Trauma's Effect on Children: A Conversation with Early Childhood Specialist Catherine Dennis

Lauren has an in-depth conversation with Catherine Dennis, early childhood specialist, adjunct faculty, and Mom to seven kiddos.

Catherine explains how she came to better understand the effects of trauma in children, and in what ways it changed her approach to working with children and adults.

Teaching emotional regulation skills at a young age gives kids tools for adulthood. Catherine explains her own experience in truly learning emotional regulation skills.  “I wasn’t ready to hear this, until I was ready to hear it.”

Items mentioned in this episode:
5 Frame (or 10 Frame) is a math activity used to teach counting.
CLASS - Classroom Assessment Scoring System in Head Start
ACEs - Adverse Childhood Experiences

Book recommendations:
The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.
Help for Billy, by Heather T. Forbes, LCSW

The Behavior Hub blog posts mentioned in this interview:
Thinking Brain: The Wise Owl
Emotional Brain: The Barking Dog

Guest Bio:
Catherine Dennis is an Early Childhood Specialist for the Office of Head Start (OHS) Training and Technical Assistance (TTA), Region X, located in Walla Walla, WA. She provides professional level expertise in trauma-informed practice, Challenging Behaviors, Practice Based Coaching, School Readiness, Transitions, Reflective Supervision, Implementation Science, Dual Language Learners and Family Engagement. 

Catherine holds a BS in Elementary Education, a MS in Early Childhood Leadership, Administration and Management and an EdS in Educational Leadership.  She is a current doctoral student in Special Ed and Early Childhood. Her passion is trauma-informed practice because she sees how this supports positive child outcomes and long-term success for children and families. She is a former Director, Education Manager, Teacher and is a current adjunct faculty member in the ECE department. Her best job is a mom of seven and Gigi to two. She is a former foster parent and adoptive parent. 

You can also find Catherine on LinkedIn.

 Try at home tip: Implement a self “check-in”. Take your emotional temperature on a regular basis and work to bring yourself back into balance.  

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