Creating a positive and caring classroom environment for children who experience toxic stress

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Introduction: Early Childhood Teachers' Perspective of Teaching Children Who Are Experiencing Toxic Stress by Stephanie Abell
 What is toxic stress for a child, well it is the flight or fight response to a situation or circumstance that comes with problems, that cause severe consequences.  
Occasional and brief stress responses are a normal part of healthy development. However, stress that is prolonged, severe, or chronic, can cause significant problems with health and development. (Franke, 2014). Such stress, which itself creates additional challenges for a person’s functioning, is toxic  (Franke, 2014).

Purpose:  To explore early childhood teachers' perspective of being challenged to support the emotional and academic needs of young children who are experiencing toxic stress in the early childhood classroom(Adell,2021). 

Population/Participants: The study focused on 10 early teachers from three elementary schools teaching grades K-3 in the southeastern United States, who had experience teaching children experiencing toxic stress ranging from 3-21 years (Adell,2021).

Methodology: The qualitative research with purposeful sampling, which was based on certain experiences, was conducted by interviews via Google Meet, all were audio recorded and transcribed. (Adell,2021).

Data Sources: The sources primarily used were Google Meet, interviews, audio recording, and transcription.

Conclusion:  The study concluded that there was a gap to be filled in teachers' perspectives on meeting the challenges of children experiencing toxic stress emotionally and academically. The study also concluded that teachers need more training and resources to help the children(Adell,2021).

Relevant Literature

1. Young Children-  It showed that by providing the children with visual resources, helping the children set goals, and valuing their efforts while offering them strategies. By allowing the child to work through the problems, they can see the opportunities in them and that in the classroom they do not have to be afraid.

2. The future of teacher education: is it meeting the early childhood challenge- It shows that the future of teachers and early childhood education needs to move and be flexible with the challenges presented.  Without change, teachers can not address the new changes that will come in the future.

3. Promoting resilience - in the classroom, this allows the teacher to create teachable moments while all being developmentally appropriate. It shows that although children have toxic stress at home, at school they have a place where they have a supportive and nurturing community.

    Reflecting on the Developmentally Appropriate Practice

The study conducted that although the classroom promotes resilience within the classrooms. Although the teachers lacked the resources needed to serve children experiencing toxic stress, they knew how to create a supportive classroom environment. With positive change, lawmakers, education leaders, and school administrators can help develop resources (Adell, 2021).

Furthering my work

This dissertation hit home for me, this year I worked with a child who has been experiencing toxic stress.  I had to do professional development on children with adverse childhood experiences. While researching, I was able to create an area within the reading center that helped give the students a more positive and supportive environment. However, there is still much research to be done to support the emotional and academic challenges of children experiencing toxic stress.

This study has shown that with change and more studies on toxic stress, education lawmakers can see that teachers need more support in the area of toxic stress. I dealt with it for a full year, and I had to use our" Catch a Breath" policy, which allowed me 15 minutes outside of the classroom when the issue was more than I could handle. My administration staff helped when I needed it, but they see that more training is needed to help teachers within the classroom.

This summer I have begun taking more online courses that will help promote a positive and supportive classroom for children with adverse childhoods while attending Head Start. That way when I start my new class in the fall I will be more prepared and can adjust accordingly. I want to be a coordinator for my center, to help children who are struggling with adverse childhoods and be an agent of change by providing some resources that may help. 

References

Abell, S. (2021). Early Childhood Teachers’ Perspectives of Teaching Children Who Are Experiencing Toxic Stress (Order No. 28771843). Available from Dissertations & Theses @ Walden University. (2593648586). https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/early-childhood-teachers-perspectives-teaching/docview/2593648586/se-2 

 

Collet, V. S. (2017). “I Can Do That!” Creating Classrooms That Foster Resilience. YC: Young Children, 72(1), 23–31. 

Cutuli, J. J., & Wilard, J. (2019). Building early links for learning: Connections to promote resilience for Young Children in Family Homeless Shelters. ZERO TO THREE, 39(4), 43–50. https://doi.org/https://www.zerotothree.org/resources/series/journal-archive#vol-39-sep-2018-july-2019 

Franke, H. A. (2014). Toxic Stress: Effects, Prevention and Treatment. Children, 2014, 1, 390-402.  

Moreno, A. J., Nagasawa, M. K., & Schwartz, T. (2019). Social and emotional learning and early Childhood education: redundant terms? Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 20(3), 221-235. https://doi.org/10.1177/1463949118768040 

 

Panayiotou, M., Humphrey, N., & Wigelsworth, M. (2019). An empirical basis for linking social and emotional learning to academic performance. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 56, 193–204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2019.01.009