Advocating for Playful Engagement to Encourage Parental Collaboration

Advocacy for Playful Engagement

            Public schools in the United States face many challenges.  One of those challenges is meeting the needs of underserved and marginalized populations.  According to Leddy (2018), parental involvement in schools tends to be higher with white, native English speaking parents than with families of color.  There is often a misconception that parents of these marginalized student populations are somehow ‘less than’.  Yet, immigrant parents typically place high value on their children getting a quality education.  Many parents of color often feel uncomfortable approaching schools or participating in collaborative events, yet they care deeply about their children getting a good education.

Research shows us that students perform better when their families are actively engaged with their education.

            How do we get parents to feel comfortable and take steps to engage with schools?  We do it by building safe, healthy relationships of trust. Before we can truly tackle big change, we must have healthy relationships built on trust.  As Bruce Perry teaches, there is a definitive order we must approach for effective learning:  Regulate. Relate. Reason. As educators and schools, we must take steps to help our families through co-regulating activities that build strong, healthy, safe relationships.  Only then can we begin to tackle the bigger issues that require cognitive functioning at its best. 

How do we do that??

Listen.  Listen. Listen.  Think back to a time when you were frustrated or upset.  Did you want to feel marginalized, minimized, or ignored?  Were you seeking answers, or did you just want to be heard?  I know there have been times when I am frustrated (sometimes at school while trying to advocate for my students), and in those moments what I most want and need is for someone to say, “I hear you.  I see you. Let’s figure this out together.”  What I don’t need is someone to tell me what they think I should be feeling or thinking or minimize how I am feeling.  I suspect there are parents out there who feel the same way.  I also wager they want to be heard and they want to be seen.  They want to feel welcomed and included.  They are intimidated to come into the school for one reason or another, yet we need their presence!

Let’s Play!

How do we give voice to our families?  How do we provide them safe avenues for communication?  We start with play!  What better way to build healthy, safe relationships through co-regulating activities than some good old-fashioned playing around?  Let’s leave the heavy cognitive lifting for later!  Remember the order…Regulate.  Relate. Reason.

Here are some suggestions for playful family events hosted at school.  (Feel free to add some of your own ideas in the comments!) 

Fractured Fairy Tales- Reader’s Theater.  On these nights families can be given scripts from fractured fairy tales (humorous versions of traditional fairy tales).  These scripts could be translated easily into multiple languages, allowing all families to participate.  It promotes reading, speaking, and just plain ole’ fun.

Vision Boards-Invite families to come to school and create vision boards with positive goals for academic, social, mental, and physical wellness.  Materials are provided by the school.  Pictures speak 1,000 words and families can share their presentations using any language.

Family Game Night- Families come to school and choose a game they would like to play.  School provides a wide variety of board games, card games, academic games, chess, checkers, and so forth.  By providing a variety of games, it is inclusive for all people.  Some games may require reading, others don’t.  Some games might require speaking, while others do not.  There should be something fun for everyone.  Families could even mix and match to meet new people and grow their own networks of support.

Community Information and Resources Events-Bring in members from the community to help parents learn new skills from banking, to buying their first house, to getting a library card, and ???

English classes for parents who are English language learners.  Provide free childcare and free lessons in learning English.  Many parents of English language learners rely on the children to translate for them, imagine the possibilities if these same parents were able speak and advocate for themselves and their children.

Talent Showcase Nights-Invite parents to showcase their skills.  Maybe they know a trade skill they can share.  Perhaps they are wonderful cooks, artists, etc.  No one will know what their skills are and what cultural capital they can share that makes them feel valued unless someone takes the time to ask them and offer a space for them to share.

The point of these events is to make people feel comfortable, to enjoy the relationship with school, and to see schools and teachers for what they are: Partners in raising and educating their children. Life in high poverty areas can be rough, parents often working multiple jobs with little time for ‘play’.  Yet, play is so important to healthy brain development and social development.  Now I ask you, what can you do to pave the way for more parental engagement and create spaces of felt safety and trust?

            References

Leddy, H. G. (2018). Involved Minority Parents Enhance the Quality of Elementary School Programs in a Diverse Community. Multicultural Education, 25(3/4), 37–40.

Bruce Perry's Three Rs and the ELL Student by Kathy McGinn

We all know that the world of education moves through trends, and right now there is a huge focus on trauma informed education and social emotional learning.  This attention, in general, is focused on understanding the behaviors of students, and how to best support them as they move towards more consistent regulation as their baseline.  Those who understand trauma informed education (TIE) best practices also know these concepts can be incorporated into the everyday classroom to support all students and potentially prevent issues from arising in the first place.  I propose that much of that body of knowledge can also be applied to our ever-growing population of English language learners (ELL).

This past school year I have been teaching as an ELL specialist. Simultaneously I was working on my graduate certificate to teach ELL students.  Through much of the research and course studies, I learned about specific methodologies and pedagogies for teaching to the unique needs of the ELL student.  Stephen Krashen’s work, referred to as The Natural Approach, and his five hypotheses for language acquisition made a great deal of sense to me.

According to the Natural Approach, language is acquired, not learned, primarily through comprehensible input (understanding what is read or heard) rather than what we say.  This is referred to as the Hypothesis of Comprehensible Input.  But it is a different hypothesis that I want to focus on now, the Affective Filter Hypothesis.

The Affective Filter Hypothesis basically states that a child’s emotions can directly affect that child’s capability of learning a new language.  What Krashen might refer to as a high affective filter, in TIE circles it might be called dysregulation.  Conversely, a child who is well regulated (trauma informed terminology) would have a low affective filter (Krashen’s terminology).

            Motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety levels are the three main variables that impact language acquisition according to Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis.  Children being uprooted from everything they know, moved to new country, and sent to school where they don’t know the language could be considered trauma inducing.  Children coming from refugee camps are most certainly experiencing trauma to some degree.  Even children arriving to class under the best of circumstances are going to experience moments of low self-confidence and anxiety, which, according to Krashen, will raise their affective filter making it more difficult for them to acquire the new language.

HOW DO WE LOWER THE AFFECTIVE FILTER?

            Many of the articles I read for my graduate studies simply noted that it would be a good idea to create a warm, welcoming environment for ELL students.  Valentina Gonzalez writes about ways to specifically address motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety.  For motivation she argues that choice, voice, and relevance are great motivators in the classroom (2020).  This might look like giving students more choice in topics, more time to process information so they can share their knowledge, and choosing topics that are relevant.  Correctly pronouncing a student’s name and learning about where they are from helps to build self-confidence.  Creating a safe classroom, where a student is not afraid to make mistakes or ask questions is also important.

            As you can see, some of these things overlap with just good teaching practices or trauma informed practices.  So how can knowledge of trauma informed practices take it even deeper?  How can we use TIE best practices to lower the affective filter, or better yet, prevent it from raising in the first place?

REGULATE. RELATE. REASON

            Dr. Bruce Perry is well known for his mantra, “Regulate. Relate. Reason”, but what does that mean in terms of working with ELL students?  First, we must make sure our ELL students are well regulated.  Only a well-regulatedstudent can build healthy relationships with peers and teachers.  Once the student is regulated and has healthy relationships that are meaningful, supportive, and safe (relate) only then can that student move to reasoning.  In this case, reasoning would mean accessing the higher executive functioning skills that are needed to learn, process language, and communicate clearly.

My Experience

            What does regulate look like in my classroom?  Creating that warm and welcoming environment talked about by Gonzalez is a good place to start.  Every decision I make is driven by making things predictable, routine, and safe.  If a child arrives late to class, I simply say, “I am glad you are here, come on in” (welcoming).  If they are struggling or getting frustrated in the general education class, they know they can come to my room to work independently or get the help they need (safe).  I allow them to work cooperatively in groups using their native language.  I allow them to help each other, and they often do, when one student is more fluent in English than another (confidence building).  If a student is in the silent period, I respect that and do not push them to speak aloud (respect). This lowers the anxiety many often feel as they try to grapple with content and language acquisition.

What does relate look like in my classroom? I strive to build healthy, meaningful, and safe relationships.  I always smile and greet each student by name, I have materials in my classroom that reflect their culture (books in Spanish, books in Haitian Creole, books in English with characters who have newly arrived to the country).  I make it a point to get to know them as a person, find out where they are from, ask about their families, and learn about special celebrations they may have.  And, in return, I openly share details of my life with them.  I teach them English, and they teach me some of their language.  They particularly enjoy it when I make ‘mistakes’ (either intentionally or for real!), and I model that it is OK to make mistakes.  In fact, I will lightly make fun of myself until we are all giggling about it.  I make myself vulnerable, so they in turn, feel safe making themselves vulnerable enough to try new things and ask questions.  I teach them to advocate for their needs, and if they share with me that something is too hard, or they just can’t do it today, I accept and respect that.  Basically, I accept them for who they are, where they are, and then we go from there. We laugh and smile, a lot.  They feel safe and respected at all times in my room.

            What does reason look like in my classroom?  I have used my TIE knowledge in the past to work with student behaviors (generally reactively). Now, when working with my ELL students it takes on a different meaning to me.  For my ELL students Perry’s mantra ‘regulate, relate, reason’ isn’t about behavior, it is about being in the proper brain state for language acquisition to be successful (low affective filter).  If I recognize that a student is struggling with an assignment, I KNOW based on my trauma training that before I start in with the cognitive teaching or direct language teaching, I must first address the brain state for that student.

When I know my students are in the right brain state to process those higher executive functioning skills necessary for language acquisition and learning, only then do I proceed.  When I assign work, I will often explain to them that we are doing that work in that way because it is how their brain will best learn. Together, we tackle very rigorous content to challenge them and keep them learning and growing in the content areas as they acquire the English language.

The Silent Period for Newcomers

Finally, I would like to address compliance vs regulation.  Compliance is a state of dysregulation that imitates a well behaved, quiet student, who is following the rules.  But with compliance, the student’s brain state is not primed for learning.  As educators what we are after is regulation, not compliance. Many ELL newcomer students will go through a silent period, during this time they are taking in sensory input and acquiring language. Even ELL students who have been here for some time may still be very quiet, or silent.

As a general education classroom teacher, it will be even more important for you to monitor your ELL students who are in the silent phase.  You cannot assume that just because they are quiet that they are in the right brain state for learning and language acquisition.  It is your ELL students who are quiet, or silent, who most need your efforts in helping them to regulate, then relate, then reason.

References 

Gonzalez, V. (2020, September 22). What is the affective filter, and why is it important in the classroom? Retrieved June 9, 2023, from https://seidlitzblog.org/2020/09/22/what-is-the-affective-filter-and-why-is-it-important-in-the-classroom/.   

Krashen, S. D. (1986). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon Press. http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/books/principles_and_practice.pdf

What is your emotional addiction?

Teaching in a classroom is like viewing a smaller, scaled down version of the world.  We see a little bit of everything.  If we take the time to truly observe student behavior without judgement or preconceived notions about what it means, we can really see a lot.  

Some children fly underneath the radar all year long, never saying a peep.  On the surface, we might think that child is so “good”.  We might think that child is well behaved, mannerly, and smart.  We might be wrong.  That child may be all of those things, or that child could be forever in a zone of quiet fear of being noticed, because in that child’s world being noticed might not be safe.

Some children are constantly in our faces, arguing, talking back, being aggressive with other students, and generally annoying everyone.  We might think that child is “bad”.  We might think that child has no manners, is rude, is a behavior problem, and lacks good guidance at home.  We might be wrong about that, too.  

All behavior is communication.  All behavior is trying to tell us something about that child that the child is unable to express for himself.  I also think that many of the behaviors we see on a regular and consistent basis are clues to what that child is addicted to.

Some children just seem to make the right choices, demonstrate kindness, and help others without even being asked by an adult. They are a rare breed, and I hope they will begin to multiply and flourish!

Every emotion that we experience creates a unique bio-chemical cocktail within our body.  The cells in our body will change and adapt in order to create receptors for bio-chemical cocktails that are frequently found in the body.  So, we quite literally, become addicted to specific emotions.  If you think about the scenarios above, what emotional cocktail might they have been addicted to?

While it may seem crazy that a child would crave being yelled at, in some ways many of them do just that.  It is not that they like being yelled at, it is more that when they are being yelled at, or shamed, or placed into fear, a bio-chemical cocktail is flooded into their system that meets the need of the craving, and there is comfort to be found in what is familiar.

Are there any sugar addicts out there?  How easy is it for you to give up all sugar?  Anyone I have ever spoken to about eliminating sugar from their diet talks about how hard it is, at least in the beginning.  And, even if they are successful it is so easy to slip right back into the sugar-shack without even realizing what happened.  

Now, imagine instead of sugar your body was craving the bio-chemical cocktail we call chaos.  A student with a chaos addiction is going to recreate chaos wherever he goes, especially if he gets dysregulated. Why?  Because it is familiar and it floods his system with something his physiology craves.  While it may seem like they are doing it consciously and with purpose, they are not. Just like my fellow chocoholics, when we reach for that sweet treat to help us get through those tough days.  We may think we are making a conscious decision, but what we are really doing is feeding our addiction.

So here is the thing…

Just because we are addicted to an emotion or condition does not mean it has to be that way forever. We can change it, with small incremental changes over time that are consistent and safe.  As teachers, it is helpful to view behaviors from this perspective as it makes it easier to be compassionate when a child is creating chaos and havoc in the room.  This does not mean that we ignore the behaviors when we see them, it simply means we approach them differently.

This takes great amounts of compassion, kindness, understanding, acceptance, patience, and love.  And, I am not talking about what you give to the students.  I AM talking about what you give to yourself.  If you want to really be there for another, if you want to really make a positive difference in the world, you must first be addicted to love, compassion, understanding, acceptance, and patience.  Only then will you be able to stand in front of another who has an addiction to an emotion or feeling that is depleting and draining and hold the space for that person to heal, grow, and find a more supportive addiction.

If you are wondering what you are addicted to, look around your classroom. Look around your life. What sort of repeating situations and patterns do you find yourself experiencing? What are your behaviors? What does your mind go to when you aren’t paying attention to your thoughts?

Many teachers will find they are addicted to emotions they would not consciously choose to be addicted to, like stress, anxiety, and frustration. Never fear! There is hope. A good first step is to simply NOTICE what you are addicted to, then begin making small, incremental changes to shift into a more productive, renewing emotion. According to research conducted by the Institute of Heartmath the easiest renewing emotion to generate is appreciation or gratitude. When you choose to make a shift from a draining or depleting emotion to something else, I invite you to choose gratitude. The catch is you actually have to FEEL it, not just THINK about it.

 With Love,

Kathy Mcginn

Finding Grace

When you are well regulated, when you are coming from a coherent heart, it is much easier to have compassion for THAT student.  You know who I am talking about… the one who pushes your buttons and drains your inner battery.  The one who you can’t stop thinking about or venting about.  The one who might be the hardest to love, yet you know is also the one who needs it the most. 

 Here is the thing, and it might be hard to swallow.  The outcome of your day is NOT about them.  It is about YOU.  Just like their behavior is an expression of their inner struggle, the outcome of your day is a product of your inner struggles and your responses to the experiences and challenges of your day.

The challenging students you teach each day likely did not wake up and plan their day thinking, “I can hardly wait to get to school and torture my teacher all day!”  More likely the opposite is true.  When those students are acting out, checking out, or generally being a thorn in your side, it is not about you.  It is about whatever it is that is going on inside of their minds, bodies, and emotions.  It only becomes about you if you react to what they are doing and take it personally.

All behavior is communication and frequently that “communication” can frustrate, exhaust, and/or drain you.  When this happens, it is a red flag that you have become dysregulated.  It is a signal that you are no longer operating from a coherent heart/brain state, and you are no longer utilizing your full executive functioning skills and talents.  In other words, you are more likely to get drawn into the child’s emotional state and escalate the situation even further.  Or, you might be able to maintain your energy while working with that child, but you take it home with you, replaying the incident over and over in your mind.  Which by the way, also causes you to re-experience all of the same stress hormones all over again…each time you replay the scene or talk about it.  Mind you, I am not judging you for getting caught up in this cycle.  I often get caught up in it myself.  Then, sooner or later, I remember that the actions of that student are an expression of his internal state of being and that is about him.  My reaction to that student’s expressions are about ME.  It happens to all of us. After all, last time I checked, we were all human.

So, what can you do about it?  How can you move from the stress cycle to Grace?  

 Remember, the moment you become triggered by another person’s actions, your stress cycle has kicked in and you are becoming dysregulated.  The moment you become dysregulated, you begin to lose the ability to remain detached from the situation.  It becomes harder to step back from the outward effects of that other person’s inward struggles, and remember that it is not personal.  Finding Grace is learning to love with detachment from the outcome, which is easier to do if you are well regulated and have a large capacity for resilience.  So, the key is to build your capacity to stay well regulated, even in the face of adversity.  

There are numerous pathways to achieving this, however, they all have something in common.  You must PRACTICE the art of resilience building every day.  If you truly want to see change in your life, it is not just about “bouncing back quickly” after a stressful event, it is also creating the inner state of being so you don’t get triggered in the first place. 

That kind of inner state does not just happen, and it doesn’t happen overnight when it does happen.  It happens through consistent practice every single day.  It is a way of life, not a fix for a problem.  One of the easiest things you can do is to take long, slow, deep breaths regularly throughout your day.  When trying to start a new habit, it is helpful to attach that new habit, deep breathing, to things you do on a regular basis throughout your day.  Perhaps you could take a deep breath every time you wash your hands, visit the bathroom, take a drink, buckle your seat belt, or sit at a stoplight.  I mean, you have to breathe anyway right?  It’s not like you are adding something new onto your already too full plate.  

Dr. Bruce Perry has shared with us that our brains love to learn through stories.  We are also more likely to learn something or remember something if a friend tells us rather than a stranger.  With that in mind, I am reminded of one of my favorite books, and one that is a quick and simple read.  It is “Three Deep Breaths: Finding Power and Purpose in a Stressed-Out World ” , by Thomas Crum.  I actually met him at a weekend seminar several years ago, he was one of many speakers that weekend, but he was one of the better ones in my humble opinion.  So of course, I bought his book and got it signed like a true groupie.  I truly enjoyed the story in the book and learned a few tips to use in my life along the way.  Sometimes the most powerful stories and truths are packaged in the smallest of books.  I highly recommend it!

From my coherent heart to yours,

Kathy McGinn

How Do You Show Up?

Wow. In my educational neuroscience class tonight we had the pleasure of participating in a one hour Q & A session with Dr. Porges discussing his Polyvagal theory and its applications in the classroom.

There were so many good things shared in our discussion tonight. A belief I have held for a very long time is that our classrooms are reflections of who we are and how we show up.

Tonight that belief took on a slightly different meaning, even as it was solidified even more for me. Dr. Porges talked about our "social engagement system" and how that impacts our relationships and our own internal state of being.

In other words, my state of being is going to show up in my facial expressions and my voice prosody (sing song or monotone). My students are going to respond to my social cues, and it will either escalate their own internal state of arousal and potentially activate their flight/fight/freeze response, or it will help them to regulate their stress response system and bring them back into a calm/coherent state primed for learning. Clearly, one of these pathways is better than the other in terms of the outcomes in our classrooms.

Our classrooms are reflections of who WE are and how WE show up.

Yes, students come in with their own stories, their own issues, and their own brain states. However, the way we show up has a direct impact upon whether or not that student is going to be able to regulate their system and engage in learning, or escalate their response system and show up as behavior issues, hyperactivity, shut down, apathy, etc.

If you wanted to soothe a crying baby, what would you do? What is one of the most effective ways to calm an upset baby? Mothers do it all of the time, they use a sing-song voice while smiling and cooing at the child. What about talking to your family pet? What do you do? Most often (except when you are angry) you probably use some sort of a sing-song voice. "Who's a good boy?"

One of my more challenging students, who I have tried just about everything under the sun with, has shown the most response to me when I tried using the soft voice and getting him to look at me (so he can see the facial cues on my face). For the first time, he was able to hear me and accept what I was trying to share with him rather than arguing with me tooth and nail. The shift in him was noticeable and took me by surprise at first. Now that I have heard from Dr. Porges, I better understand WHY it worked so well for him....prosody and facial cues, the social engagement system working at its best.

Of course, when I was talking with him, I was feeling very patient in that moment. So, my facial cues were sending the messages of safety and acceptance. Had I been pissed off and telling him to look at me and using a soft voice to command compliance, I am certain the response would be been entirely different. Again, how I show up will either escalate or regulate the child in front of me.

For those who are still reading, I invite you to think of your most challenging student. Think about an interaction you had recently with that student that maybe did not go so well. Who were you in that moment? How were you showing up? What social cues were you giving? What was your tone of voice? What facial expressions did you show?

Now, put yourself on the receiving end of those cues as a child. Would those cues have made you feel safe or would they have created a sense of fear or anxiety? Did your cues escalate a behavior by causing the child to become more dysregulated, or did your cues help that child to downshift into a calmer state?

None of us are perfect. We all have good days and bad days. We all have days that we feel great, and days we feel overwhelmed. WE ARE HUMAN. This is NOT about beating yourself up because maybe you didn’t really show up the way you wanted to. This is about becoming more self aware and choosing the hard work of self reflection and self growth, unless you want everything to remain exactly the same as it is right now.

The thing is, if you really want the culture of your classroom to improve, if you really want to help your students to grow as human beings, there is just no avoiding the INNER WORK for yourself. Teaching is an INSIDE JOB. Be brave. Be willing to be vulnerable and honest with yourself. Let go of shame if you have a bad day. Learn from your experiences, heal your own inner wounds and insecurities, so that you can "show up" as a cleaner, clearer vessel for LOVE, ACCEPTANCE, AND UNDERSTANDING. But, in order to show up with those qualities for another you must first embrace them within yourself for yourself. Choose to show up in ways that foster safety and security and you will be amazed with the results.

I am so grateful for each and every one of you and everything you bring to your students every day. If you feel so moved to really look into your own personal growth and self awareness, let’s chat! I offer many services that can help you in your journey.

Peace,

Kathy McGinn

Are you living below the line or above the line?

What I am about to write is likely only going to make sense to you if you also watch this short 3 min and 35 second video called Locating Yourself-  A Key to Conscious Leadership.  Trust me, it is worth the 3 minutes of your time.  The video is directed towards leaders, which you are!  

From the Video: 

The idea is to ask yourself on a regular basis, “Where am I?”  People operating above the line are open, curious, and committed to learning. People below the line are defensive, closed, and committed to being right.

My Thoughts:

It is the last statement that catches my attention the most.  I once heard a speaker at a seminar say, “You can be right or you can be happy, but you can’t be both.”  I also remember thinking at the time, “Yes, I can be both happy and right.”  While it may be true that I can be happy and right at the same time, at times,I now better understand what the speaker was getting at with his statement. 

In those moments when an argument occurs, or when someone does something that is upsetting, we tend to circle around and around in our own minds all of the reasons why we were “right”, and maybe we were right.  BUT, every moment of time we spend thinking about the situation that was upsetting to us, we continue to flood our bodies with the corresponding set of bio-chemicals and create physiological stress within our bodies.  The argument may have taken 5 minutes, the days or weeks we spent thinking about the argument and thinking about all of the reasons we were ‘right’, keeps us from being happy.

Back to the Video:

People below the line often feel like there is not enough.  There is not enough time, money, love, energy, space, or anything.  They often feel as if there is a continual threat to their approval, control, or security.  They tend to cling to opinions, find fault and blame, and gossip.

People above the line believe learning and growing are more important than anything else, from a distance everything can be funny, speak unarguably, listen deeply, question life’s beliefs, self-reflect, and play.  They are also creative.

My Thoughts:

This is not about judging others for their location relative to the line.  This is about becoming more self-aware of YOUR location.  I believe most of us bounce back and forth from below the line to above the line.  The amount of time we spend in each location varies greatly from one person to the next. When we spend time above the line our inner battery reserves are charged up, and we feel satisfied, fulfilled, and generally love life.   

When we are operating below the line, we are depleting our inner battery.  We feel drained, stressed, frustrated, overwhelmed, and we tend to hold a more negative outlook on life in general.

Back to the video:

Our brain is programmed to perceive threat.  When it does a chemical cocktail courses through our veins and we go below the line. This reaction was designed to protect us in the presence of a threat to our physical survival.  

My thoughts: 

For those of you who study or follow the field of neuroscience, you know that this is true. Our brains are programmed to detect threat.  In fact, our brains number one priority is to keep us alive.  In Bessel van der Kolk’s book, “The Body Keeps the Score”, he likens the amygdala to a smoke detector.  It is always searching for a potential threat.  When it detects a threat, it initiates our internal stress response system and our body is flooded with the stress hormones, and our fight/flight response can become initiated.  Dr. Bruce Perry would say our brain state of arousal has changed, and we are now in the alarm/fear/terror brain state.  Once this happens, we are no longer using our full executive functioning capacity.  In other words, we are now operating “below the line”.

I love this short video because it is precise and to the point.  Even though it is less than three and half minutes long, it could potentially open the doorway to a much longer discussion.  What this video does not do is give any direction as to HOW to move from below the line to above the line.  For that, we must turn to other sources.

Both Perry and Van der Kolk refer to three basic avenues for self-regulation.  One is the top down approach, thinking and talking through the process.  Another approach is the bottom up avenue, which is done by creating somatosensory experiences that are safe, predictable, patterned, and repetitive.  The final avenue is through medication to help alleviate the symptoms or the intensity of symptoms.  

For more information from Dr. Perry and Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, I would suggest you check out their books.  These books are not ‘light’ reads, but they are packed with a wealth of information. Dr. Perry’s book, The Boy Raised as a Dog, comes with a study guide in the back of the book.  I have both the kindle version and the audio version of The Body Keeps the Score.  It is easier for me to listen while driving back and forth to work, but I do like to come back to the kindle version to highlight key points so that I can reference them later.  Now that I have discovered the world of audio books, I am loving it!

Final Thought:

WHAT IS YOUR LOCATION? ARE YOU LIVING ABOVE THE LINE OR BELOW THE LINE?  HOW OFTEN DO YOU SPEND TIME IN EACH LOCATION ON ANY GIVEN DAY?