We are buffers and we break barriers: How the science of trauma response and prevention can transform our work with students belongs in serious BCBA study because it shapes whether behavior-analytic decisions stay useful once they leave a clean training example and enter classrooms, school meetings, data review, and staff consultation. In We are buffers and we break barriers: How the science of trauma response and prevention can transform our work with students, for this course, the practical stakes show up in feasible school-based support, stronger collaboration, and better student participation, not in abstract discussion alone.
Provider: BehaviorLive — via Québec Association of Behavior Analysis
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Join Free →Abstract: Many who hear the term "toxic stress" think of it as a buzzword, but there's more to it: Toxic stress is the term for a group of changes in the brain and body in response to serious, uncontrollable stress. These harmful changes affect everyone, from students impacted by abuse, neglect, or adoption, to staff and their families who went through life changing car accidents, fires, violence, displacement, or mistreatment. Such adverse events result in many medical problems over time, but they also worsen and even cause learning challenges and behavioral disorders. But this talk is also full of hope: while stressful events are often not preventable—especially the ones we, our students and their caregivers, and our staff and coworkers, have already endured—much of the medical harm IS preventable. This talk shares the buffer theory, naming the six areas in which nurturing action stops many of the medical harms from taking place after trauma. Attendees will be able to select examples that show how to integrate buffer goals in students' plans, examine barriers for students, and identify a resource useful to assess buffers at home and at work. Potential Objectives: Name the 6 buffersIdentify barriers that might prevent a student from accessing a beneficial buffer Break down the mental health buffer into its component parts Identify a student goal that addresses the mental health buffer Select a goal that makes the stress relief buffer actionable for a student facing daily stress
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 2 | General |
| COA | 0 | — |
Dr. Camille Kolu is a behavioral scientist in Colorado and owns Cusp Emergence University. Kolu trained at University of North Texas and Rutgers University examining autism, social and olfactory contextual conditioning, and their neurobiology. She taught Ethics and more at universities for decades, and partners with families and individuals across the lifespan to engineer behavioral cusps in the context of experienced trauma, autism, foster care or adoption, and mental health needs. Kolu savors partnerships with health and human service agencies, mental hospitals, schools, and community organizations of all kinds. Dr. Kolu has published in peer-reviewed journals and serves on the advisory board of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. Her personal passions include enriching the lives of her children, cat and dog, chickens, dough, and soil, while her professional work on buffers reflects her interest in transforming everyday clinical work into a radically preventive application of the science of behavior.
Dig into the research behind this topic — plain-English summaries written for BCBAs.
280 research articles with practitioner takeaways
256 research articles with practitioner takeaways
252 research articles with practitioner takeaways
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All behavior-analytic intervention is individualized. The information on this page is for educational purposes and does not constitute clinical advice. Treatment decisions should be informed by the best available published research, individualized assessment, and obtained with the informed consent of the client or their legal guardian. Behavior analysts are responsible for practicing within the boundaries of their competence and adhering to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.