2022 Learning and the Brain Conference - Friday

I always take notes on my blog, so check back here periodically as I will update after each speaker/session. (Over 1000 people here, and over 300 remote). These will not just be what the speaker says.  It is also how I process the content, so some of it will be my thoughts.   I'll try to note that when I can, but sometimes, I don't notice when I've switched from what I heard to what I thought.

Keynote I: From Stressed to Resilient: Helping A Distressed Generation to Navigate, Change, and Thrive by Deborah Gilboa, MD

Our students' mental health problems did begin with the pandemic.  It just turned on the light so we could see what was going on.

(Good tool to explore - Used Menti as a back channel for engagement from the audience)

Asked people to say what challenges they were noticing in students this year.  Answers were exactly what you would expect - distraction, helplessness, etc.

Physical illness implies temporary (mostly), acute conditions we got over.  Mental illness implies a chronic struggle that never seems to end.  We should be viewing mental health as a spectrum (Healthy, Coping, Struggling, Unwell).  We experience mental distress at least as many times a year as we experience physical distress, but that doesn't mean mental illness.

ALL CHANGE IS STRESSFUL - even the good stuff.

Your brain has millions of functions, but it has one job - to keep you alive.  It protects the status quo to keep you alive.  Your brain has three safety mechanisms.

1. Loss
2. Distrust
3. Discomfort

It reacts with these from ANY change, not just negative ones and not just big ones.  It thinks that it is keeping you safe no matter what changes happen.  The amygdala dumps out a ton of chemicals that give you all the stress feelings.  Since the changes are faster now, the brain is in a more constant state of stress (She didn't say that; it's a thought I had while she was talking).

Society believes that stress is toxic, but IT IS NOT. 

 
If you want to be able to walk more without getting out of breath, you have to walk more.  If you want to walk more steps without panting, you have to practice walking up more steps.  If you want to deal with stress better, you have to deal with more steps.  We give our kids mild stress and explain why it matters because it isn't fair if we don't.

We have a wide physiological range in which we can live for water intake, sleep, food intake, etc.  We also have a really wide range of stress in which we are able to live.  Too little stress is dangerous (think of a 4-year-old playing in the street with no fear).  The optimal range is more narrow, but it is still a range, and it is good for us to keep them in it.

Stress is a tool, and like any tool, it can be used to build or destroy.

What are the yellow flags to look for in students to know if they are outside the range (She assumes we already know the red flags)?

• Losing stuff when that hasn't been a problem before

• Change in hygiene

• Talking less

• The lack of positive behaviors they used to show

If something surprises you, match that with curiosity about the cause.

Resilience - the ability to navigate change and come through it the kind of person you want to be
Resilience is necessary in all change, not just difficulty.  

When the amygdala is fired up, recognizing that you have choices calms it down.  Give a choice, any choice (even something like "Would you like to talk about this now or come back at lunch?" will activate the idea that there are choices.  It also gives time for thinking about goals and leads to engagement in the navigation.  If they get stuck in distracting themselves from discomfort, they often don't get to choice.

Protecting kids from risky behaviors involves:

• Storytelling - explaining truthfully from their point of view what is happening

• Problem-solving - The words we use matter.  We teach problem-solving, but if we don't call it that, they may not know that's what they are doing.  "You're a good problem solver.  What do you think?" is something we should say more to students.  If you name it, you'll get more of it, and they'll recognize it is a skill they are gaining competency at.

• Asking for help - Knowing how and when to ask is important and must be taught.  If someone is in danger, ask an adult for help immediately.  If no one is in danger, they should try twice before asking for help.  It is also important to work with them on how they ask (language, eye contact, etc) because it helps them to get their needs met after they leave us.  

Moving other people toward resilience means we respond with:

• Empathy - Fixing the problem for them isn't empathy.  Empathy is communicating that "you matter, and I care about what you are going through."  It isn't mirroring their feelings (in fact, that's pretty cringy).

• Transparently sourced information - When they ask why you want them to do something, it isn't disrespectful, it's engagement.  If we can explain our reasons, they'll navigate it better.

• Processing time when possible - Tell them when a change is coming so they have time to deal with it.

• Reasonable autonomy - Even the most minor choices help them feel empowered.  Give choices within limits (not complete freedom).  It turns down their amygdala and gets them back into the pre-frontal cortex.

There's never been a group of kids who have had as much intentional attention from the adults in their lives.  In previous pandemics, schools were shut down for the 1918 Flu and Polio and other things, but no one ever thought about the impact on mental health.  We have done that and tried to figure out how to support them through it. Teaching them to deal with this major disruption will help them deal with all of the disruptions in the future.

Resilience is a character trait.  It is a set of skills that can be developed.

Keynote II: A Generation in Crisis: Behavioral and Educational Best Practices for Students with Mental Health Challenges -  Jessica Minahan, PhD, BCBA

In teacher preparation, there are zero to one classes required in behavior management or mental health.  We are given little training in what will make up about half of our classes.

In your classrooms, there is a mix of anxiety, ADHD, autism, LD, depression, and learning disabilities along with all of our neurotypical students (only about half), and those many overlap in a variety of contexts.  Anxiety has less consistency in symptoms than ADHD because it is more context-specific. 

When anxiety, depression, or trauma triggers go up, working memory goes down.  Working memory is not only needed for learning.  It is needed for emotional regulation and implementing strategies.  They cannot retrieve the awesome coping strategies you have taught them because their working memory has gone down.  Teaching them the strategy when they are calm creates a different neural pathway than what they can access when they are stressed.  We should actually be teaching it to them while they are agitated.
Your brain may know something you cannot access when you are stressed, which is why you cannot remember why you came into the room or looked for the glasses you were holding in your hand.  

Misbehavior is sometimes a symptom of an underlying cause. (I put the word sometimes in this sentence for worldview reasons.)  Thinking of it as communication may be helpful.  The only behavior you can control is your own, but it can be changed.  It comes in handy to say, "You seem stressed. How can I help you?"  

You can't tell if a soda can has been shaken until you open it, and it explodes.  Then you can conclude that it was previously shaken.  It may be that way with some of your students.  You may do or say something perfectly normal to a person who is at their pressure limit.  When it explodes, you'll know something has happened previously.

Disengagement is way up.  They shut down in response to a negative or inaccurate thought.  Most of the challenges we are dealing with are precipitated by an inaccurate thoughts or perceptions.  When you have a stressor, it tends to distort perception (assuming others are laughing at you, believing the teacher doesn't call on you because she thinks you are stupid, assuming everyone is looking at you).  

A lot of the tools in our current toolboxes are not meeting the need.  Incentives, for example, do not teach skills.  They increase your motivation to implement a skill you already have.  If you offer me a thousand dollars to speak French for the rest of the week, I still can't do it.


If you have a goal, you need 1-3 strategies to go with it.  Don't just reward or motivate.
Ways to address inaccurate thoughts in the classroom

• Interaction strategies - Knowing anxiety triggers (walking straight at them while telling them to do something is intimidating) should change our teaching behaviors. It helps to know their interests, whether or not public praise makes them uncomfortable, and you can get this information from the other adults in the student's life.  Humour is great unless you aren't funny, so you need to examine yourself.

• When giving demands - "If one will not, two cannot argue." - Use a neutral tone, try to do it privately and non-verbally, give limited choices, give rationale first, deliver a note and move away.

• Many IEPs include "movement breaks," but we should not assume they are effective.  If it isn't resulting in calm, it isn't helping.  If they are dysregulated, they need a break from their thoughts, but sending them to get a drink of water is leaving them alone with their thoughts.  If they can't get back to work after the break, the break wasn't effective.  If the problem is negative thoughts, the break is increasing them, not decreasing them.  They need a cognitive distraction (thought break) not a physical break in order to change the channel. (Examples are Where's Waldo, word puzzles, sudoku, I Spy books, counting backward, trivia cards, count all the green things in the room.  It must be incompatible with worrying; otherwise, they are ruminating on their thoughts.)

• Biofeedback programs help kids identify their stressful moments.  If they can identify their dysregulation early, they can connect it with the feeling and catch themselves before it becomes difficult to address.  MIT has developed a biofeedback watch (it's not out yet). (Look in her resource folder and send to Mrs. Roof and Mrs. Hawley.)

• When inaccurate thinking goes up, initiation goes down.

• Transitions are difficult for kids with regulation problems.

• You can't just tell them how much time until something stops. You have to teach them to develop a plan for the time they have. "What's your five-minute plan." 

• Pause is less anxiety-producing than stop.

• They aren't good at waiting because they so rarely have to.  

• Technology has messed with our internal sense of time.  You need to translate - " Five more minutes which means . . . " 

• Give them a picture of what you want (a literal photograph).  Verbal prompts make them dependent on you.  Printed pictures do not, and they can be faded out after enough pairing with the title.

• Rate how hard you think it is going to be before the task and the next day or have them rate the parts of a task on a rubric.  Do it enough times that you have evidence to disprove negative statements about how hard things are.

Don't miss an opportunity to teach skills that kids need.  We want to teach them to fish rather than giving them one.

Improving Student Engagement and Behavior During Difficult Times - Jessica Minahan, PhD, BCBA

We don't avoid things we like or feel competent at.

If you want attention, doing something inappropriate works better.  It's more efficient, predictable, obvious, and intense.  If I'm doing what I'm supposed to do, I can't predict when you will give me attention.  If I have anxiety, I want to be able to predict it.  I can predict your response to my negative behavior.  Make positive attention compete better by making it more predictable.

If they are bad at reading people, they are more likely to be annoying because they can't tell you are annoyed with them.  They also don't know how to interpret praise, so they don't realize they have gotten your attention when you praise them.

We are taught to ignore bad behavior, but if you ignore things, they will inevitably do things you cannot ignore.  When that happens, you have reinforced the worst behavior because you have ignored until it escalated to something violent or dangerous.  You've taught them that they will get attention for the dangerous thing.  It is also the worst thing you can do for a child with abandonment issues.

Predictable positive attention is the most powerful preventative.  Say, "I'm going to check in with you in five minutes."  Set a five-minute timer and come to check on them or give them a specific cue that they can give you that it is time to come back.  Make it transparent when you are going to come and check on them by giving them a sticky note with a time on it so they can pair a negative thought (I don't understand) with a comforting one (my teacher will be here in 7 minutes).  Take a cue from aerobics instructors.  They say, "I know it's hard. Just 4 more."  

If you ask a kid why they think the teacher ignored them, it won't be that they are trying not to reinforce my negative behavior.  They always say, "Because she doesn't like me."

When kids have attention-seeking behaviors, you need to ask why they want attention.  If you think of it as connection-seeking behavior, it changes your perspective.  You will likely react differently and be less likely to ignore. 

 
Since anxiety harms initiation, you need strategies to help kids get started doing work.  They may have trouble with initiation, persistence, or help-seeking.  If they say, "I can't do this," and it's not true, you are getting data that they have inaccurate thinking (see previous session about the problem with that).  They are reassurance-seeking.  You should tell them to read the directions again, ask them if they actually need help or just want to check in to make sure they understand, or just ask a follow-up question.

"All or nothing" thinking - leads to kids not being able to do even really easy things.  You'll hear "I'm not good at math as soon as they see a number." (Patricia Heaton on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire). Then, you cannot do something that requires working memory even with things you already know.

The amygdala tags information before you encode it, which is why you remember things associated with an emotion better than mundane things.  Your frontal lobe will freeze up and get stuck because the amygdala is also in charge of the fight or flight response, so it is saying, "You have to think about this. Just get out of here."

Teach kids to self-monitor rather than having them build dependence on us.  They get anxious after they get stuck, and then they depend on you to be their surrogate frontal lobe.  Help them get started, and have them stop mid-word in the second sentence.  It is less overwhelming to continue than it is to start. If they have homework, send it home started (even paused mid-problem).  Do the first problem together; do have of the second problem together and then say, "Continue."  Do it for a couple of weeks and then fade it out.
Pretend you are not as smart as you are.  Don't mind-read and swoop to help.  You know what they need help with, but you need to pretend you don't.  "What do you need help with?"  Then, say, "Why do you think you are stuck?"  If they give you an answer like, "I don't know what that word means," take a pause or repeat what they said, "You don't know the word, hmm."  Most of the time, they will suggest the solution ("I guess I could look it up.")

Don't say vague things like "Focus" or "Try your best."  Give a strategy.  Teach them how to self-monitor.

• Giving a direction is not teaching a strategy.  
• If we chunk it for them, they don't learn to chunk.  Perhaps, we should do the chunking together.
• Pair a negative with a positive (Let's get comfortable. We're about to write.)
• Chunk time.  Let's work on this for three minutes and then we'll pause.
• They initiate better on whiteboards because the mistake doesn't feel permanent. 
• Crossing out things on a to-do list shows progress and makes you feel productive.  Put checkmarks on papers, so kids can get a sense of how much they have done.
• They'll persevere on a video game, even a really boring task, so they can do persevere.  Use game metaphors, like level numbers or downloading bars (have them fill in a box after each problem) to show them progress.  "You do have this skill.  You just haven't applied it here."
• When kids have a hard time practicing music or sports, take a picture of them after a concert or game and write how it feels on the back.  Then, when they are resistant to practice, remind them how it felt.
• Make the strategies into a poster for your classroom.  Then you can refer to it during conversations.

If teachers all use the same language, a student will realize they have one problem.  It feels much more doable.  If we all use different words for the same behavior, they will think they have seven different problems.

Make it look easier to get less negative thinking and more initiation. Open-ended writing is actually a very difficult way to demonstrate knowledge.  Provide other options if you want them to work independently.  

Meet them where they are at and systematically increase the difficulty.  

Diffuse with an unexpected answer - "Oh my God, you're torturing me."  Respond with something weird like, "My husband said I was torturing him today too.  That's weird twice in one day."  Rebrand a negative as a positive.  The kid doesn't keep leaving his pencil behind; he's gifting you a pencil.  Validate a feeling by acknowledging your shared humanity.  "Oh, yeah, I hate when that happens too."  You can validate a feeling even when implementing a consequence.  "I know you are frustrated, and I still have to write you up."

 My brain is full, but I'm ready for tomorrow!