WHAT IS Trauma-responsive MTSS?

Trauma-responsive schools promote (a) feelings of physical, social, and emotional safety in students; (b) a shared understanding among staff about the impact of trauma and adversity on students; (c) positive and culturally responsive discipline policies and practices; (d) access to comprehensive school mental and behavioral health services; and (e) effective community collaboration (National Association of School Psychologists, 2016).

Importantly, trauma-responsive school approaches fit well within a multitiered system of support (MTSS) framework.

The section below will explore how some of the key principles of Trauma-Responsive Care complements the ideas behind MTSS and how insights from Trauma-Responsive Care can be applied to schools implementing MTSS to become more trauma-sensitive.

1. Childhood trauma, as a result of adverse life experiences, is common. Therefore, it is safe for schools to assume that substantial numbers of both children and staff are adversely affected. As a result, schools' efforts to implement MTSS may benefit from raising staff awareness to the needs of students for additional support and safety. School environments must be both physically and emotionally safe for students to engage the curriculum and be ready to learn. MTSS begins with the assumption that approximately 80% of students will be successful, academically and behaviorally, if there are clear expectations in place and they are taught to behave in effective and ongoing manners. Insights from Trauma-Responsive Care help us understand the importance of focusing on a students' emotional responses in addition to their behavioral responses. Behavior may communicate a student's emotional need.

2. Childhood trauma impacts many aspects of a survivor's life, including increased likelihood of the use of coping strategies or other responses to the traumatic experiences. Trauma may lead a child to adopt socially unacceptable behaviors in school, home and/or community settings to help cope with the adverse effects. The recognition that these behaviors (e.g., interpersonal violence, avoidance of academic activities, and substance abuse) may be an attempt to adjust and cope with the impact of adult behaviors or other factors beyond their control can help educators empathize with students who they may initially perceive to be simply misbehaving. This perspective can help schools adapt MTSS to be more compassionate and supportive of the many students experiencing trauma’s multiple effects.

3. Complex trauma can impair the development of children's ability to regulate their emotions and to control their externalizing behaviors (Burns, Jackson, & Harding, 2010; Cicchetti & Rogosch, 2010). The classroom teacher is more likely to notice externalizing behaviors (e.g., aggression and defiance) and may misinterpret these behaviors as behaviors intended to disrupt the instructional process. Trauma-Responsive Care can help schools identify children who have internalized symptoms, such as social withdrawal and perfectionism. The student may excessively daydream, appear to be sleeping, ignore directions, avoid tasks or seek to leave the classroom. Educators may find that children who internalize their problems are less disruptive in the classroom and therefore require less attention or concern. However, we are learning that the emotional distress from internalized responses is no less dramatic or disruptive for these children.

4. Safety and security are critical needs, especially for children who have experienced trauma. MTSS aims to develop and maintain a safe and supportive environment that can help all children succeed in school. This framework relies on positive and proactive supports rather than reactive and punitive discipline. This approach can be further reinforced through the principles of Trauma-Responsive Care with the recognition that students impacted by trauma may need safety and security in order for them to adopt more acceptable behaviors. Many childhood behaviors labeled as anti-social or problematic are actually responses to others’ reactive, uninformed, unpredictable and punitive approaches to caregiving. The trauma-responsive perspective helps educators see the importance of implementing discipline in a sensitive, predictable, and respectful manner.

Trauma-responsive approaches and practices can easily be incorporated throughout the tiers. Below is the MTSS framework adapted to depict the practices and programs that a school can implement to become more trauma-sensitive. Click the following links to learn more about these practices at each tier: Tier 1 Supports, Tier 2 Supports, and Tier 3 Supports. Considerations for implementation in the context of Covid-19 and racial injustice will be highlighted.