Bright & Quirky Child Summit 2021: Tame The Overwhelm was a 5-day free online summit which aimed to help twice exceptional (2e) children - gifted children with ADHD, autism, learning differences like dyslexia, anxiety and/or depression. The conference featured 28 educators and psychologists who shared science-informed actionable strategies that promote social, emotional, and academic thriving even in tough times. The summit was hosted by Debbie Steinberg Kuntz, a licensed marriage and family therapist as well as the Founder of Bright & Quirky. Day 3 focused on thriving and learning.
Quick Tips for Teachers: What to Do When Complex Students Have Challenging Behaviors - Stephen W. Porges, PhD & Mona Delahooke, PhD
Stephen W. Porges, PhD is Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University where he is the founding director of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium. He is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, and Professor Emeritus at both the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland. He served as president of the Society for Psychophysiological Research and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences and is a former recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development Award. He has published more than 300 peer‐reviewed scientific papers across several disciplines that have been cited in more than 35,000 peer-reviewed papers. He holds several patents involved in monitoring and regulating autonomic state. He is the originator of the Polyvagal Theory, a theory that emphasizes the importance of physiological state in the expression of behavioral, mental, and health problems related to traumatic experiences. He is the author of The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-regulation (Norton, 2011), The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe, (Norton, 2017) and co-editor of Clinical Applications of the Polyvagal Theory: The Emergence of Polyvagal-Informed Therapies (Norton, 2018). He is the creator of a music-based intervention, the Safe and Sound Protocol ™ , which currently is used by more than 1500 therapists to improve spontaneous social engagement, to reduce hearing sensitivities, and to improve language processing, state regulation, and spontaneous social engagement.
Mona Delahooke, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist with more than 30 years of experience caring for children and their families. She is a senior faculty member of the Profectum Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting families of neurodiverse children, adolescents and adults. She is the author of Beyond Behaviors: Using Brain Science and Compassion to Understand and Solve Children’s Behavioral Challenges, and Social and Emotional Development in Early Intervention: A Skills Guide for Working with Children. Her popular blog covers a range of topics useful for caregivers and childhood providers. She has a new course Beyond Behaviors: Effective Neuroscience-based Tools to Transform Childhood Behaviors.
Debbie observed that teachers lack training to know how to deal with challenging behaviours in children with ADHD, autism, anxiety, and learning differences. Examples of challenging behaviours that teachers may see in the classroom include meltdowns, inability to sit still for long periods of time, and a refusal to do homework or even to go to school.
Dr. Delahooke noted that the education system tends to view behaviours through the lens of behavioral technology. Challenging behaviours are usually interpreted as willful misbehaviour occurring for negative reasons such as getting attention, getting out of something, or getting one’s own way. Challenging behaviours are also seen as something to get rid of. She advised teachers to understand behaviours through a different lens. Behaviours can reveal the child’s internal physiological state and be used as a road map to know what the child’s nervous system needs.
Dr. Porges, who developed the Polyvagal Theory, explained that neuroception is our nervous system’s natural capacity to detect and evaluate risk, done automatically and subconsciously without awareness or intentionality. In other words, challenging behaviours are reflexive adaptations to a survival instinct, in which bodies react physiologically to cues of threat. A lot of stimuli that do not bother neurotypical people might be upsetting for neurodivergent children, especially those with autism and ADHD, as they have a lower threshold to stimuli. For example, they might be sensitive to background mechanical noise in the classroom from the ventilation and air-conditioning system, which have low frequencies and overlap acoustically with features of predators. This explains why some neurodivergent children dislike being in the classroom, where they are bombarded with cues that their nervous system interprets as threat. The children might be trying to hold themselves together but get so overwhelmed that it escalates into a meltdown.
On a continuum, one end is vulnerability or sensitivity to threat. When the body is a state of threat reaction, the child is biased to also interpret other stimuli as threat and reacts defensively for self-protection. The child is mobilised and unable to understand instructions or have fruitful discussions. The other end of the continuum is accessibility, which is the goal that teachers want for their students. When the body is in a state of calmness, the child is more resilient, co-regulated, and able to engage in bidirectional communication.
Dr. Porges stressed that instead of blaming the child for meltdowns, we need to see the whole causal situation. For example, as the educator Claire Wilson observed in her book ‘Grounded: Discovering the Missing Piece in the Puzzle of Children's Behaviour’, when teachers go into the classroom after having an argument with their significant others, the students start to have meltdowns. How teachers feel inside, look at children, and talk to children can influence children as well. This is because human beings feel safe when they are with another person who is also feeling safe. Therefore, teachers should take care of themselves and monitor their own calmness, be present with and emotionally available to the child, pick up on the cues that are antecedent to the meltdown, and be aware of what is happening to the child’s physiological state. When the teacher projects cues of safety, it creates a co-regulatory relationship between the teacher and child, which enables the child’s physiological state to become accessible. A regulated calm teacher can regulate a whole classroom. Furthermore, instead of constantly inquiring for answers and evaluating the child, teachers can embark on a shared joyful journey with the child to interact, play, and discover.
Dr. Delahooke discouraged parents and teachers from attributing behaviours to diagnostic labels, such as calling meltdowns autistic behaviour. Instead, she encouraged them to understand the underlying reasons behind behaviours. For example, a meltdown is a sign that the child feels unsafe and is poised to move, possibly because of the distressing ambient cues of the threat in the classroom. However, teachers often negatively evaluate the child’s subconscious behaviour, describing the child as being unable to keep still, off-focus during tasks, and disruptive in the classroom. Furthermore, teachers often punish children or send them to a quiet room to manage their distress by themselves. Neurodivergent children should not be labelled and punished for the natural behaviours that emerge out of their brain wiring differences.
Just like how the Polyvagal Theory has informed and transformed trauma treatment, Dr. Delahooke hoped to see positive changes in the education system. She highlighted a need to go beyond the behaviours to the relationship. Primarily, she advised teachers to shift their mindset from a focus on behaviour management to emotion regulation and co-regulation. Instead of finding strategies to reduce challenging behaviour or prescribing sensory diets, teachers should identify the children who have the most vulnerable nervous systems that need tender loving care in real time. The goal is to help the child be calm and regulated, getting into the green pathway or ventral vagal state.
If teachers notice that the child is starting to show precursors of becoming mobilised, such as wiggling around in his seat or doing something to his neighbour, the child is likely to be heading towards a fight-or-flight response which is part of the red pathway or sympathetic nervous system. At this point in time, teachers can give the child movement breaks to calm the nervous system. Although it is important to address the child’s physical need to move, it is also important to address the child’s relational need for safety by speaking in a loving and non-shaming tone. For example, teachers can say, ‘Hey sweetie, it looks like your body needs to move right now. Would you like to take a little moment and walk around the class? It's okay with me.’ Teachers can even set up tasks for the child to move intentionally and have face-to-face interactions, such as by saying, ‘Hey sweetie, would you like to help me right now? There are some heavy books over there; could you bring them to me?’ This ensures that the child feels involved and proud for helping the teacher, instead of feeling ashamed like there is something wrong with him for needing a movement break. Furthermore, when a particular child needs a movement break, teachers can model an acceptance of our bodies’ need to move by saying to the rest of the class, ‘X’s body really needed to move just then. Let's show some appreciation for what each of our bodies needs to do right now. In fact, class, what does your body feel like doing right now?’ Another possibility is for the classroom to have volunteer grandparents sitting in a corner who are ready to read a book or provide warmth to any child whose body is in a state of threat.
Dr. Porges suggested that teachers can be creative, exploring different classroom arrangements and activities. For example, there is a tendency for teachers to place an ADHD child in the front row of the classroom, which makes the child's nervous system hypervigilant about things occurring behind him. In fact, an ADHD child’s body is usually calmer when he is placed back against the wall, or in a semi-circular seating arrangement. Teachers can also incorporate body awareness activities like drama and team sports into the classroom, which involve movement and social interaction.
Dr. Porges wrapped up by emphasising that teachers need to be aware that some children – including those from families with high socioeconomic status – may come from abusive or unsafe homes. Therefore, teachers should do their best to be supportive and take care of all children at an emotional level.
All blogposts on Bright & Quirky Child Summit 2021:
Day 1 Talk 4 A Quick, Shareable Overview of Twice Exceptional (2e) Kids - Dan Peters, PhD
Day 2 Talk 8 Understanding High IQ Kids With ADHD and Co-Occurring Diagnoses - Thomas E. Brown, PhD
Day 3 Talk 13 How to Know When It's Time to Change Schools or Homeschool - Colleen Kessler, MEd
Day 4 Talk 17 How to Help Bright Kids Avoid Autistic Burnout - Kieran Rose
Day 4 Talk 19 How Different Kinds of Minds Can Become Inventors and Engineers - Temple Grandin, PhD
Watch this space for more blogposts from the Bright & Quirky Child Summit 2021!