Building Resilience in Students Impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiences
A Whole-Staff Approach
- Victoria E. Romero - Educational Consultant
- Ricky Robertson - Behavior Specialist
- Amber Warner - Social Worker
Foreword by Gary R. Howard
At-Risk/Troubled Students | Teaching At-Risk Students | Teaching Strategies for Diverse Students
Use trauma-informed strategies to give students the skills and support they need to succeed in school and life
Nearly half of all children have been exposed to at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE), such as poverty, divorce, neglect, homelessness, substance abuse, domestic violence, or parent incarceration. These students often enter school with behaviors that don’t blend well with the typical school environment. How can a school community come together and work as a whole to establish a healthy social-emotional climate for students and the staff who support them?
This workbook-style resource shows K-12 educators how to make a whole-school change, where strategies are integrated from curb to classroom. Readers will learn how to integrate trauma-informed strategies into daily instructional practice through expanded focus on:
- The different experiences and unique challenges of students impacted by ACEs in urban, suburban, and rural schools, including suicidal tendencies, cyberbullying, and drugs
- Behavior as a form of communication and how to explicitly teach new behaviors
- How to mitigate trauma and build innate resiliency through a read, reflect, and respond model
Let this book be the tool that helps your teams move students away from the school-to-prison pipeline and toward a life rich with educational and career choices.
“I cannot think of a book more needed than this one. It gives us the tools to support our students who have the most need while practicing the self-care necessary to continue to serve them.”
—Lydia Adegbola, Chair of English Department
New Rochelle High School, NY
“This book highlights the impact of trauma on children and the adults who work with them, while providing relevant and practical strategies to understand and address it through reflective practices.”
—Marine Avagyan, Director, Curriculum and Instruction
Saugus Union School District, Sunland, CA
Transform your school with trauma-informed strategies for teacher and student well-being. Learn more about consulting.
Free resources
Podcast: The Role of the School Social Worker
Listen as author Amber Warner discusses the Role of the School Social Worker in addressing student trauma on the Cultivating Resilience podcast.
Building Resilience in “The New Normal”
This blog post from Victoria Romero, one of the authors of Building Resilience in Students Impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiences, discusses how teachers can better understand stuggling students in this "new normal".
Webinar: Adverse Childhood Experiences
In this webinar, Ricky Robertson, author of Building Resilience in Students Impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiences, focuses on a whole-staff approach to foster resilience in both students living with ACEs and the professionals who work with them in America's rural, suburban, and urban schools.