally if they are juggling other responsibilities).

These may include artwork, journal entries and writing assignments, including in students' first languages.

If language is a barrier, collaborate with an interpreter. You may also wish to consult with a school counselor or social worker for guidance on building a relationship.

5. Look for clues to students' experiences without asking direct questions.

Given the difficult nature of their journey and immigration status, it is critical not to ask students directly about their experiences. They may decide to share those details with you confidentially or with the class. If so, provide a private space for them in conversation or writing. Be mindful of assignments that might make students uncomfortable, and adjust assignments or provide alternates as needed.

If you are interested in learning more about research-based, trauma-informed approaches that can support your work with immigrant youth and how they share their experiences, see the following publications:

6. Request training in trauma-informed practice and instruction.

As a result of these daunting situations, some students may be coping with severe trauma. Ideally, schools serving unaccompanied children should be providing training about trauma-informed instruction to as many staff members as possible, particularly the teachers, counselors, and mental health professionals serving these students.

If you believe your students need more support, it is imperative that you seek assistance from administrators and mental health professionals as your school. You can learn more about resources addressing trauma and anxiety in immigrant students in our related resource section.

7. Reach out to ELL specialists at your school or district.

The ESL or bilingual education specialists in your school or district will play a crucial role in assessing and identifying students' language needs, especially if students have had their formal schooling interrupted in their home country. They also are likely to have helpful ideas regarding building relationships with ELLs, instruction, engaging with families, and supporting students' social-emotional well-being.

8. Use books as a way to connect with students.

Students at all language and literacy levels may benefit from access to a wide range of books, including:

books about students' home country or culture

books about their interests

books that touch upon diverse immigrant experiences, including picture books

graphic novels

grade-level reading materials and bilingual dictionaries in students' native language (although written materials may be difficult to find in indigenous languages).

Talk with students first about the topics of different books to avoid evoking trauma; consult with your school librarian and school counselor about how to proceed if needed.

9. Help build a strong support network.

Not only will students need a tour of the important places at school, they'll also need to be introduced to key staff members so that they are surrounded by a supportive team of adults.

Be aware that students may not be familiar with a school setting and arrive at school without supplies, warm clothes, etc. If you have students who are willing to serve as "buddies," pair them up with your new kids. Students are much more willing to take a chance in a friendly environment.

For more examples of how schools and districts have used a team approach to support their immigrant students, see the following:

10. Find out what else is happening in your community.

If other students are arriving in your school district or community, there may be more resources available. A new wave of students may make it necessary for individuals and institutions to come together to determine how best to meet this new population's needs.

Keep in touch with other schools, houses of worship, legal-aid organizations and immigrant service organizations that may be working with students and their families on ways that you can all provide help to this vulnerable population. You may also wish to ask your school for help in recruiting volunteers who can provide more one-on-one assistance.

For more ideas, see the following:

Recommended Resources

For additional information, see these resources:

Organizations serving unaccompanied children

The following organizations are just a few of the many that provide a range of services to unaccompanied children and their families, including legal services, support for families both in the U.S. and in Central America, and youth shelters.

Archived resources

These archived resources were compiled by Colorín Colorado and focus on the experiences of unaccompanied children that migrated to the U.S. during prior migration waves. They offer helpful background information for educators.

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Unaccompanied Children in Schools: What You Need to Know

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During the past several years, numerous unaccompanied children from Central America have traveled to the United States in high numbers. The following tips offer useful, basic information about this group of students, their strengths and challenges, and what schools need to know to best meet their needs.

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Summary

The global population of unaccompanied minors-children and adolescents younger than 18 years who migrate without their legal guardians-is increasing. However, as data are not systematically collected in any region, if collected at all, little is known about this diverse group of young people. Compared with adult migrants, unaccompanied minors are at greater risk of harm to their health and integrity because they do not have the protection provided by a family, which can affect their short-term and long-term health. This Review summarises evidence regarding the international migration and health of unaccompanied minors. Unaccompanied minors are entitled to protection that should follow their best interests as a primary consideration; however, detention, sometimes under the guise of protection, is a widespread practice. If these minors are provided with appropriate forms of protection, including health and psychosocial care, they can thrive and have good long-term outcomes. Instead, hostile immigration practices persist, which are not in the best interests of the child.

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International migration of unaccompanied minors: trends, health risks, and legal protection

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The global population of unaccompanied minors-children and adolescents younger than 18 years who migrate without their legal guardians-is increasing. However, as data are not systematically collected in any region, if collected at all, little is known about this diverse group of young people.

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International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling

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The Development of a Mental Health Program for Unaccompanied Minors in the United States - International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling

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The unique needs of unaccompanied children (UC) and unaccompanied refugee minors (URM) often make it challenging for them to engage in traditional mental health services. This paper describes the development and implementation of a mental health program for UC and URM using a collaborative approach with key stakeholders.

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All Things ESL: Unaccompanied Minors with Laura Gardner

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All Things ESL: Unaccompanied Minors with Laura Gardner

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Are you thinking the surge of unaccompanied minors will not affect your upcoming school year? Think again. Check out this new (albeit short) episode that reviews the news from immigrantsrefugeesandschools.org that gets you and your school prepared for what is ahead.

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Unaccompanied Minors * All Things ESL - via Podcast Addict

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Are you thinking the surge of unaccompanied minors will not affect your upcoming school year? Think again. Check out this new (albeit short) episode that reviews the news from immigrantsrefugeesandschools.org that gets you and your school prepared for what is ahead.

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giving kids the gift of academic language

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Amplifying Voices of Unaccompanied Minors with John Seidlitz

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Amplifying Voices of Unaccompanied Minors with John Seidlitz

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Special guest, John Seidlitz (@JohnSeidlitz), joined a live show to talk with Carol (@MsSalvaC) and Stephen (@Stephen_Hurley) about an incredible opportunity on July 21, 2021. The free conference, Amplifying the Voices of Unaccompanied Minors, will feature inspiring speakers who have lived the experience of arriving to the United States unaccompanied

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bap098 amplifying the voices of unaccompanied minors ft. john seidlitz

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‎Boosting Achievement: The ESL Podcast: BAP098 Amplifying the Voices of Unaccompanied Minors ft. John Seidlitz on Apple Podcasts

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‎Special guest, John Seidlitz (@JohnSeidlitz), joined a live show to talk with Carol (@MsSalvaC) and Stephen (@Stephen_Hurley) about an incredible opportunity on July 21, 2021. The free conference, Amplifying the Voices of Unaccompanied Minors, will feature inspiring speakers who have lived the exp...

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Creating Systems to Identify and Support SLIFE Students with Orly Klapholz 

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Creating Systems to Identify and Support SLIFE Students with Orly Klapholz 

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What current limitations do we face in our educational system when it comes to data collection about students with limited or interrupted formal education (or SLIFE students)? How can project-based learning and group work help support SLIFE students and their classmates so they can better learn from one another? What are a few steps educators can take to be more equitable and mindful of SLIFE students in instruction and assessments?

We discuss these questions and much more with Orly Klapholz. Orly's expertise includes Special Education and second language acquisition with specialized training in Orton Gillingham curricula. She has extensive experience teaching multilingual students, particularly those with limited or interrupted formal education, and has presented her research at numerous conferences and trainings. In 2021, she co-founded Inlier Learning with Merary Martinez-Cobian, taking a tech-forward approach to creating integrated solutions for the multilingual population.

As is the case with most of our guests, we learned about Orly's work through a member of our ELL Community. If you have an idea for a topic or guest for a future highest aspirations episode, please feel free to reach out to me at stevens@ellevationeducation.com.

You can find additional resources and episode takeaways on our ELL Community page at ellevationeducation.com/ellcommunity. If you haven't done so already, we invite you to join our ELL Community while you're there so you get weekly resources, strategies and tips from that you can use right away.

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Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/highest-aspirations/message

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s7/e9: creating systems to identify and support students with limited or interrupted formal education (slife) students with orly klapholz

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‎Highest Aspirations: S7/E9: Creating Systems to Identify and Support Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE) Students with Orly Klapholz on Apple Podcasts

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‎What current limitations do we face in our educational system when it comes to data collection about students with limited or interrupted formal education (or SLIFE students)? How can project-based learning and group work help support SLIFE students and their classmates so they can better learn from...

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Refugee and Immigrant Core Stressors Toolkit

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Refugee and Immigrant Core Stressors Toolkit

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Refugee and Immigrant Core Stressors Toolkit

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ASYNCHRONOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

We have partnered with English Learner Portal to provide online courses relevant to teachers, administrators, school counselors, social workers, family engagement professionals, and more!

"I really enjoyed Laura's training. It was thorough, backed by data, but also had good real world examples that help me understand what various English learners go through. I have worked with the immigrant community for 10 years now and still learned a lot for her training: from the educational laws that talk about translation to various programs that already exist to meet the needs of these communities. Laura's teaching style is well paced, clear and anecdotal, which I like." - Adriana Salcedo, School Social Worker, Washington DC

"Laura Gardner has provided four workshop presentations for our undergraduate and graduate education students. Her presentations were wonderful! She engaged the students and provided them with valuable information. She is very knowledgeable, motivated and motivating, and an excellent speaker." -Dr. Silvana Watson, Ph.D. Old Dominion University

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"Laura's online class on immigrant family engagement was so interesting, enjoyable, and immediately relevant to my current work. I completed the course with a ton of valuable resources to share with fellow teachers, staff, and families! Thank you SO much!!!" - Educator from Delaware

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"I highly recommend Laura as a trainer and resource for supporting teams who would like to learn more about developing partnerships with immigrant and refugee families. Laura's professional development training for our statewide network of family engagement professionals on Building Partnerships with Immigrant and Refugee Families was excellent. She is extremely well-versed and passionate about this topic, and she took the time to tailor her presentation to our state with important statistics, national resources, and local contacts. The supplemental materials and pre-training videos/articles she provided allowed those at the training to have important, informed discussions about working with immigrant and refugee families in their region. We all walked away with ideas for how to strengthen practices within our organizations." - Dr. Barbara Boone, Coordinator of the Ohio Family and Community Engagement Network, The Ohio State University

"Thank you! This was an amazing training. I have loved the conversations and experiences! I have grown personally and professionally. I will now be more culturally aware teacher. I will integrate things that make my immigrant students feel more 'at home.'" - Educator in Maryland

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"NOT ALL TRAINERS ARE EQUAL. There is such a thing as a "trainer of trainers", and I can unequivocally say that Laura Gardner has gained my respect for such a title. A true sign of a trainer is to lead and a true quality of leadership is to be able to serve. Laura has tirelessly worked with the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) by providing her expertise to help me and my team to organize and hold two successful EL roundtable sessions, one with EL practitioners and our most recent one with EL parents. Her advice and insight into the needs and challenges confronting our EL community has assisted our office to plan and successfully deliver two of the most productive roundtable sessions that our office has ever held. Laura is a leader who demonstrates her leadership skills while serving others." - Samuel Lopez, Ph.D. Senior Education Program Specialist, OELA Special Initiatives Lead, U.S. Department of Education

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"I have a Master's in TESL and learned a few things from Laura's online course on immigrant family engagement! Particularly on the differences between interpretation and translation, and how important family engagement is. I am hoping to implement some of these best practices at my school!"

- Educator from Massachusetts

CONTACT ME

Have a particular challenge you're trying to deal with? Contact me today and see what I can do for you. Take a look at our catalog, too!

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Immigrant Connections: Supporting Educators & Organizations

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We offer Consulting for Family & Community Engagement in Schools, Language Access, Cultural Competency, Equity, Refugee Resettlement, Immigrant Integration, Mental Health and More.

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We are Kids in Need of Defense, and we envision a world in which children's rights and well-being are protected as they migrate alone in search of safety.

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Our educational consulting services take on a holistic approach by targeting students, teachers, and family members with the purpose of student academic and professional attainment.

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Dr Zelaya Education Consulting LLC | Motivational Speaker

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Our educational consulting services take on a holistic approach by targeting students, teachers, and family members with the purpose of student academic and professional attainment.

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At RAICES, we are operating on the national frontlines of the fight for immigration rights because we believe that all people have the right to seek a safe and secure future for their families.

JOIN OUR FIGHT

WE ENVISION A COMPASSIONATE SOCIETY WHERE ALL PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHT TO MIGRATE AND HUMAN RIGHTS ARE GUARANTEED.

We are a nonprofit agency that promotes justice by providing free and low-cost legal services to underserved immigrant children, families, and refugees. With legal services, social programs, bond assistance, and an advocacy team focused on changing the narrative around immigration in this country, RAICES is operating on the national frontlines of the fight for immigration rights. We defend the rights of immigrants and refugees, empower individuals, families, and communities, and advocate for liberty and justice.

The right to seek asylum has been protected by federal and international law and was established in the wake of our nation's unfathomable decision to bar Jewish Holocaust survivors and other victims of World War II from immigrating to the U.S. in 1945. We need a growing number of

Read More

Like us, we know that you also envision a society where all people have the right to migrate and human rights are guaranteed. Download our new Family Guide to help you begin compassionate conversations with your children around immigration.

Read More

The RAICES Rural Legal Services Program assists immigrants in rural areas who are fleeing abusive and dangerous situations. Led by Glenaan O'Neil, the program works with immigrant survivors across Texas.

Read More

No matter what a child's status is, what they look like, or when they got here, every kid deserves the tools to thrive - that's why we gave out 1,000 free backpacks to RAICES' young clients across Texas.

Read More

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Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services

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A Resource for Practitioners, Policymakers, and Researchers

Every year, thousands of unaccompanied children are detained in the U.S. immigrant system. These children-who are not afforded the right to free public defense-must often navigate a web of laws, policies, and government agencies alone. Vera, with funding from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), works with a national network of legal service p ...

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Legal Services for Unaccompanied Children

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Each year, thousands of unaccompanied children, many fleeing unspeakable violence in their own countries, enter the United States. Upon apprehension and after enduring a harrowing journey, they are detained in federal custody in facilities contracted by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), and...

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International Foster Care - What's it all about?

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Photo of Children's Services client, Tiblets Abreha, who arrived at Catholic Charities Dallas five years ago as an Unaccompanied Refugee Minor from Eritrea. She is now a cross country runner at the University of North Texas.

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When refugee and migrant children arrive in the United States without a parent or loved one to provide the shelter, security and sustenance they deserve, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is there to help them find loving foster homes. We work with partners in communities throughout the country to place unaccompanied children in appropriate care settings.

The three types of programs are Long Term Foster Care (LTFC), Transitional Foster Care (TFC), and Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URM).

Looking for locations outside of LIRS region? Check out USCCB.org.

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When refugee and migrant children arrive in the United States without a parent or loved one to provide the shelter, security and sustenance they deserve, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is there to help them find loving foster homes. We work with partners in communities throughout the country to place unaccompanied children in appropriate care settings.

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Right to an Education of UIC (DOJ,USDE, HHS)

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Right to an Education of UIC (DOJ,USDE, HHS)

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Trauma-Informed Teaching Strategies - ASCD

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Trauma-Informed Teaching Strategies - ASCD

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Vol. 77

No. 2

Abstract

1. Expect Unexpected Responses

2. Employ Thoughtful Interactions

3. Be Specific About Relationship Building

4. Promote Predictability and Consistency

5. Teach Strategies to "Change the Channel"

6. Give Supportive Feedback to Reduce Negative Thinking

7. Create Islands of Competence

8. Limit Exclusionary Practices

Fostering a Feeling of Safety

Small changes in classroom interactions can make a big difference for traumatized students.

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Credit: Shannon Fagan

Abstract

1. Expect Unexpected Responses

2. Employ Thoughtful Interactions

3. Be Specific About Relationship Building

4. Promote Predictability and Consistency

5. Teach Strategies to "Change the Channel"

6. Give Supportive Feedback to Reduce Negative Thinking

7. Create Islands of Competence

8. Limit Exclusionary Practices

Fostering a Feeling of Safety

Up to two-thirds of U.S. children have experienced at least one type of serious childhood trauma, such as abuse, neglect, natural disaster, or experiencing or witnessing violence. Trauma is possibly the largest public health issue facing our children today (CDC, 2019). Traumatized students are especially prone to difficulty in self-regulation, negative thinking, being on high alert, difficulty trusting adults, and inappropriate social interactions (Lacoe, 2013; Terrasi & de Galarce, 2017). They often haven't learned to express emotions healthily and instead show their distress through aggression, avoidance, shutting down, or other off-putting behaviors. These actions can feel antagonistic to teachers who don't understand the root cause of the student's behavior, which can lead to misunderstandings, ineffective interventions, and missed learning time.

Neurobiologically, students can't learn if they don't feel safe, known, and cared for within their schools (Aupperle et al., 2012). When teachers are proactive and responsive to the needs of students suffering from traumatic stress and make small changes in the classroom that foster a feeling of safety, it makes a huge difference in their ability to learn. Here are some examples.

1. Expect Unexpected Responses

First, teachers must learn to put students' reactions into context-and not to take them personally. Students with trauma histories can react and behave in seemingly unexpected ways, such as having a sudden outburst during a favorite activity or crying out of the blue one second after laughing. Teachers may be taken by surprise. They say things like, "But he was fine this morning, I didn't see that coming!" or "She normally loves playing the drums in music class. I have no idea where her reaction came from." This uncertainty leaves the teacher in a constant state of hyper-alertness when interacting with the student. This in turn can result in fatigue, as the teacher is guarded and unable to predict what will happen from one moment to another.

One way to understand these reactions is to think of the student as a soda can, and events that may trigger their trauma stress as shaking that can. We can't tell by looking if the can was recently shaken, but if it was, opening the can results in an unexpected explosive, messy reaction. If a student is triggered and experiencing heightened emotion, even a benign direction such as, "Please move over to make room for Jenny" could result in an "explosion" that the teacher never saw coming. By using trauma-sensitive strategies in the classroom, we can help reduce the times our students are "shaken."

2. Employ Thoughtful Interactions

Traumatized students often behave in ways that may interfere with teaching and learning, which can be frustrating. Teachers are in a position of power, and these students may be overly defensive, anticipating adult criticism, or defiant, as a way to assert control (Jennings, 2018). Yet for traumatized students, the ability to learn and behave appropriately can be person-dependent. When they are with a safe and supportive adult, their behavior reflects that.

Consider this scenario drawn from schools I've worked with: Trevor, a 6th grader whose father overdosed on heroin two years ago and who has witnessed ongoing domestic abuse throughout his childhood, was in Ms. Carlton's class for part of the day and Ms. Finch's class for the other part. Ms. Carlton had a reputation of working well with hard-to-reach kids, and sure enough, Trevor behaved in a stellar way in her class. When he was with Ms. Finch, however, he was sent to the office nearly three times a week for explosive behavior.

The teacher is 50 percent of every interaction with a student: By changing the way we give a direction or respond, we can reduce problematic behavior. Ms. Carlton had taken the time to build a trusting relationship with Trevor and learned to give directions in a way that he would respond well to. Interaction strategies are a type of accommodation that typically go unnamed and unwritten, but they were the reason that Trevor could feel safe and access the curriculum (Minahan & Rappaport, 2012).

If Ms. Carlton had written down the successful strategies she used with Trevor, the list might have started with avoiding authoritative directives such as, "Pick that up." To give Trevor a sense of control, Ms. Carlton always embedded choice in her directions, asking, "Do you want to be in the front of the line or the back of the line?" instead of simply telling him to "line up." This helped prevent a poor reaction (Minahan, 2019).

Ms. Carlton also conveyed respect and transparency by providing the reason behind each direction. Instead of saying, "No backpacks on the floor. I don't want to trip and fall!" Ms. Carlton would say, "Oh dear, I hope I don't fall. I have a bad knee! Could you please move your backpack?" Stating the reason first assured that Trevor knew the context (and necessity) of the demand.

Conversely, Ms. Finch would often go up close to Trevor, tower over him, and say in front of his peers, "Stop tapping your pencil!" This typically ended in a power struggle and Trevor's escalating behavior. Trevor, like many traumatized students, had experienced a loss of control in his life, and power struggles with an authoritative figure were particularly triggering. Ms. Carlton instinctively knew that a more private nonverbal direction could be less confrontational for a student in "fight or flight" mode. She would write, "Please stop tapping" on a piece of paper, put it gently on Trevor's desk without his peers noticing, and then give him space by walking away quickly. When possible, she also gave Trevor extended time to comply with directions to avoid power struggles, asking, for example, "Can you please pick that up before lunch?" rather than, "Pick that up now" (Minahan, 2019). This allowed Trevor time to decompress and respond rationally.

3. Be Specific About Relationship Building

At one point in the year, Ms. Carlton told Ms. Finch that building a relationship with Trevor was key to her success with him, and she suggested that Ms. Finch do the same. Unfortunately, saying, "Build a relationship" is too vague and leaves too much up to the teacher's instincts. Instead, Ms. Carlton could have told Ms. Finch that she greeted Trevor every day at the classroom door and asked him about the Avengers or basketball. She could have told Ms. Finch how she used the "two by ten" rule; she talked to him for two minutes a day for 10 days in a row about topics unrelated to academics or behavior. Whenever Ms. Carlton could see she wouldn't have time for this in the 10-day period, she asked the counselor or special education teacher to cover her class for two minutes so she could go for a walk with Trevor. She repeated this trust-building strategy several times throughout the year, especially after he exhibited anger or frustration and after school vacations and long weekends.

Ms. Carlton skillfully used relationship-building and interaction strategies to work with Trevor. Yet the impact could have been greater had she written and shared those strategies with Ms. Finch and the rest of Trevor's team via a shared document, behavior plan, or student success plan (Minahan, 2019). Likewise, if counselors, school nurses, and psychologists write and share such techniques with each classroom teacher, kids like Trevor, when triggered, wouldn't always have to leave class to find a safe adult.

Not knowing what is coming next can put anyone on high alert, especially traumatized students. Providing predictability through visual schedules of the class agenda or school day can help. Ms. Carlton was adamant about previewing any changes to the normal routine ahead of time (saying, "We are going to have indoor recess today because of the snow," or "The DVD player isn't working so we can't watch a science video at the end of class today"). This prepared Trevor and thus elicited a calmer response.

A teacher's behavior can also feel unpredictable to traumatized students. When students are working independently and quietly-doing what they are supposed to be doing-they don't know when they will get the teacher's attention. But when students are doing the wrong thing-like drumming on the desk with a pencil in each hand or swearing-teachers are more predictable and react quickly! Because predictability is comforting to students with anxiety and trauma histories, they may resort to getting the teacher's attention through inappropriate means. Trevor could get Ms. Finch to react immediately by flipping his water bottle noisily, but could go 20 minutes without so much as eye contact from her when he was quietly reading.

To counter this imbalance and create an overall feeling of safety, teachers can use predictable positive attention (Minahan, 2014). During independent work time, if a teacher says to a student "Great work! I'll be back to check on you," the student has no way of predicting how long they need to wait-and from past experience they know that the teacher may forget to return altogether. Using predictable positive attention, however, the teacher can say, "I am going to check on you in 10 minutes," put a timer on the student's desk, and add, "Come tap me on the shoulder when the timer goes off." If the teacher has many students in the class that could benefit from this, she could transfer the strategy to small groups: "I will check on this desk group at X time."

Another strategy for providing predictable attention, especially for middle and high school students, is to hand an anxious or traumatized student a sticky note with a time on it as they walk into class each day. The first time, the note will need to be explained: "If you don't understand something in class, please don't worry-I am going to check on you during independent work time at 11:45, and I will answer any questions you have then." Ms. Carlton found this strategy comforting to Trevor. This predictable check-in pairs the negative thoughts the student may have ("I don't know how to do this") with a reassuring thought ("But my teacher will be here in seven minutes!"). The student can better tolerate uncomfortable feelings when they know help and a positive interaction are coming. Telling the student what will happen and when and always following through establishes the teacher as a consistent, reliable adult.

5. Teach Strategies to "Change the Channel"

Traumatized students often engage in inaccurate thinking, tending to focus on the negative. Common classroom management strategies often only exasperate this tendency. How many of us have seen frequent movement breaks on a student's IEP or student success plan? It is one of the most common accommodations that we offer to students who seem dysregulated. Unfortunately, during these breaks, students can ruminate on negative memories, current stressors, angry thoughts, or worries. If we ask a high school student who is getting angry and becoming agitated to take a walk, he may ruminate the whole time and return just as angry. Sending a 1st grader to a "calming chair" can leave her to perseverate on worrying thoughts. Instead, we need to help them "change the channel." Both Ms. Carlton and Ms. Finch used breaks with Trevor, but in vastly different ways.

When adults can't sleep, we often read a book or watch TV, which distracts us from uncomfortable thoughts so we can fall back asleep. Teachers can use the same principle for kids with trauma and anxiety: Teach students that their brain is like a remote control that they can use to "switch the channel" to help them calm down (Minahan & Rappaport, 2012). These switching activities are called cognitive distractions or thought breaks and are incompatible with negative thinking. A listening center or "find the picture" activity can be helpful to young children. For older students, you might try Mad Libs, trivia, or more abstract strategies such as counting all the green items in the room, saying the alphabet backwards, or thinking of the first 10 lines of a favorite movie. Ms. Carlton taught Trevor to do Star Wars trivia when he was upset, which helped him calm down quickly. Conversely when Ms. Finch had Trevor go for a walk, his negative thinking would escalate, and he would often not return to class.

6. Give Supportive Feedback to Reduce Negative Thinking

Many traumatized students interpret information through a negativity amplifier. When a teacher says, "Please correct the first problem," the student might hear, "You are stupid." Or a student might report that the teacher screamed at her when the teacher was really using a calm tone, as even neutral facial expressions can be misinterpreted. It is helpful to smile and explicitly say when you are happy with the student, a strategy Ms. Carlton utilized. When giving negative feedback, teachers can use the positive sandwich approach-starting and ending with a positive comment: (1) "I love how you remembered the formula," (2) "You made a small calculation error there," (3) "Great job getting problem #3 correct."

7. Create Islands of Competence

Recognizing areas of strength in students is a powerful way to combat the poor self-concept and negative thinking associated with trauma (Jennings, 2018). To support a more accurate self-concept, teachers can provide what Robert Brooks calls "islands of competence" for students swimming in a sea of inadequacy (2003). When a student thinks negatively, the negative moments during the day tend to weigh more heavily than the positive moments. We need to counter this effect with positive experiences. Educator teams need to ask themselves, "Does the student feel competent during the day?" If the answer is no, contriving an island of competence for the student is in order. Ms. Carlton often asked Trevor to help a younger student or a peer who was struggling in an academic area Trevor was strong in, or had him fix the stapler when it was malfunctioning. She would also point out in a written note to Trevor that he was the first student to finish a math activity. In high school, educators may want to foster students' talents by never letting them drop electives (which might require creativity in scheduling academic support in core classes).

It is important that students experience competence to develop a more accurate self-narrative and to begin to create a positive future picture of themselves. We want them to say, "I really helped that student with her artwork. When I grow up, I could work with kids." Or "I am good at fixing things. I could be a mechanic someday."

8. Limit Exclusionary Practices

Behavior is communication, and we've looked at how traumatized students often communicate feelings through their behavior. Teachers' behavior is also communication-and it may not be communicating the message we are striving to send. Common teacher practices such as ignoring inappropriate behavior, sending students to the office, or sending younger kids to sit alone at a back table or in the hallway can unintentionally trigger students who have experienced abandonment or neglect. We need to remember that when some of our students were young and cried, no one came. Ignoring them can trigger a trauma response and make them feel the teacher doesn't like them or is even happy that they are upset.

Ms. Finch would ignore Trevor when he was expressing anger, such as by crumpling up a paper, growling, or slinging a book from his desk onto the floor. On the other hand, Ms. Carlton responded to such moments at the beginning of the year by validating Trevor's feelings ("I am sorry you are upset" or "I see that you are angry"). This is a much more empathetic approach, will preserve the relationship, and will avoid triggering a trauma response in the student.

Another practice to be cautious about is using time with a preferred adult as an incentive. For example, a principal might say, "If you get all your homework done this week, you and I will have lunch together!" The problem with this is that if the student doesn't get all their homework done, then the principal withholds their attention and time. This implies the relationship is conditional and can trigger an abandonment trauma response for some students. It is better to use one-to-one time with students in a noncontingent way. This way adults are communicating, "I like you for who you are," not "I like you when you behave the right way."

Fostering a Feeling of Safety

Students can't learn unless they feel safe. When it comes to student trauma, there is much that is beyond educators' power, but there is also a great deal they can do to build a supportive and sensitive environment where students feel safe, comfortable, take risks, learn, and even heal.

Reflect & Discuss

➛ As Minahan writes, "Students can't learn if they don't feel safe." What small changes are you willing to try in your classroom to foster a sense of safety among traumatized students?

➛ Think about one of your students who struggles with behavior. How could you help him "switch the channel" when he is upset?

➛ Do you routinely share-and exchange ideas about-what's working with a traumatized student? How could you better improve lines of communication across the whole support team?

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Small changes in classroom interactions can make a big difference for traumatized students.

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Authored by Rachel Wagner, MSW, and Nefertiti B. Poyner, Ed.D., the Devereux Resilient Leadership Survey (DERLS) is a 23-item, research-informed checklist that helps professionals reflect on behaviors associated with resilient leadership. Organized around four key protective factors - Relationships, Internal Beliefs, Initiative and Self-Control - this tool can provide wonderful insight for leaders around areas of strength and growth opportunities. And now it's available in Spanish!

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Center for Resilient Children | Promoting Resilience

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The Center for Resilient Children's mission is to promote resilience in children. Learn more about preventing challenging behaviors in children today!

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Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can have a tremendous impact on future violence victimization and perpetration, and lifelong health and opportunity. CDC works to understand ACEs and prevent them.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Prevention Strategy Plan [3 MB, 20 Pages]
This resource outlines CDC's specific goals and objectives for ACEs prevention and response. The goals and objectives aim to prevent ACEs before they happen, identify those who have experienced ACEs, and respond using trauma-informed approaches in order to create the conditions for strong, thriving families and communities where all children and youth are free from harm and all people can achieve lifelong health and wellbeing.

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Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can have a tremendous impact on future violence victimization and perpetration, and lifelong health and opportunity. CDC works to understand ACEs and prevent them. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Prevention Strategy Plan [3 MB, 20 Pages] This resource outlines CDC's specific goals and objectives for ACEs prevention and response.

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Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE) Data Map

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Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE) Data Map

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Data collection and disaggregation of the multilingual population, and SLIFE specifically, is in need of reform. With only a few states collecting SLIFE data, it's impossible to know how many SLIFE are in the United States. It's also nearly impossible to determine whether or not the 75-90% projected leaving school rate is accurate. We've set out to actively track SLIFE policy and data tracking in the United States and Canada in order to work with educational stakeholders to ensure SLIFE learners are advocated for and well supported.

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Data collection and disaggregation of the multilingual population, and SLIFE specifically, is in need of reform. With only a few states collecting SLIFE data, it's impossible to know how many SLIFE are in the United States. It's also nearly impossible to determine whether or not the 75-90% projected leaving school rate is accurate.