The past 10 years has seen an explosion of research related to the impact of trauma on brain development in children. And the findings have important implications for schools and how schools respond to students' behavior — or perceived misbehavior.

Dr. Sander briefly reviews the research exploring how adverse experiences affect children’s and adolescents’ biological, physiological, social, emotional and brain development. Then he provides evidence-based strategies to help you create a more trauma-sensitive school environment, including how to:

• Use schoolwide and classroom approaches to improve students’ self-regulation and social-emotional skills
• Build resiliency into the school climate to support both students and staff
• Meld research findings into your existing initiatives, including positive behavior interventions, response to intervention and mindfulness practices
• Incorporate into your work with students an understanding of their adaptive responses to environmental circumstances and toxic stress
• And more!