Roots of Behaviour

 Roots of Behaviour - Thinking Brain & Relationships

Readings/Books:

- Oliver Sacks - The man who mistook his wife for his hat.

- Temple Grandin

- Olga Bogdashnina

- Bruce Perry - Body keeps the score

All behaviour is communication - but what is that communication?

What is happening for our kids? What is happening within our bodies for our kids? How does heart rate collate with their behaviour?

 

What is going on below the surface for the children? What does that look like?

Healthy attachment is only 60% of the time. 

There are two critical responses - rah mode (heightened state) and shut down mode or preoccupied.

Insecure attachment - creating imaginary friends, talking to themselves, etc. 

Calm

Alert

Alarm - some kids come into school here and have an addictive component, ie sugar/gaming

Fear

Terror

These five states determine our thoughts, feelings and experiences. Kids with trauma are attracted to one another, and they are in the alarm state often. 

"you don't get sad unless you have joy first."

Boundaries are about keeping what is essential in.

To get deep sleep to get the rest our bodies need before midnight. No screens 2 hours before bed.

If you are in a power struggle, then the adults need to drop the rope, and then you need to reconnect with the child.  

Only do the restorative practice with both sides involved. 

Need to search out where they are on the Bruce Perry continuum.

If they do something in a pattern, they try to regulate the brain. 

The need to control is connected to the Alarm state of the brain.

What can escalation look like?

We only talk at people when we haven't been heard before. 

You can't work harder on your problem than you work on it.

Talk to the kids quietly and within arms reach. 

Needs to build a connection and relationship with those that need it. You need to develop those roots with "I am..." statements. Organizing the brains for learning, then we use evidence; for example, you are a reader, we are readers. 

Draw the brain up for young people and then draw some roots and start with the positive experiences. 

Heart Rate

A successful child who is ready to connect would be around 100 bpm. 

It's not a program that makes a difference; it's the people that make a difference. 

Heart rate is one piece of the puzzle. 

You need to give language to the thing that they are feeling. 

The biggest threat is relationships, but the biggest way we develop is relationships.

The brain is so different when it comes to Autism that it needs to have a learned script. Practice these in a calm space, but then, with repetitive practice, it becomes natural. 

Are we a leader or a follower?

What do my learners need?

Cuddle buddies - weighted toys

What do I want her to tell herself when she wants to call out.

This Roots of Behaviour course is so worthwhile. It talked about all of the kids that you see, not just the Neuro-Diverse, trauma, or behaviour problems; it's about the ones that seem to be coping but, deep down, might not be. They are the ones that we have to look at and after so that they also have success. 

Te Mātaiaho

 New Karakia - 

Mātai aho tāhūnui,

Mātai aho tāhūroa,

Hei takapau wānanga,

E hora nei

Lay the Kaupapa down

and sustain it,

The learning here

Laid out before us

Te Mātaiaho - The refreshed New Zealand Curriculum, The learning areas of Mātaiaho, Mathematics and Statistics

The new curriculum is a massive part of the practice. 

The three principles are...

This vision is for children because they sit at the centre. Their aspirations and how they see themselves as learners matter.

As of today, it is about the deeper the learning. Instead of Level's, it's now phases. 

They fit into the different categories - Why, What, How

See the slides that Joneen sent for the diagram of the how, why and what

Phases of Learning:

It is lots more focused on the children.

Culturally sustaining teaching and assessment:

Talks about the caring of the learners, then connected, making sure that you are intentional about covering everything. How are we going to approach this?

It's the whole school's responsibility to make sure that we have this covered. 

Key Learning areas - 

Gone from 800 AOs down to 40 key learning areas. 

It's about doing less but doing it better and more deeply. 

The draft for English and Math has come out and needs to be in place by 2025.  

The understands - the big ideas that stay the same.

The know's - in math, are your strands.

The do's - are your modeling etc. 

We look at progress in a more child-centered way so that we match what we do to their development. It gives clarity about what this is going to look like. 

The Math Curriculum - 

Impact Ed have put together a one page of progress steps. 

This is something that could follow the child through the years. Building the knowledge is key for understanding. 

The new curriculum looks like it is more user friendly and straight forward. You are more capable of going deeper into their learning and pull them side ways. 

Here is an example of Progression in Action

Joneen is willing to come out to school and help us plan our maths etc.