1. Shanker/McKay October, 2013 www.self-regulation.ca and Education Meet; Start Early/Change Lives

2. Shanker/McKay October, 2013 Trauma...............Neglect Neutral………….Nurturing Birth to 18 months 18 months to 4 years OUR QUERY TODAY What is our proactive and reactive engagement with children across this continuum? Do we have the capacity to disrupt otherwise predictable trajectories?

3. Shanker/McKay October, 2013  There are no throw-away kids and no throw-away schools  The overwhelming majority of the adults in our system come to work wanting to do the best job they can do  We need to work smarter together rather than harder alone  “Skill and Will” are not fixed assets. They can be influenced and increased by strategic action  Each school is in a different place in its development, level of success and sense of efficacy. Values/Beliefs and our Shared Work

4. Shanker/McKay October, 2013 “Different groups talk about the importance of the concept of self-regulation as it relates to their field. So we encounter everything from ‘emotion-regulation’ to ‘self-control’ to ‘self-regulated learning’. But the underlying or core concept of self-regulation refers to “the manner in which the brain maintains physiological stability through complex feedback mechanisms.” Dr. Stuart Shanker Self Regulation: A Working Definition

5. Shanker/McKay October, 2013 What is Self-Regulation? How effectively and efficiently a child deals with a stressor and then recovers from the effort Ever time a child has a stressor the brain responds with processes that consume energy This is followed by restorative processes to recover from this energy expenditure 5

6. Shanker/McKay October, 2013 6 Driving Analogy helpful for understanding the subtle adjustments in energy expenditure involved in regulating attention To maintain a speed of 100 km/hr we are constantly pressing and easing up on the gas depending on the state of the road, incline, wind speed etc. Learning how to drive involves learning how to smoothly adjust the amount of gas or braking required for the current conditions

7. Shanker/McKay October, 2013 Stress-Response Systems Three core systems for responding to stress: 1.Social Engagement 2.Fight-or-Flight 3.Freeze There is a fourth, very worrying stage, dissociation, which is a last-ditch mechanism for dealing with excessive stress 7

8. Shanker/McKay October, 2013 Calm Focused Alert The Self-Regulation Matrix These are our kids…and each of us at one time or another.

9. Shanker/McKay October, 2013 Self-Regulation and Trauma Working on self-regulation is especially important for children that have been traumatized, or raised by caregivers that have been traumatized Shift from the Learning Brain to the Survival Brain Chronic state of fight-or-flight, freeze, or even in some cases, dissociation Chronic fight-or-flight is extremely energy expensive, reducing child’s ability to pay attention, inhibit impulses, regulate mood, co-regulate 9

10. Shanker/McKay October, 2013 10 Allostatic (Over-)Load Condition Too much stress result is can result in: prolonged over-activation of SNS and/or PNS inappropriate activation of SNS or PNS (i.e., in situations not warranting a heightened stress response) Sudden transitions between emotions diminished ability to return to baseline after activation of the stress response

11. Shanker/McKay October, 2013 11 Adaptive Calibration Model Child’s stress system adapts to early life conditions E.g., heightened stress results in heightened stress reactivity (HPA pathway) Behaviors that might have been evolutionarily functional are poorly suited to learning environment Possible to ‘recalibrate’ by creating safe and nurturing environments

12. Shanker/McKay October, 2013 12 Effects of Allostatic (Over-)Load Disrupts brain development (e.g., hippocampus; HPA pathway) Chronically hypo-aroused or hyper-aroused Difficulty staying focused and alert Poor interception/exteroception Heightened impulsivity or numbing

13. Shanker/McKay October, 2013 Signs of Excessive Stress 1.Chronic hyper-arousal 2.Chronic hypo-arousal 3.Heightened stress reactivity 4.Increased sensitivity to pain (physical and emotional) 5.Reduced ability to regulate negative emotions 6.negative bias 7.reduced ability to read affect cues, show emotions 8.Reduced ability to hear human voice 9.Blunted reward system 10.Increased immune system problems

14. Shanker/McKay October, 2013 14 The Effects of Excessive Stress heightened stress means child has to work much harder to pay attention negative effects caused by falling further behind, being yelled at, having greater social problems, etc., exacerbate the drain on nervous system leads to a chronic state of heightened anxiety

15. Shanker/McKay October, 2013 The Three Stages of Self-Regulation 1.Identify Stressors 2.Develop Self-Awareness (interoception and exteroception) 3.Develop self-regulating techniques, learning what to do to mitigate a stress response and what to avoid 15

16. Shanker/McKay October, 2013 Where to From Here?  A community of “learning detectives” (kids and adults)  Parent awareness and engagement  Influencing the shape of the day and the shape of the learning spaces  Progressive relationship with the medical profession and other agencies  Sharing the stories, celebrating the successes, one discovery and one self-regulating moment at a time CSRI: Committing to a productive nexus between neuroscience and education

17. Shanker/McKay October, 2013 www.self-regulation.ca Join us on this learning journey via The website: www.self-regulation.cawww.self-regulation.ca The on-line book club started this fall A staff study/action research group Recommending articles for colleagues via the website Watching for the launch of the on-line “Matrix” tool Again, and again I was amazed at students’ positive response to having input/control in their own learning/behaviour – this inquiry changed this dramatically for my students.