Coffee Chat – Author Q&A: 5 Key Questions About Supporting Grieving Students

The authors to provide answers to some of the questions they weren’t able to address during the live presentation on Supporting the Grieving Student: Practical Guidance for All School Professionals.

SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach (PDF)

The key questions addressed in this paper are:

What do we mean by trauma?
What do we mean by a trauma-informed approach?
What are the key principles of a trauma-informed approach?
What is the suggested guidance for implementing a trauma-informed approach?
How do we understand trauma in the context of community?

The Forgotten Households

Households of young children with disabilities are not getting the support they need during the COVID-19 pandemic. When we launched the RAPID-EC weekly nationally representative survey on April 6, we were sure that we would find that households with children age five and under would need additional support during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We were less prepared to see dramatic results for households in which there is a young child with a disability.Our data suggest that these households are facing particularly difficult circumstances and require additional resources and supports.

2021 Children’s Mental Health Report – The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children’s Mental Health: What We Know So Far

Even before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, mental health professionals were struggling to meet the needs of the 1 in 5 children and adolescents with a mental health or learning disorder. Then the pandemic hit, bringing an upsurge in youth reporting mental health challenges.

In this report, we examine the growing body of research on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s mental health, including the results of a survey of thousands of parents conducted by the Child Mind Institute.

3 Brain Break Ideas to Help Students Reset and Refocus

Many educators use brain breaks as a powerful classroom management tool. Research shows that brain breaks allow young minds to reset and recharge. They replenish the attention, motivation, and energy levels needed to keep learning. Students also learn better when lessons are broken up into smaller segments. This is especially true for younger children, whose attention spans are still developing.

Here are three brain-break ideas from leading SEL organizations that you can use in your classroom to help your students refocus and be ready to learn.

US Department of Education IDEA Return to School Roadmap: Development and Implementation of Individualized Education Programs

This Q&A document highlights certain Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requirements related to the development and implementation of individualized education programs (IEPs) and other information that state educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs), regular and special education teachers, related services providers, and parents should consider.

US Department of Education Return to School Roadmap: A Guide for K-12 Schools and Communities for the 2021-2022 School Year

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a tremendous toll on America’s students, families, educators, and schools. But with increased access to vaccinations for school staff and students 12 and older, proven virus prevention strategies, and unprecedented resources from the American Rescue Plan and other federal pandemic relief funds, America’s public schools have been steadily reopening for in-person learning, and students are returning to classrooms.

We must welcome families back in authentically, listen and seek to understand to their concerns, and respond to their needs, so that all families feel comfortable sending their students to school this fall. As we start the 2021-2022 school year, schools and communities must address gaps that were exacerbated by the pandemic and build our education system back better than before.

Advocating For Continued Access to Education Through Remote Learning: One Family’s Experience

All families have had to make tough decisions about their children’s educational setting as they are returning to school this fall. Not only have they had to consider their academic needs, but also their social and emotional well-being and their health and safety. For families of children with disabilities these are ongoing concerns, but in the past there were very limited options. One mom shared her perspective on how the pandemic expanded access to educational opportunities through remote learning for both of her children. Lori Ann Dotson posted this letter on her local education Facebook community page with the intent of broadening the discussion to include children with disabilities:

I am the parent of two beautiful kiddos, too young for vaccination. My youngest is immunocompromised (requires weekly IG infusions), has around the clock home nursing, and is trach/ventilator dependent. We pulled both our kids from school at the start of the COVID-19 reports – a couple of weeks before things went virtual in March 2020, not knowing the consequence to their placements. We made the decision because we recognized that given our involvement and commitment to their education, their eventual school success was assured (at a magnet or our local school) – but that they wouldn’t be available for those opportunities if their health was compromised.

It was amazing to me to see the many things that were not available to kids prior to COVID-19 (namely virtual access to the classroom) spring into being as families of typically developing kids demanded them. While disappointed that the range of options during COVID-19 hadn’t been available during other times we requested (during long hospitalizations, for example), it was exciting to see the ways in which the system, albeit imperfectly, could stretch, and opportunities for equity, inclusion and belonging that were previously out of reach, were now at hand. Both kids received remote support (to varying degrees of success) until the last couple of weeks of the year – when at the urging of their pediatrician (who manages some of the most medically complex patients at local children’s hospital, our oldest returned to live instruction at his home school. We took to calling my son’s virtual teacher Saint, a moniker that later carried over to his site-based teacher. All that is to say – neither situation was ideal, but empathizing with their limitations as decision makers – we felt supported and heard by the kids’ teachers and admin.

This year we have decided to have our child who is ventilator dependent participate in home hospital school (an option for some medically complex kids, that I have not seen discussed in these forums) and at least as of today, our son will return to the site-based instruction at his local school. My husband and I will continue to evaluate how best to keep our kids safe daily – which we did long before the pandemic, and if our luck holds, will have the opportunity to do long after.

As a parent who navigates a world that presents never ending threats to my kid’s safety every day, I hope those that are feeling a similar urgency now will join me in advocating for choice and access after typically developing kids are no longer at risk.

Thank you to Lori Ann Dotson, Ph.D., proud mother of daughter, Phin, seven years old, and her brother, Atticus, ten years old. She reported that responses to her Facebook post were invariably positive. Her post shifted the tenor of the conversation to be more empathetic to everyone involved in these challenging times in education during the pandemic.

Using Music to Support Language Development in Children with Hearing Loss

Children with hearing loss, including individuals with a cochlear implant, can also benefit from exposure to music, both as an enjoyable activity and a means for improving their speech and language skills. This article describes various types of hearing loss, how music can benefit hearing loss, how parents can include music in speech therapy and at home music activities for children with speech and language delays.

Wunder by Understood App for parents of children with ADHD

The first community app for parents and caregivers of children who learn and think differently. Wunder is the only place where parents can safely connect while being supported by a team of leading experts – all for free.

Coffee Chat – Author Q&A: 5 Key Questions About Supporting Grieving Students