Twenty First Century Neuroscience, Learning, and Behavior

There is nothing ordinary about learning and managing student behaviors in the twenty-first century. The students of today are not the students of yesterday. Consider that anxiety is the number-one diagnosis assigned to children today and that such anxiety does not respond well to verbal efforts to manage that anxiety and its associated behaviors. Also consider that one in four children will be exposed to a traumatic experience by age four. This represents approximately 5 million children every year who come into our classrooms with unique learning and behavioral needs. Also keep in mind that longitudinal research has repeatedly demonstrated that two out of every three children have poor regulation skills (Transforming Education, 2015).