Reconceptualizing Trauma-Informed Practice: Toward an Emotionally Responsive Approach to Teaching (Poster 46)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Six
  In Poster Session: (Re)Framing and (Re)Claiming: Partnering With Communities and Families to Critically Examine Practices, Policies, and Approaches in Early Childhood

Abstract

Relatively little work has questioned what is meant by “trauma” or “trauma-informed approaches.” Here, I use critical perspectives to reconceptualize the notion of trauma-informed practices, arguing that by focusing primarily on the child’s behavior and classroom structure, these models do not meaningfully consider healing from trauma as a relational process and neglect the central role that teachers, peers, and important others may play in supporting or further harming children navigating trauma and other forms of chronic stress. Through articulation of a framework for Emotionally-Responsive Teaching, I seek to expand current conceptualizations of trauma-informed practice to encompass more broadly the relational demands of supporting children with challenging life circumstances.

Author

• Travis S. Wright, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author