We Must Make Schools Work for All Children — Ruth Anna Kuhns

One factor that must absolutely be present is safety. My students are not going to learn well at all if they come into the classroom and they're thinking, "Am I safe with Ms. Coons? Is she going to yell at me? Is she going to get mad at me? Is she going to—" they're not going to learn. It's that amygdala, that part of our brain that wants to keep us safe, is constantly scanning for danger, danger, danger.

Ruthanna, welcome to the podcast. Thank you. You've been an educator for a while, and there's a lot of different areas we could go with this, but I want to drill in on a couple of things, specifically in the field of education that you're involved with. But before we get too specific, how many years have you been an educator? This is year 17. Year 17. Okay, okay. So one of the areas, when we had had a phone call before this and we were talking about, okay, what are the things we could discuss? You mentioned a term I hadn't ever heard before: neurodivergence.

So can you tell us what that even is and why does having an understanding of that term apply or matter to us, and how does that affect how we view education? Sure. That is such a great question. So neurodivergence is kind of an umbrella term. It's a big word right now in education.

And it's the umbrella term for learning differences. So you think autistic students, dyslexic students. So yeah, it's a big word in education right now. So if you think of your student who learns in a typical way, so let's say you as a teacher are lecturing and they're taking notes, they're listening to your lectures, they're reading and discovering information, that's your neurotypical student. Okay?

So not all of our students learn in the same way. And we know that, but I think in the past we've kind of treated education as a one-size-fits-all. And it's not that. So your neurodivergent student is your student who learns in ways other than what are typical.

And so as educators, you know if we have classes of 22, 24 students, you are not going to just have neurotypical learners. And so how can we accommodate our students who are struggling? So that's what I mean when I talk about neurodivergent students.

And that makes a lot of sense. And I can immediately see why. Understanding this is actually a pretty big deal, or it is important if we want to provide a reasonable education for these children. Wow. So this is an area that you have experience in, like you work with neurodivergent. Yeah. So earlier in my teaching career, I didn't really understand these things. And so I'm looking back at almost two decades of being in the classroom and seeing there were a lot of students that got missed in my classroom because I just simply didn't understand what they needed. And I know sometimes in our private schools, we don't always have all the resources that we need.

And so I think we're doing better at thinking about how can we use our resources well, but there's still a long way to go. So I currently am pursuing a Bachelor of Education and Special Education from Liberty University. And part of the reason that I was interested in that major is because I really wanted to learn more about diverse learners. Like how can I service all of my students? How can I be responsible for all of them? And I realized as a homeroom teacher, you can't do it all by yourself. You need lots of support. And so yeah, I've seen how having more understanding can really be empowering because if we're not understanding the learning difference well, we can actually end up doing more harm to our students.

And yeah, that's not what we want to—that's not what we want to do. Yeah. That does make sense, though, because there is so much variety between different humans, let's just say, very broadly speaking, right? So it would kind of make sense. Like we learn in different ways, right?

But I see the challenge here because if you have your classroom, you have 20 students, it would be so easy for someone to get missed in that process. Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Wow. This is a challenge. I think some of this is too just the complexity of the human brain. Is that an element that comes in here where we don't fully understand all of the different dynamics that are involved? How does that play into this? Absolutely. Yes. So let's talk about dyslexia for a little bit. Sure. So there's been a lot of myths around dyslexia.

I'm thinking I should have checked the research on this, but it's about 20% of your students that it's going to affect. So 20%? Yes. Oh, that's a lot more than I thought. Okay. Yes. Yes. Wow. So as we take apart the term a little bit, DIS, having difficulty with lexia, language. So it is actually a—it is a language processing disorder.

Okay. So for example, dyslexic students are trying to use a different part of their brain to read than what your neurotypical students will. And so understanding that can be really helpful. Well, just acknowledging the complexities here. I mean, we're talking the human brain, right? Right. But again, some of the challenges probably because we don't fully understand all of these things. Right. Right? Yes. Yeah. So if you have your neurotypical student who's learning to read, they're actually using the back left part of their brain, like behind your ear. Oh, okay. Okay? So that's typical. A dyslexic student tends to use more of the right front part. And so contrary to myths is that it's a vision problem.

My dyslexic students see backwards. Well, they don't actually see backwards. What they will tend to do as a coping skill is that they will tend to memorize word shapes because hearing sounds, hearing differences in sounds is so complicated.

So if I give you the word sand right now, you can tell me how many sounds are in sand, right?

And so we have sand and sand. They might not actually hear four sounds. They may only hear three. S and. And so part of retraining their brain is training them how to listen for differences in sound. Yeah. Okay. This is starting to make a lot more sense. Wow. Because again, if you have a one-size-fits-all, though, someone like that, you just kind of get lost in the shuffle. Right. Right. So typically what will happen with our students who have dyslexia, they learn how to cope in these situations. So first grade, second grade, they can kind of get by by memorizing word shapes.

They hit third grade, and third grade is a lot more about reading to learn, not learning to read. And so it's kind of—they sort of hit a magic wall, I would say, where you're not going to be able to get by just by memorizing shapes.

And so some of my job as a learning support tutor is assisting them through that, literally helping them to rewire their brain so they can learn to read. Oh, that's kind of wild. That's actually kind of fantastic, though, that enough research has been done that we have at least this level of understanding compared to, I don't know, 100 years ago or something. Right.

Wow. That's kind of—It is very fascinating. So this is not a vision problem. Students aren't seeing backwards. But my job is to help them develop skills to learn to read well. So would you let me do a little experiment? Yes, of course. Okay.

So one of the things, if I don't understand dyslexia well, I can end up doing some pretty harmful things. So you're a good reader, right? I think so, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, I'm wondering if you would read this sentence for me. Okay.

It's not difficult, and I'm sure you've seen all these words before. Okay.

Okay. Tell me what you're seeing.

You're a good reader, Reagan. This is wild. That's wild. You need to try harder. So what words are you seeing? Are those complete words, or are they split apart? It's a complete sentence. You've seen these words many times. So start here.

Oh. This? This. This? Okay. I'm trying to find the pattern here. Gotcha. Keep going.

This actual—Actual? Look, you missed a word. This is—This is—Actually—Actually?

Quite—Ay yoy—Quite easy to decode. Wow. Look at you. Were you working hard? Yeah, but like in a different way. Right. Now, if I would have shown you the sentence, if I would have shown it to you like this, I thought I had it on the back there. Like you normally see it, you would have been able to read it, no problem. This is easy to decode. But because you're adding the layers, almost like the levels, my brain immediately said this is scrambled. Yes. It's not, but it's—Exactly. That's wild. So you see, this gives you a little bit of an experience what it's like to try to read as a dyslexic student. Yeah. What do you do when the letters move around?

Yeah. Or if you're—I'm used to the letters being in layers. Right. Layers, levels, anyways. That's wild. Okay. So you take a lack of understanding into this. If you're one of my reading students, you know I say, "Reagan, you need to try harder.

You can look at the word." Well, you are looking at the word. You are trying. And then you have the whole thing, "Well, Reagan, you need to study this with me at recess." And you're like, "Oh, no. I was already working so hard. Now I need to stay in at recess?" Okay. And things just build, and then the behavior starts happening, and we want to try to manage the behavior. And there's all these layers to just not simply understanding what's actually going on.

So that's an example of how I can cause trauma by lack of understanding. Well, and that does seem to tie in very closely with another one that I want to have you describe a bit. Yeah. Because when we were on the phone before, we were talking through like, "Okay, what are we going to cover on the podcast?" You used a term I'd never heard before, another one I'd never heard. And that was academic trauma. Yes. And I'm already seeing how—okay, I think I'm seeing how this might start going together with what you were just saying. So yeah, tell me about what is academic trauma. Define that for us. Yes. Okay. So let's take the phrase apart a little bit.

So academic obviously has to do with school learning. And trauma is a word that gets thrown around a lot these days. But I'm just going to try to define it a little bit for how I'm using it in this conversation. So trauma can be a life-threatening event, like a car accident. Maybe you almost died. You lost a parent. You witnessed a shooting. Abuse, neglect. Like all of those things I would call big T trauma. They're life-threatening events. And the person is overwhelmed, does not feel resourced as to how to deal with the situation. So feeling overwhelmed, feeling helpless, those are often symptoms of trauma. So now if you have a one case where I'm just going to say you yelled at your daughter, okay?

She's probably not going to develop trauma over that. But you yell at your daughter every day. It becomes verbally abusive. It becomes an overwhelming situation where your daughter is going to feel helpless. Okay. So we think about trauma.

We know that by itself, the event by itself might not be threatening, but it was impactful. And one of the things that we're learning about trauma is how it imprints on our nervous system. Okay. So let's say with our students now, let's say they have dyslexia or they're autistic and they're misunderstood. They come to school day after day after day after day. They're misunderstood. That creates this academic trauma for them. Does that make sense? It really does.

Would you be able to get it a bit practical? Yes. I don't know. Maybe if you have some examples, if you can share those. Wow. I'm already thinking of some examples in my own mind as well. But anyways, yes. Go ahead. Yes. Let me share a story with you.

I was working with a boy in middle school. He was dyslexic and he had ADHD. And he was on my caseload. And so I began working with him. And I knew that he had transferred to our school in the recent past. And we're about two weeks into the school year. And he made a comment to me. And I said, "Hmm.

That must have been difficult." And that validation of his experience opened it up for him. And he began talking about how traumatic his past school had been. And I sat there and listened to him. And I said, "Johnny, that must have been really hard." And he said, "It was."

But that began the process of a friendship and a real connection between us. And one of the things that I told him, I said, "You know, at our current school, we are going to do the best that we can to accommodate the way your brain works. We want to make this a safe environment for you to learn. We're not going to do this perfectly, but that's our goal." And students are not—they're not concerned about us having every—or they're not concerned about every interaction being perfect. They want to be affirmed, I should say. They need to be affirmed and validated.

So as he was opening up to me about his past story, he very vividly described his experience of depression. So think of this academic trauma that he's facing. And this is middle school. This is a middle school boy. Oh my. Yeah. This is a seventh grader.

And I asked him about it a little bit. And he said, "Well, depression lasts all the way home from school. It lasts the whole way through the weekend. It lasts all through the holidays." And I just felt really sad about that.

We don't want our teens to be having these experiences of depression. And my goal is not to shame his teachers or his former school. My point is, can we have some understanding around his learning differences and try to accommodate that and create a safe environment? Because for someone who's experienced trauma, one factor that must absolutely be present is safety.

My students are not going to learn well at all. If they come into the classroom and they're thinking, "Am I safe with Ms. Coons? Is she going to yell at me? Is she going to get mad at me? Is she going to—" they're not going to learn. It's that amygdala, that part of our brain that wants to keep us safe, is constantly scanning for danger, danger, danger. Okay? So my goal as a tutor, when I get a new student who doesn't know me at all, is to establish that relationship of rapport and safety.

I think safety is a really key piece there. Yes. Right? I wonder things like academic trauma could potentially be much more widespread than we realize. Absolutely. Absolutely. Because it's just like, I don't know, you just kind of go through the day-to-day and you know what I mean? It's just getting your routines. And then suddenly, like you're mentioning this particular case, and then you start peeling back the curtain a bit and seeing how this student is actually feeling. Like, "Whoa, wait a minute. That is not good." And then you got to kind of wonder how many more cases that are like that that we never hear about. Exactly. I'm speculating, obviously. I'm not in the field of education necessarily, but.

Right. Right. So I think one thing to think about often at our private schools, especially if it's a small private school, they may not necessarily have a resource room or a learning support room where your student is able to get some one-on-one tutoring. So back to my middle school or some of the ways that we accommodated him, caffeine would help his ADHD. And so he'd eat coffee beans before he came to the classroom. Really? No, that's great. It was wonderful because I'd get this smell of fresh ground coffee.

That was a positive for both of us. That was not where I expected that to go. I'm just saying. Possible solution. Eating coffee beans. But hey, I mean, that sounds like it worked. For him, he was like, "A little bit of caffeine just helps me to focus." And then on days when he would say, "I just can't focus today." Okay. I would try to just really back off, and we would just kind of—we would slow-mo it or just really go gently at it. The other thing for him is that reading black text on a white page was distracting for him. And so sometimes overlays will help. Again, this is going to vary with your students.

But for him, I would give him a green overlay, and it would take away that contrast. It was a little easier on his eyes to actually read. Oh, okay. I get that. That makes sense. Yeah. So those are just a couple of practical things that I'm thinking about. The story with him, I felt like had a beautiful ending the year that he—so I worked with him for a year. And at the end of that year, his mom wrote me this beautiful note. And she was thanking me for what I had done for her son. And her last line in the note was, "Thank you for helping him heal." And that just causes me to worship.

The Lord can take my small understanding of these things and make it into something really redemptive and restorative. And so that was a real moment of worship for me. So we were looking at some interesting pieces here with neurodivergence, academic trauma, especially the theme of safety.

Yeah. But yeah, safety. Students need to feel safe when they're with their teacher, etc. And a piece I'm thinking about is education can be an amazing experience, right? So I was homeschooled and then went on to Bible school and college. Honestly, I had a great experience through all of that.

Yeah, I really did. But I know not everybody has that. And it's kind of easy to take for granted. "Oh, yeah, it was fine. Why isn't every—" you just miss it, right? So there are many people who don't have that experience. And I guess the question I have is, so how can we create better educational experiences for our children? Which is an enormous question. And I'm sure we won't answer all of that right here and now because every situation is different. But at least give us some pieces to work with. Sure. Yes. That is such a good question.

Yeah. Okay. There's a lot of ways we could go with this. But since we're talking around the academic trauma, the learning difference piece, I'm going to kind of address that. So how can we create better experiences? So I think especially if we are in a small school and we don't have all the resources that are needed, I think we need to think creatively.

We'll maybe get to more of that in our next episode when we talk about burnout. But I think there's a lot on homeroom teachers. And let's say that they're teaching multiple grades and have a really heavy workload. They don't have a lot of support. They're doing just multiple pieces with their students, teaching all the math, reading, Bible, all of that. I think sometimes our teachers are so overloaded that they don't have—there's not enough brain space left to develop this mindset of curiosity. Like, "Well, what is dyslexia, for example?

How can I accommodate that?" "Well, my student with ADHD is doing this." And what's actually going on with that behavior? But I think our teachers are so overloaded, there's not always that space to think about it. So I think we need to think about how we can support our teachers better.

So yeah, cultivate a mindset of curiosity. I'm curious about—or I'm curious about what that might mean. Because behavior is always a language.

So the mindset of curiosity is huge. I think doing some research, seeking to understand what would it be like to—just like the example I gave you there with dyslexia. Well, that helps us understand a little bit what it's like to be in their shoes.

I have some friends that I asked some questions to them just to see what they would have to say from the parent perspective. And I have a friend who they have some adopted children. And in one conversation, I sensed that she was having some frustration around the whole thing of trying to advocate for her child, but she wasn't feeling understood by the teachers. And so I asked her a little bit about that. I said, "So what can we do as educators to make it easier for you as parents to advocate for your children?"

And she said, "Ruthianna, I don't think anyone has ever asked me that question." And I thought, "Wow." It showed me how this conversation is so important. So it's really important as an educator to have a heart of compassion for our students.

They do feel that. I know we don't always respond in the right ways, okay? But they can feel if you have a heart of compassion. Also, having a heart posture of humility. So when a parent comes to me, this is their child. They know how this child works.

Being able to hear them. And sometimes they have suggestions for how we can actually help this child thrive. Okay? And I know on the other hand, sometimes they are so stressed and so in the moment that they're just surviving. So compassion, humility, fostering a classroom atmosphere that feels safe.

And then validation. And I find validation for parents who are dealing with children from hard places is really key too. Because sometimes they need to hear from another source. Like, "Thank you for everything you are doing for your child." And so I think if we can develop this team relationship where I'm working with the parents, they're working with me. It's not me against them or them against me.

Almost seems like you're using terminology that's collaborative, synergetic, and so forth. But really, there's almost like a community element as well, right? Instead of just like, "I just kind of doing your thing, and you're doing your thing," and so forth. Right. Right.

There's another piece that I'm thinking about with this conversation right now. And this kind of comes back to the education one-size-fits-all. So let's say that you have a school whose policy is, "Okay, well, if you are failing, if you have a failing grade in any subject, that means that that disqualifies you from, let's say, going on a field trip."

Okay. So for certain students who may actually need that motivation, that can be okay. Let's say you have a student who's dealing with a lot of trauma, and their brain is just kind of maxed. To say, "Well, you're failing. You can't go on the field trip," I think is just a really hurtful response. Or when parents hear like, "Well, we can't bend the rules for your child."

That's the opposite of compassion and humility and understanding. That sounds like dangerous or difficult territory to navigate, which you're describing there. Yes. Yes. It can be. There's a thread in that, though, that stands out to me, and that's the compassion side of things, right?

Are we doing these things ultimately from a spirit of compassion? Right. Right. Yeah. You've given us a lot to think about in this episode. Education is fairly complex. There's lots of opinions and different models and ways of doing things. Of course, we'll never cover everything on this podcast. But kind of tying together the whole package, right, of what we've done. What is one practical thing that a listener can take from this and take at least one step in the right direction when it comes to education, whatever their role may be in their community?

Ooh. One thing? Yeah. Well, you can give us more if you like.

I think be curious.

Be a lifetime learner. Be a—wooh, let me say that again. Be a lifelong learner. See if I can get that alliteration there. I love learning about new things. And so in this case, it may mean learning differences. It doesn't take a lot to just learn a little bit about how you can help children who learn differently. So be curious, be compassionate, have a stance of humility.

And ultimately, it means staying connected with the Lord too because we're human, and that's a good thing. We have our limitations. And there are days where it's really stressful. There's a lot on our plate. And I think in that case, it can be okay to say, "You know what, Lord? I trust today that your grace is big enough to cover the gaps."

Again, that thread that keeps coming up through this episode is the curiosity and the compassion. These are the things that—yeah, that's really good. Wow. I feel like I learned a lot on this one. There's a lot to think about here. And I appreciate you taking the time to share on this because these topics can be a bit complex and difficult to, I don't know, work through. And yeah, I just appreciate you being willing to do that. Is there anything else you would like to leave us as we wrap this episode up? Thank you so much for inviting me on. I've just been delighted to be able to talk about some of these things that I'm really passionate about.

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for sharing. Thank you. Thanks for listening to this episode with Ruthianna. If you found this interesting, you should check out this episode we did a number of years ago with Kyle Stallspoos on the topic of higher education. You can find that linked in the description down below. And of course, all our content is on our website at anabaptistperspectives.org. Thanks again, and we'll see you in the next episode.