Whole Child
We walk our path grounded in neuroscience and connected to our schools’ local First Nation communities.
Where we are going
The Whole Child team is rooted in the values of FNSB and current neuroscience research to offer regulation support and strategies for Educators. We support school well-being by focusing on connection and encouraging curiosity about Learners’ experiences and behaviours.
We are committed to supporting communities in growing school environments that nurture each Learner’s wholistic development.
Regulation
Regulation is the foundation of the Whole Child team. We provide Educators with knowledge and strategies to effectively co-regulate Learners.
What do these terms mean?
Regulation is connecting to your bodily sensations and emotions, being able to name it and then take care of yourself.
Co-regulation is when we do this for another.
Self-regulation develops from co-regulation when provided repeatedly and consistently from others.
Relationships
Relationships are the foundation of learning; from caring relationships, we can all grow.
How can we achieve this?
It is essential to support school teams in building relationships with Learners, caregivers, and communities through a strength-based lens.
Understanding behavior as communication of an unmet need is key.
Empowering School Teams
When provided wrap around support and resources, school teams can flourish. We build up each school team’s capacity to navigate Learners’ behaviours and learning needs to get curious about how best to serve them.
We are growing a Whole Child approach to learning that will share knowledge in neuroscience, child development, relationship building, and inclusive education with school communities.
How does Whole Child incorporate Yukon First Nations ways of knowing, being, and doing?
The idea of the Whole Child comes from the Indigenous world view that has existed since time immemorial. The Whole Child team recognizes that all parts of a Learner must be served in order to support their wholistic development.
Our team works alongside and in collaboration with the FNSB’s Land and Language team. We are looking to incorporate and be grounded in teachings from Jo Chrona so school teams can build ‘High-Expectation Relationships’ within their own learning communities.
“We need to think of the wellbeing of the individual and community as a central foundation and awareness of education.”
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What is the neuroscience?
Whole Child is developing a foundation for a relationship-based approach that is in alignment with FNSB values, organizational chart, traditional knowledge, and up to date neuroscience.
A research-based approach to Whole Child practice includes work from the following: Neurosequential Model in Education, Stuart Shanker, Dr. Lori Desautels, and Kim Barthel.
We are keeping our eyes, ears, and hearts open to the constantly growing body of research on how best to serve learners.
Research shows that learning when done in safety, connection, and curiosity for each other, educational settings can build resiliency, skills required for learning and self-regulation in learners.
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What is regulation?
"Calm is not regulation, it's connection to self in your experience" - Kim Barthel
Regulation is regularly misunderstood as being calm and in control of your emotions when in fact it is about feeling your feelings (body sensations and emotions), naming your feelings, and taking care of your feelings. This is an authentic connection to self and others. This authentic connection to self then provides co-regulation to harmonize the physiological, emotional, and behavioural states of two or more individuals.
The ability to self-regulate develops over time when we are co-regulated by another. The part of the brain that will be responsible for self-regulation continues to develop well into adulthood. When children, including teenagers, need regulation either for their emotions or body energy, they need someone else’s brain or nervous system to show them how to do this. It is then not developmentally appropriate to expect even high school learners to self-regulate.
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How are relationships the foundation for learning?
“We are one spirit, one song, and our world will be harmonious only when we make time to care. For ourselves. For each other. For our home. You don’t need to be a Native person to understand that - just human.” - Richard Wagamese
The part of the brain that is responsible for attention, working memory, and inhibition is developed from being in a caring relationship with others.
Relationships are foundational academics and an essential part of learning. Our brains are continuously growing, changing, and impacted from our experiences and relationships. When we feel understood and safe with another our brains are better able to focus, process new learning, problem solve, and think creatively rather than be in a state of stress or survival mode.
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How does Whole Child work alongside Student Support Services?
The Whole Child team will support school teams in referring to Student Support Services for their specialty services. The Whole Child coach will support the school-based team to incorporate recommendations and strategies from Student Support Services consultants.
Resources for Families
Image courtesy of Diversity Kids
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Arousal Checklist: This handout is to support educators in providing strategies to support learners in coming to the just right state for the task or activity
The learner in front of you: This handout is to support school-teams in learning more about their learners and ways they may need support in school and learning.
“Our classrooms are environments that are changing as quickly as our human world. It is important that our education teams are equipped to effectively support our learners with new and emerging best practices as they continue to be refined. The Whole Child Team has been instrumental in supporting this work.”
