CairnsMoir Connections
  • Home
  • About CairnsMoir
  • Visit our Store
  • Book of the Month
  • Training & Events
    • BUSS event 2022
    • BUSS event 2021
    • March event 2021
  • Other Resources
  • Contact us
  • Home
  • About CairnsMoir
  • Visit our Store
  • Book of the Month
  • Training & Events
    • BUSS event 2022
    • BUSS event 2021
    • March event 2021
  • Other Resources
  • Contact us
for those living or working with the impact of trauma

Book of the Month November 2020 - Know Me To Teach Me (2nd review)

12/11/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Our second review of Know Me To Teach Me by Louise Bomber
​
 
I was excited to receive Louise’s latest book, given the benefit her previous work has given my clinical practice with fostered and adoptive children.  Louise’s previous books have usually been my first recommendation when school staff have asked how they can best support a child who has experienced trauma and/or attachment disruption.  This latest offering did not disappoint. 


Louise has a talent for pulling together the findings from influential clinicians and researchers within the trauma world, and showing us how we can apply this to educational settings. 

The book begins with a clear introduction regarding the effects of adverse experiences upon children and why relationships matter. I adore her quote that, ‘relationships provide social air’ and it is the adults within school that need to breathe, relationally-speak for children.  I felt the call for us all to become ‘relational activists’.  I was familiar with all of the research and theories outlined in the book.  Louise drew on the work of Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory, Dr Daniel Hughes’s PACE model and Dr Bruce Perry’s Neurosequential model amongst others.  This book is packed with the main ‘must know’ theories.  These models are outlined in a simple manner which makes them accessible.  The practical implications and how to use these theories are clearly set out. 

Louise starkly sets out the current crisis within education with so many of our most vulnerable children being given school exclusions.  She also sets out the financial benefits, and savings, of taking a relational approach within schools.  It would be hard to argue with why a new approach is needed within many of our UK schools.   

The book explores the need to reframe discipline.  It includes examples of zero tolerance strategies typically seen within many schools and what the consequences of this are for children.  The need to recognise behaviour as communication is highlighted, and then ideas for how to respond in a more relational and trauma-focused way are set out.  This is a ‘how to’ book.  Many of the typical challenging scenarios I hear about in schools are included.   There are useful question and answer sections which are reminiscent of the many conversations I’ve had with teachers about adoptive children.  Such as “don’t they need to understand that bad behaviour has consequences?” Louise empathically and logically answers this and other questions.  

Louise walks us through the biology of trauma and how bodies respond to stress.  She discusses attunement – what it is and how subtle it can be to convey safety to a traumatised and dysregulated child.  She provides a useful table which outlines the different states a child can be in – and suggests a specific intervention.  Exercises and questions for the reader are sprinkled throughout the book, which invites useful reflection.  An example of a relationship policy is included. 

To sum up, this is a book for everyone working within education to read, absorb, reflect upon, share with colleagues and then put into action.  And, the timing seems perfect given the challenges we’re all facing during the Covid-19 pandemic and the likelihood that many children will need extra thought, time and relationship-attention currently and in the future.
 
Review by:
Dr Helen Rodwell, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, 
Co-author of: Parenting with Theraplay; An Introduction to Autism for Adoptive and Foster Families; CoramBaaf Good Practice Guide on Supporting the Mental Health of Looked After and Adopted Children.

0 Comments

Book of the Month November 2020 - Know Me To Teach Me

1/11/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Know Me To Teach Me: Differentiated discipline for those recovering from adverse childhood experiences by Louise Michelle Bombèr
 
The stated goal of Louise Bombèr’s book, Know Me To Teach Me, is timely and interesting: to integrate what we know about attachment, trauma, and neuroscience into practical and wise action. But are we ready for this? One of the tenets of this book is that we should respect and honour our biology as human beings. Louise Bomber attempts to anchor our approach toward young people in the science of the nervous system, but is there a danger that we expect too much of what science can offer us?
 
The wise actions suggested at the end of the chapter on ‘Respecting Biology’ are helpful: putting relationships first, being playful and noticing, and using the presence of the adult to enable a pupil to stay grounded in the here-and-now. Louise’s practical suggestions have helped me develop as a teacher over the years. They are both sensitive to the young person’s needs and ‘doable’ even for a busy and sometimes ‘feeling-inadequate-to-deal-with-this’ kind of teacher. How I wish that the science bit of the chapter — polyvagal theory— was better established and evidenced. Especially considering we already have attachment theory, which gives us teachers a well-attested rationale for understanding how children are impacted by trauma, fear, and stress.
 
In the chapter ‘Rediscovering the Art of Attunement,’ I would like to have seen more examples of how teachers can build their awareness and sensitivity, especially with children who don’t give us straightforward cues. Young people don’t always clearly signal to us what they need. Louise is good at translating a theory into a framework for thinking about behaviours and interventions, but I am not confident that the ‘five states’ that she uses is well researched or evidenced. When a young person becomes more fidgety, is that really a change in a child’s state of being? Should I be thinking about switching to a sensory intervention, or could it just be that my pupils don’t see the relevance of what I am teaching?
 
There is a danger that we think too much in terms of trauma concepts. In my opinion, schools can be genuinely scary and stressful places, and we must be cautious about jumping too quickly into thinking that a child’s behaviour is due to ‘faulty neuroception.’ Similarly, as teachers, we need to keep the bigger picture in view. The behaviours in our class could be due more to our pedagogy or the fact that kids are bored.
 
There are some nuggets of wisdom in this book: Louise links an understanding of how children are impacted by trauma to her experience of what actions really make a difference. Some interventions sound simple, but in practice they take real skill. I found Louise’s explanation of how to use PACE (Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity, and Empathy) really helpful. I can tell from her examples of when to switch between empathy and curiosity that she has used this approach and has had to work with children who are struggling to accept an adult’s interest. Similarly, her advice on relational repair is worth reading; there is a very helpful summary of how to provide relational repair in her model of a relationship policy for schools.
 
Louise’s thinking is often insightful: she clearly identifies the gap between what we know about trauma and attachment and how that affects our practice, and this book attempts to address that gap. There is helpful advice, but I felt that in places we get ahead of the science. We need theoretical frameworks and an evidence-base for teaching young people, but we mustn’t lose sight of the complexity of teaching. As teachers, the danger is becoming too rigid or limited in our thinking if we oversimplify the science.

David Woodier

0 Comments

    CairnsMoir Connections

    Check out our
    Book of the Month
    - expert reviews and special offers!

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Activities With Children
    Anxiety
    Attachment
    Autism
    Bereavement
    Children's Book
    DDP
    Education
    Empathic Behaviour Management
    Empathy
    ESSENCE
    Executive Functions
    Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
    Grief
    Mindfulness
    Neuroscience
    PACE
    Parenting
    Play Therapy
    Polyvagal
    Self Esteem
    Self Harm
    Sensory Processing
    Shame
    Sleep Issues
    Theraplay
    Transitions
    Trauma
    Young Adult

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015

Tweet
CAIRNSMOIR CONNECTIONS LTD  is a company registered in Scotland  No. SC488337   [Returns Policy | Privacy Policy]
Registered address: 92 Glasgow Road Bathgate United Kingdom EH48 2AH  For telephone enquiries please leave a message at 0771 242 1250
  • Home
  • About CairnsMoir
  • Visit our Store
  • Book of the Month
  • Training & Events
    • BUSS event 2022
    • BUSS event 2021
    • March event 2021
  • Other Resources
  • Contact us