Trauma Informed Early Years - Doncaster

Today our 0-60 months and EYFSP moderation teams spent the say at Bradford's Leading Children Ltd. preparing for our coming year. We cannot wait to offer face to face moderation and network events in Doncaster again this term. Please book on via BuyDoncaster.

Disassociation is a nervous system response to emotional pain and overwhelm. These children (and adults) may look switched off, zoned out, disinterested and lacking motivation. Important to consider when responding to this behaviour 💙

A brilliant overview of Polyvagal Theory - how to notice and support children who are showing and internalising feelings and what you can do to help.

This is a really useful resource 🙂

Ever wondered if you have any trauma from your childhood?
Maybe from a big scary, or deeply distressing incident like a car crash.

What about everyday experiences as a baby or young child like being raised by an adult who struggled to notice and meet you emotional needs. Could that be trauma?

All of us have had some brush with trauma which isn't a disaster but is useful to understand as it sheds light on things we do now that seem a bit irrational and are hard to change.

Check out Dr Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey's new book -
What happened to you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgiO1Pod4N0

What is childhood trauma? Ever wondered if you have any trauma from your childhood?Maybe from a big scary, or deeply distressing incident like a car crash.What about everyday experien...

Here are some great books that cover infant trauma: connection, attachment, attunement, co-regulation, self regulation, brain development, neuroscience.....

Really helpful information from Adoption UK when looking out for those trauma responses that can often be misinterpreted

We all talk a lot about trauma responses - flight, fight, freeze & fawn but what can these involuntary responses look like?

We all have a typical way that we respond to trauma and we have a secondary or a back-up responses.

We use these responses to help us feel like we are surviving the trauma and sometimes they get very embedded.

When they are embedded, we use them most of the time to avoid any feeling state, not just a traumatic experience.

An interesting article from the NY times, although systems are slightly different to ours in the UK, it is worth a read 🙂

Opinion | A 4-Year-Old Child Is Not a Problem. And Expulsion Is Not a Solution. There is an effective approach to breaking the preschool-to-prison pipeline.

‘Come on, catch up!’ seems to be our Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson’s, current cry. And my voice is one of many saying, ‘Hold on and wait for the kids. They may be strong, but they have little legs and they have been doing their best in tough circumstances.’

Our guest blog, today, comes from Charlotte Jenkins - founder and director of Beacon Family Services, and Theraplay® Therapist.

Charlotte explains how play can help traumatised children regain a feeling of safety and urges the Government to see how children's recovery and well-being are far more important than catching up...
https://www.adoptionuk.org/blog/the-importance-of-play

Crying is important, it has a purpose and in most instances is indicative that something is not feeling quite right for your child. We as adults are sometimes uncomfortable with children crying, maybe we find it distressing ourselves? This leads us to make it want to stop and we can use phrases “stop crying”, or “it’s not worth getting upset about” But this is denying our children the right to express how they feel and may lead them to feel unable to tell us what they are unhappy/scared/angry/confused/overwhelmed about in the future. Instead we need to acknowledge and accept those they feel, thus validating them and their feelings

Children Who Get Hugs Tend to Become Happier Adults | CPTSDfoundation.org Children Who Get Hugs Tend to Become Happier Adults by Alice Kenny | Oct 16, 2020 | ACEs, Complex PTSD Healing, Guest Contributor, The Brain and CPTSD | 0 comments I missed out on hugs and cuddles. My mother, who was mentally ill, did not display affection. In second grade, I walked home from school...

Look, Say, Sing, Play is a set of resources which encourage interaction between parents and their babies.

These brain-building resources are based on the work of Vroom, a US public health initiative that uses the science of early learning to help parents improve back-and-forth interactions with their children.

https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/research-resources/leaflets/look-say-sing-play-early-years-resources-parents

Look, Say, Sing, Play early years resources to use and share with parents | NSPCC Learning A set of resources to help parents interact with their baby, boosting child development and setting up positive behaviour as their child grows.

Take a look at this really informative article from Famly about attachment theory and how this relates to early years practitioners. It includes many tips and points to help you in reflecting on your own practice. 🙂
https://famly.co/blog/the-child/attachment-theory-early-childhood/

What is attachment theory in early childhood? Good baby bonding brings big benefits for years to come. Here's how you can use attachment theory on the day-to-day in your setting.

Self regulation and co-regulation are common terms used in the upcoming new EYFS.

Here is a useful article to help us as professionals and parents to understand and respond appropriately to children's natural physiological response to threat, often seen through tantrums.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/15/parenting/kids-tantrums-advice.html?fbclid=IwAR1XE8gdtibvhA1Wt9gcNQUu4SFE7pChmpP8mxLno0IVUTxmR1mbhT6AIeI

The Science Behind Your Child’s Tantrums And how to nip them in the bud before they start.

It's so easy to fall into focusing on the behaviour

Some really useful tips to share with parents... I'm sure many of you could also use these in your settings 🙂

Comment below with any other good examples you have!
Doncaster Early Years Inclusion Team

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210203-after-the-covid-19-pandemic-how-will-we-heal

How to heal the 'mass trauma' of Covid-19 When the pandemic is over, how should we process the memories of what happened? Ed Prideaux discovers counter-intuitive answers from the science of trauma.

Following on from the research findings below, the Anna Freud Centre is holding a series of FREE webinars aimed at childcare practitioners.

The first webinar on 24 February is ‘Managing challenging behaviour in early years settings’ including how to understand and manage emotions such as anger, aggression and frustration in young children.
Other webinars in the series will include:

-Supporting bereaved children in early years settings

- Caring for children in early years settings who have experienced trauma.

📲Make sure you book onto the session here: https://www.annafreud.org/training/training-and-conferences-overview/online-conferences-webinars-and-events/early-years-webinar-managing-challenging-behaviour-in-early-years-settings/ and keep a look out for the other sessions!👀

We noticed the access code to webinar 2 no longer works - a new code should land in your email inbox soon!

Have you watched Webinar 1: traumas of omission?

We would love to know what you discovered, what you learnt, and what you think. Please share your views to help build a supportive community of practice towards being trauma informed by clicking the link below.

Working with Infant Trauma Webinar 1: Traumas of Omission These webinars are our first step to becoming a trauma informed workforce. You have access to these webinars as you are a professional working with children aged 0-5 years. We would like to gather your views on webinar 1: what you discovered, what you learnt, what you think. This information is inva...

Our first 'curious conversation' is due to take place next week. In light of the current lockdown and demands on the sector, we have decided to pause and resume as planned on 24th February.

Access to Webinar 2 will continue and you should expect to receive your code and link on 20th January.

Often our youngest children can't communicate their emotions with us, and right now those who work with under fives are seeing certain behaviours in response to the adult world at present.

This is a really useful overview from Inner World Work that helps us to recognise behaviours and what types of responses can help.

"Every time you start your day, you draw on the emotional attachment processes your brain built as a baby."

Webinar 1 talks about the importance of attachment and what happens in the brain when secure relationships are formed.

"Perhaps you:
> wish your partner a good day at work
> give the dog one last fond pat
> confidently place your youngest child in the arms of her childminder
> worry whether your older child is going to patch things up with his mates at school
> and turn your mind nervously to the meeting you will shortly be having with your manager.

All of these experiences travel personalised neural circuits that were not in place when you were born but which you had laid down largely by the time you were one year of age. It is astounding to realise how much of our adult lives are influenced by experiences we had before we could walk, talk or consciously remember."

Suzanne Zeedyk offers a useful insight into attachment and neuroscience
https://suzannezeedyk.com/attachment-suzanne-zeedyk/

Attachment - Suzanne Zeedyk Suzanne Zeedyk - Attachment - Every time to start your day, you draw on the emotional attachment processes your brain built as a baby.

4 DAYS TO GO

The working with infant trauma webinars are the start of Doncaster becoming an ACE aware community.

This infographic gives us a flavour of what we need to talk about.

5 DAYS

Access codes will be sent out via edulog and an email sent direct to you from families information service. (Psst - make sure F.I.S have your up-to-date email address)

Who is curious?...

Welcome to our new page; a place for curious conversation and sharing of our multi-disciplinary journey to becoming trauma informed in the early years.

Come with us.

Every child deserves to be supported by emotionally available adults