What is TRECS?
TRECS is a support system for educators of young children, built on a foundation of connection and the core beliefs that:
all behavior is communicating something we need to decode,
a child does well when he or she has the skills to do so, and
an adult with unconditional positive regard for a child can help to co-regulate big emotions and collaborate to work on unsolved problems.
Students spontaneously emotion-coaching a classmate who was having a difficult time entering the classroom.
Children who are labelled oppositional and who challenge adults with their behaviors are often displaying the effects of trauma and severe anxiety, and they need something beyond traditional, coercive classroom management techniques.
It is my dream that every child in every community receive responsive, compassionate care in their early childhood years.
Whom does TRECS serve?
TRECS is for daycares, preschools, church and community nurseries/child care centers, elementary schools, and any other early childhood learning environment. The philosophies of TRECS are applicable from birth to adulthood.
What does TRECS offer?
TRECS is a practical framework based on extensive research that assists educators in preschools, elementary schools, and childcare settings to take the necessary steps to provide compassion-based care to each student, especially those with challenging behaviors. This focus on respecting each child’s story, along with strategies to assist with overall classroom management, create the change you are looking for in your early education environment.
I can visit your center or school in the N.C. Piedmont region and the surrounding areas for training and coaching sessions, or provide these services online through live webinars if your location is elsewhere. I offer four fast-paced and interactive consecutive modules to use with staff during professional development or staff meetings. The modules can be delivered in a full day training (about 5.5 to 6 hours including breaks and lunch) or over the course of four separate hour-long presentations. These modules are approved for 4 contact hours through the NC Department of Health and Human Resources. Family modules for Open Houses or Family Nights are also being developed and can be based on the needs of your program.
The staff development modules are entitled:
An Introduction to the TRECS Approach for Trauma-Responsive Solutions to Transform Your Classroom
Understanding Trauma and Its Impact on Brain Development and Early Learning
Creating a Trauma-Responsive Classroom: Practical Strategies Using the HEART-STRONG Model and the Three Pillars of Trauma-Responsive Care
Additional Strategies for Challenging Situations: Specialized Approaches and Accommodations for More Intensive Interventions
How can I learn more?
Scroll down for more details about the objectives of each module. Also, please follow TRECS on Facebook and Instagram by clicking the icons above! If you are interested in onsite or online training, contact me to set up a consultation or to reserve times.
“…what society does for preschoolers will affect not only the lives of those children but the future of the world as well.”
~Patricia McBroom, University of California, Berkeley
Actual photo of a small area of the aftermath of one of “Brielle’s” meltdowns. See The TRECS Story for more about this Brielle..
Why are Trauma-Responsive Early Childhood Settings Needed?
The NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) states in an article entitled Creating Trauma-Sensitive Classrooms (click picture for link), “Many early childhood educators are likely to encounter young children who have experienced trauma on a daily basis.” These experiences “can undermine children’s abilities to learn, create healthy attachments, form supportive relationships, and follow classroom expectations…It is imperative, therefore, that early childhood settings be safe, trauma-sensitive spaces where teachers support children in creating positive self-identities.”
STARR Commonwealth, in its Trauma-Informed and Resilience Focused Schools training sends out this call to action: “The National Center for Traumatic Stress Networks is asking schools to play a key role in addressing the needs of traumatized children.” The school setting is the next best place, after the home, where children can be postively influenced and change can occur.
Where and when better, than in the early years, to reach these children—to help them heal and to support them in building social-emotional competencies—so that they can successfully face their future schooling and life events?
Module Objectives
Module 1—An Introduction to the TRECS Approach for Trauma-Responsive Solutions to Transform Your Classroom
Develop the foundations for a reflective practice for analyzing classroom managment techniques and responses to behavior
Explain frequent causes of developmental trauma (ACES) and toxic stress and their effects on children
Create a foundation of four essentials for a trauma-responsive early childhood setting
Implement the three key strategies for transformational change in classroom management.
Integrate the HEART-STRONG Spiraling Stages of Growth and the Eagle Eye Assessment with social-emotional learning and influencing behaviors in the classroom
Module 2—Understanding Trauma and Its Impact on Brain Development and Early Learning
Define trauma and classify the different types of trauma
Demonstrate different ways the brain responds to trauma and stress and how brain state affects behavior and learning
Interpret lagging skills in executive function and difficulties in learning with a trauma-informed lens
Give examples of “hidden” sensory needs and how regulatory strategies can be used to address these physiological/emotional needs
Implement a trauma-responsive plan for emotion processing and regulation
Module 3—Creating a Trauma-Responsive Classroom: Practical Strategies Using the HEART-STRONG Model and the Three Pillars of Trauma-Responsive Care
Recognize how trauma may manifest itself in the classroom
Identify and describe the Three Pillars of Trauma-Informed Care and apply them to the HEART-STRONG Stages of Growth
List and carry out the steps of the Explosive Episode Elimination Kit
Implement targeted social-emotional supports to encourage connection and cooperation in a trauma-responsive classroom
Module 4—Additional Strategies for Challenging Situations: Specialized Approaches and Accommodations for More Intensive Interventions
Apply a definition of “challenging and maladaptive behavior” through a trauma-informed lens
Evaluate traditional behavior management techniques according to current brain research and defend a trauma-responsive alternative approach
Explain the three tiered approach of intervention as presented in the CSEFEL Pyramid Model
Develop and implement specific strategies to support students needing intensive interventions