Personalized social-emotional learning
Empowering social-emotional growth starts with understanding—and then helping the child to understand—the data in each child’s profiles, and how neuropsychological and neurophysiological skills influence their social-emotional and academic outcomes
All Cajal Academy students receive the social leadership skills development in our Vision to Voice Curriculum that is integrated throughout the program. For those students who have social or emotional challenges, we also create a highly-individualized Student Growth Catalyst, using the same data-driven methodology that we apply to learning challenges. Here is an overview of how we use that process to address social emotional learning needs.
1. We use the data in each student’s profile to identify any splinter skills important to the social or emotional tasks where they struggle that are relatively under-developed, using our Catalyst Method.
Each student’s program at Cajal starts with identifying the specific challenges holding them back. Then our multi-disciplinary clinical team develops a data-driven program to build up the skills they need to propel their social growth. This analysis begins in the admissions process, through a detailed parent questionnaire, a review of the child’s prior assessments and an on-site interview day. Throughout this process, we view emotional and behavioral differences as “bread crumbs” indicating problems that this child needs our help to solve.
2. We empower transformative social-emotional growth that transfers across settings, by teaching them how they can turn core universal truths about body-brain connections in their favor
At the heart of our Neuro- and Trauma-Informed Approach is the scientific reality that our thoughts, feelings and academic access are deeply influenced by our unique profile of neuropsychological “splinter skills” on the one hand, and our then-current level of neurophysiologic regulation on the other. This premise flows throughout all aspects of Cajal Academy’s social-emotional approach, including how we empower kids to understand their own actions and shift from social learners into social leaders; how we give kids agency over their experiences in the moment through strategies they can use to self-monitor, self-manage and self-advocate for their needs; and how we propel student growth through coaching in moments of conflict—whether that is between two students or between a student and a task that scares them. Parents report that this translates to sustained social growth at home and in the community, often within just a couple months of joining the program.
3. We analyze any observed social challenges in light of the data in their profile to identify what problem the child needs our help to solve
Social interactions are complex, and just as heavily influenced by our neuropsychological and neurophysiological profiles as our academic experiences are—so we take the same data-driven approach to identifying what problem this child needs our help to solve, and then how we can reduce those difficulties. This is not a one-size-fits-all approach. For example, students who know what to do in a given situation but rarely manage to do so in real owing to sensory hypersensitivities would be better helped by working with our sensory therapist on maintaining self-regulation than they would by social pragmatics work with a SLP. We share our findings about the root of a student’s social challenges with both their parents and the student themselves, accelerating progress that transfers across settings.
4. Our Agency Coaching brings a powerful new tool to kids’ psycho-social toolbox, helping them make and leverage the connections between body and brain experiences
Stress, anxiety, sadness, joy, excitement, happiness and depression are not just emotional states but physiologic ones. Often, physiologic responses are so closely tied to a given emotional state that we will experience them as an emotional reaction. However, these body-brain connections are bilateral—so they can be used to re-regulate the brain as well. For instance, students who have sensory processing disorders may be profoundly overwhelmed by a strong sensory input, but for all of us, specific sensory inputs release neurochemicals in the brain that, when applied in the correct sequence and amount, can re-regulate the brain as well.
5. We foster an authentic growth mindset by helping students understand how their profiles influence their experiences
We give students Growth Mindset Coaching bringing together the different components of their profiles and helping them to disentangle in real time how the combination of their motivations, fears, physiologic functioning and “Not Yet Skills” contributed to a particular social, emotional and/or academic event. This powerful approach is a collaborative process delivered by our co-founder and Head of School that models how they can apply their high analytical skills to better understand experiences that may happen very quickly or may be very overwhelming in the moment. Over time, students learn to distinguish between their triggers, their neurophysiological and/or emotional reactions thereto and their responses, accepting reactions they may not yet be able to control while giving them agency to start “driving a Moment of Choice” to select responses that align with their social and/or learning goals. This process has brought significant improvements in challenges as diverse as task avoidance, interpersonal conflicts and more.
We identify and fill gaps in students’ social understandings
Students with uneven neuropsychological and/or social development often have idiosyncratic understandings of how social interactions work. At the core of the curriculum itself is the understanding that social interactions reflect each child’s “Not Yet Skills,” and a toolbox kids can use to foster truly inclusive neurodivergent communities. Parents report that this translates to sustained social growth at home and in the community, often within just a couple months of joining the program.
We help kids “leap frog” from social learning to social leadership by leveraging our small setting to give them a toolbox for how to foster truly-inclusive neurodivergent communities at home and in the community
At the core of the curriculum itself is the understanding that social interactions reflect each child’s “Not Yet Skills:” a lens that replaces culturally-loaded concepts like “character” that kids may struggle to make actionable with the more scientifically-grounded understanding that our current social experiences are the product of myriad skills—which we can develop through the process of neuroplasticity. This gives kids permission to be who they are and where they are in the learning process, and a growth mindset about their own emotional development.
We coach our students in how to use this powerful lens to understand their peers’ actions as well, giving them powerful perspectives that foster social and emotional resilience. We infuse these understandings throughout our program, specifically fostering our community’s unique culture of not just accepting but celebrating one another’s differences. By educating students on the science of how children grow, think and feel, and on the range of neurophysiological differences, we provide the basis for true empathy towards one’s peers. Learning differences, self-regulation challenges and more become “just science,” taking the judgment out so kids can bring their best selves to the learning experience. Within our student body, this translates into an authentic culture of shared progress, as students gain confidence and a vocabulary for sharing and supporting both our challenges and our victories, harnessing the healing power of a safe and supportive peer group. This provides what is for many kids a first experience of being able to safely acknowledge and receive support for their struggles within a peer community, fostering life-long skills in seeking and accepting support for our challenges.
Taking this a step further, we put these understandings at the heart of a toolbox kids can use to foster truly inclusive neurodivergent communities, with a shift from “following the rules” to “fostering community” as the goal of our social-emotional and behavioral curriculum. Paradoxically, our small setting accelerates this work, by giving students a safe and more predictable social environment within which to do the self-reflective work required to master these new skills. Parents report that this approach, which is unique to Cajal Academy, translates to sustained social growth at home and in the community, often within just a couple months of joining the program.
Ongoing neuropsychological and psychological services provide real-time identification and strategies to help students live their best lives.
Each of the students in our program meets with Dr. Mattis, our school’s Psychologist and Director of Programs and a recognized neuropsychologist who brings decades of experience as a clinician, researcher and academic. He brings this knowledge to his work with our students, identifying how discrepant skill gaps in a child’s neuropsychological profile and hidden neurophysiological events combine to impact a given child’s day to day experiences. He then collaborates with our licensed occupational and physical therapists to develop both short-term self-regulation strategies the child can use in the moment and long-term therapeutic interventions to reduce these obstacles.
Learn more about our Student Growth Catalysts
