De-escalation of dysregulated students through the lens of trauma and 15 proven tips to address conflict
Format
Workshop
First Presenter's Institution
Respectful Ways Trauma-Informed Character Education curriculum and PD
First Presenter’s Email Address
pam@respectfulways.com
First Presenter's Brief Biography
After 20 years as an Emmy and Peabody award-winning journalist, Pam McNall produced Respectful Ways (RW). Hiring a team of educators, counselors and tech experts to help develop the program, together they designed RW’s digital platform offering trauma-informed character building modules for K-12 schools and afterschool programs. Respectful Ways modules have been vetted as trauma-informed by the Attachment & Trauma Network. Module pillars cover Compassion, Perseverance, Respect and Responsibility, using research-based interactive activities, turn-key lesson plans, original music & poetry, and classroom management tools. Mrs. McNall is level one trauma-informed certified and hosts online and in-person Professional Development workshops.
Submitter
I am submitting this proposal as one of the presenter(s)
Strand #1
Hands: Safety & Violence Prevention
Strand #2
Heart: Social & Emotional Skills
Relevance
Hands: On top of covering how to defuse escalating situations at school, we cover WHY students behave the way they do with the 3 E's of trauma and the brain science behind it. The Top 10 Tips for de escalating dysregulated students is discussed through real-life experiences -- and how Trust and Attachment help students with trauma.
Heart: We cover the data on how SEL helps build socially and emotionally healthy students. All attendees will receive free K-12 digital modules about "overcoming depression, grief, and sadness" that can be shared with your school counselors and staff. Print and digital copies of three engaging SEL worksheets for PreK-8th grade students will also be available to attendees.
Brief Program Description
Verbal de-escalation is a vital intervention to use with a child who's at risk for aggression -- and knowing trauma-informed language and practices is key to its success. We'll review the 3 E's of trauma, the 5 ways to manage conflict, and 10 tips to help dysregulated students. All attendees receive free K-12 digital & print SEL materials to share with their schools.
Summary
First, we’ll go big picture and get an understanding of Dr. Daniel Siegel Hand-brain model, and how ACE surveys can help educators understand their students. Having a responsive approach can help students calm when dysregulated so we’ll take an historic look at addressing conflict using the Thomas Kilmann Conflict Management Model by reviewing: Avoidance • Collaboration • Compromise • Competition • and Accommodation. Understanding these 5 basic modes to address conflict helps educators figure out best practices, and what’s best for them. Their personal approach. When you have the ability to “name it to tame it” educators will be more prepared.
We’ll watch parts of Nadine Burke Harris’s TedMed-Talk about ACE scores and how childhood trauma affects health across a person’s lifetime. This video helps us move to the next section where participants leave with 10 proven strategies to deescalate conflict. They will understand more about trauma and adverse childhood experiences and what happens inside of the human brain physiologically. They will walk away with a better understanding of how the brain works, why some students can trigger your own implicit bias and how the 10 tips can help you control your own negative behaviors.
The Attachment & Trauma Network’s certification I received uses Trust as an imperative tool to help de-escalate situations. We'll review how this kind of transparency and consistency will make a positive, noticable change to the climate and culture of your school or program.
A big part of my workshops is attendee participation to involve real-world answers to specific needs we've all experienced. I do giveaways to instigate involvement. I prefer to do polls with conference attendees beforehand if the conference app allows, this tends to bring up discussion and participation. At the end of the workshop I offer free engaging PreK-5 SEL worksheets and free digital modules for grief and sadness for PreK-12th grade students. These digital e-courses help with any type of loss.
Evidence
Our data and content references subject-matter experts and reputable sources such as:
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for the 3 E's of trauma section
Five Modes of The Thomas Kilmann Conflict Management Model for the addressing conflict with students section
The Attachment & Trauma Network for most all of our trauma slides
Dr. Daniel Siegel Hand-brain model will be demonstrated and 'name it to tame it' will be discussed
Dr. Melissa Sadin, trauma-informed expert for the Trust section
Dr. Robert Alda and Dr. Vincent Felitti designers of the ACE score system
Nadine Burke Harris's TedMed-Talk -https://www.ted.com/talks/nadine_burke_harris_how_childhood_trauma_affects_health_across_a_lifetime?hasProgress=true&subtitle=en
Learning Objective 1
Recognize trauma-informed language vs. language that triggers children with high ACE scores. Educators will be able to recognize student issues and strategize better options to diffuse situations.
Learning Objective 2
Utilize 10 tips for de-escalating conflict using trauma-informed practices at their school, including proven suggestions from peer attendees.
Learning Objective 3
Find ways to address conflict, identified by Thomas & Kilmann in the 1970s. • Avoidance • Collaboration • Compromise • Competition • Accommodation
Keyword Descriptors
trauma-informed, de-escalation, ACE score, The Conflict Management Model, trauma-informed language, crisis prevention, The 3 E’s of Trauma, MTSS, SEL
Presentation Year
2025
Start Date
3-4-2025 8:30 AM
Recommended Citation
McNall, Pam, "De-escalation of dysregulated students through the lens of trauma and 15 proven tips to address conflict" (2025). National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference. 31.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_savannah/2025/2025/31
De-escalation of dysregulated students through the lens of trauma and 15 proven tips to address conflict
Verbal de-escalation is a vital intervention to use with a child who's at risk for aggression -- and knowing trauma-informed language and practices is key to its success. We'll review the 3 E's of trauma, the 5 ways to manage conflict, and 10 tips to help dysregulated students. All attendees receive free K-12 digital & print SEL materials to share with their schools.
