Date

4-26-2024

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Education in Community Care and Counseling (EdD)

Chair

William Townsend

Keywords

Trauma-Informed Care, Behavioral Challenges, Exceptionalities, Non-Traditional Schools

Disciplines

Counseling | Education

Abstract

The number of trauma-exposed children is on the rise, and it poses a significant public health issue. Trauma-exposed children especially those with exceptionalities and behavioral problems require support across various aspects of their lives, including their school environment. One way to properly support students is adopting a trauma-informed approach as it diminishes presumptions regarding misbehaviors, increases understanding, genuinely helps students with traumatic symptoms, and restores relationships in the classroom. However, the transition to new approaches such as this can affect the perceptions and attitudes of those encouraged to implement the framework. This qualitative case study aimed to comprehend how staff participation in sustained trauma-informed care training impacted their efficacy and motivation towards utilizing trauma-informed pedagogies when supporting students with exceptionalities and behavioral challenges in a non-traditional school setting in the East Baton Rouge School System. The theory guiding this study was the Socio-ecological theory developed by Urie Brofenbrenner (Bronfenbreener, 1977). The trauma-informed framework was utilized to educate participants on different systems that can affect students and emphasized how the school system can use a trauma-informed approach to impact students' lives beyond academics. However, schools had to be trained and confident in implementing trauma-informed interventions. Further exploration of educators' attitudes and beliefs occurred after training and implementation of the trauma-informed framework to determine if the practices benefit students with behavioral challenges and exceptionalities in non-traditional settings.

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