Today Eric and I talk about my experience in this 6 month position I have as the Student behavioral coordinator. My position is a case load of 7 or 8 students that have a hard time regulating. They flip their lid which means they are not in their frontal cortex anymore and reacting from a trauma place of fight or flight response. Or another way to say is that the amygdala is firing & reacting to a situation which is sending signals to our nervous system that is processing it as fear or a threat.
A lot of times when we know students well, we can see the behaviors in the body that show us that they are getting to that point of reacting in a trauma response or just flipping their lid. When we can see this shift in the body and behavior, we can have them take a break and learn the skills to find a safe and calm body before it gets to the point of escalation. I am still getting to know students and what that looks like for each student. There are times when I jump into a situation where the student is already escalated and I need to find ways to regulate and help them find a place to regulate. Sometimes it’s just best not to say anything. Using very few words as possible.
There are so many elements that go into a situation like the one I describe. I have my perspective and others have theirs. Who knows, if we didn’t have the blow up in the morning would the blow up happen anyway at some point during the day. We just don’t know. If we knew for sure it was the grief could we have attended to the situation differently. So many things to reflect on as I think back on this situation at work. I am giving my self some grace and compassion as I learn my role and my voice in this position. Along with getting to know the students and building that solid foundation of trust and safety of care and kindness.
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