ROSECRANTS’ OKLAHOMA PLAY TO LEARN ACT SIGNED INTO LAW BY GOVERNOR

REESE GORMAN: NORMAN TRANSCRIPT

NORMAN — After a tedious three-year process, Rep. Jacob Rosecrants had his education and play-based learning bill signed into law by the governor on May 11.

HB 1569, better known as the Oklahoma Play to Learn Act, will allow early childhood educators to teach in the hands-on, “play-based” way they were taught to teach, said Rosecrants, D-Norman.

The bill in part allows early childhood educators to create learning environments that are developmentally appropriate and involve play-based learning opportunities focused on movement, creative expression, exploration, socialization, art and music.

The bill was three years in the making, as studies conducted by Rosecrants took a year, and COVID halted the legislation from getting anywhere last session.

The Oklahoma Play to Learn Act garnered staunch bipartisan support from both chambers — Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, authored the bill in the Senate, and state Rep. Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, added some “teeth” to the bill through the process, Rosecrants said.

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THE POWER OF PLAY

HARVARD CENTER ON THE DEVELOPING CHILD

Play in early childhood is an effective way to support building responsive relationships, strengthening core skills, and reducing sources of stress—all of which can help children and families thrive. We've compiled a list of resources that can help build brains and make everyday moments fun!

OKLAHOMA’S COMMUNITY RESILIENCE TRAINERS TEAM UP TO SPREAD AWARENESS

BY CHERYL STEP

The Potts Family Foundation supports a vital program that is helping Oklahomans become aware of the Adverse Childhood Experiences study (ACEs Study) and the risks that trauma and toxic stress can impose on our health and development, especially when experienced before the age of 18. This initiative also highlights the protective factors that we, as individuals, families, workplaces and communities, can foster that decrease the negative impact of adversities and allow people and communities to thrive.

When examining best practices to address adversities, trauma and toxic stress, an organization, school or community begins the process of becoming “trauma informed.” It is very important to define “trauma informed” so our shared language is consistent. According the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an agency within the US Department of Health and Human Services, a trauma-informed approach “involves (1) realizing the prevalence of trauma in the lives of the youth and families being served across service sectors; (2) recognizing the impact of trauma on youth, families, service providers and organizations, and communities; (3) responding collectively in ways that are informed by an understanding of trauma and what is needed to support recovery and resilience; and (4) resisting enacting policies or engaging in practices that are retraumatizing for youth and families across systems” (SAMHSA, 2014).

According to best practices supported by SAMHSA’s National Child Traumatic Stress Networkand a multitude of local and state initiatives and universities across our country, one of the beginning phases of the trauma informed approach is spreading consistent, accurate knowledge about the ACEs study and the neurobiological impact adversities and stress can have on the body, brain and brain development which also can impact certain skill development. There must also exist a consistent dissemination of information to help support those impacted by trauma by increasing protective factors including building safety and attachment and increasing capabilities.

Therefore, an agency, school or community becoming trauma informed or promoting training as trauma informed, must ensure the process begins with education that expands trauma awareness and understanding for all people involved, including staff, clients, students, families or community members.

Potts Family Foundation supports an initiative aimed at sharing knowledge and understanding about trauma’s impact on brains, bodies and our society as a whole, as well as what each one of us can do to mitigate negative impacts and foster resilience. For the past few years in Oklahoma, they have offered, and continue to offer, viewings of the documentary, Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope and assist the hosting agency or community in securing panelist to process the documentary with the audience after the screening. More recently they have supported the training of 31 professionals across our state in the NEAR Science- Beyond ACEs. (This blog supplies more information about that program.) This team of trainers, called Community Resilience Trainers, use consistent curriculum created by Laura Porter and Dr. Rob Anda of ACE Interface to spread research-based information about the Neurobiology and Epigenetics of trauma, the ACEs Study and Resilience factors. Both the screenings and presentations are offered free of charge and in live, virtual or hybrid formats.

The team of Community Resilience Trainers began presenting in mid-April this year. Since that time, they have already presented over 33 hours in 15 presentations and impacted almost 550 participants. The team has nine presentations currently scheduled with new dates continuing to be scheduled each week. They are presenting at major conferences in our state including the Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, Zarrow Mental Health Symposium, Region IV Head Start Conference, Oklahoma Partner in Public Health and several others.

The Potts Family Foundation and Community Resilience Trainers are dedicated to spreading knowledge that is backed by science and research and is presented in a consistent format. Using accurate, common language to spread understanding about trauma and adversities is the initial step to becoming trauma informed. The Community Resilience Trainers are a main part of that growing movement sweeping across Oklahoma spreading awareness.

For more information about this initiative visit our community group, Raising Resilient Oklahomans, on PACEsConnection.com. For digital flyers about scheduling a documentary screening or a NEAR Science- Beyond ACEs presentation in Oklahoma, visit Raising Resilient Oklahomans, click on Resources for Downloading/Presentations then choose either Resilience Documentary Screening Flyer or NEAR Science- Beyond ACEs Flyer. You can also contact Linda Manaugh to schedule documentary screenings in OK at lmanaugh@pottsfamilyfoundation.organd contact Cheryl Step to schedule NEAR Science-Beyond ACEs presentations in OK at cstep.cr@gmail.com.

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SYSTEM TRANSFORMATION TO SUPPORT CHILD & FAMILY WELL-BEING: THE CENTRAL ROLE OF ECONOMIC & CONCRETE SUPPORTS

BY CHAPIN HALL

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IMPROVING OUR GRADE FOR BETTER HEALTH OUTCOMES

BY LINDA MANAUGH & PAT POTTS

Our hats are off to The Okahoman for its expanded offering of thought-provoking articles, including Grading Oklahoma. The full-page article in the Sunday, July 18 issue gave rise to hope that our state is once again ready to look at our shortcomings and change our priorities and policies to realize the potential of our people. Of specific focus for the Potts Family Foundation is the health and well-being of our youngest residents.

To achieve positive change — moving from the bottom 10 states to even being in the top 25 in childhood well-being — will require significant coordination of time, talent and investment across state agencies, nonprofit organizations, business leaders, policy makers and community coalitions. Indeed, to move from the state with the most traumatized children to one that focuses on the antidote of mitigation and prevention is a goal worthy of our best efforts.

As noted in the pictograph on Child Well-Being, Oklahoma ranks 42nd of 50. For context, we have been up and down since 2018 from 44th to 42nd to 45th and back to 42nd. No one can be happy about these rankings, and indications are that the 2022 report based on 2020 data will drop in part due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s no coincidence that Oklahoma City and Tulsa were just named the two most unhealthy large cities. As Dr. Robert Block, retired Tulsa pediatrician, reminds us, all adults were once children, and we know that over 50% of our fellow Oklahomans have an Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) score of 1 or more. The ACE study shows a direct correlation between trauma during childhood and poor health behaviors and outcomes in adulthood.

What we have learned that gives us hope and direction is the healing power of positive experiences, especially the power of positive relationships with competent and caring adults — even one adult. For every one of the 10 adversities identified in the ACE study by Drs. Felitti and Anda, there are at least 10 corresponding Protective and Compensatory Experiences (PACEs) as identified by Amanda Morris, Ph.D., and Jennifer Hays-Grudo, Ph.D. These include parent/caregiver unconditional love; spending time with a best friend; volunteering or helping others; being active in a social group; having a mentor outside of the family; living in a clean, safe home with enough food; having opportunities to learn; having a hobby; being active or playing sports; and having routines and fair rules at home. These experiences can increase resilience and protect against risk for mental and physical illness later in life. Research continues to support the fact that adults with a history of ACEs who also had several PACEs during childhood had fewer issues related to health and wellbeing.

We also know that the most critical period of a child’s life is the first three years, including the pre-birth period of fetal development. The more we can provide our youngest Oklahomans with positive relational experiences, the greater that connection will translate into protection from the negative impact of adversity. Connection is protection. With intention, we can foster stronger and more resilient children creating the pathway for disrupting the pattern of poor health outcomes.

Policy-making through a trauma-informed lens and the adoption and full funding of evidence-based practices like PACEs, high-quality child care and home visitation programs will go a long way to reversing these trends.

THIS OPED APPEARED IN THE SUNDAY OKLAHOMAN ON AUGUST 1, 2021

JUST LIKE TORNADOES, PANDEMIC RECOVERY REQUIRES PROFESSIONALS TO REBUILD

BY GINNY BASS CARL & CRAIG KNUTSON

After a tornado rips through an Oklahoma community, the recovery requires the coordination of construction crews, financing, immediate relief paired with long-term recovery supports to get residents back into the safety and security of their homes and communities.

The same is true for the COVID-19 pandemic, a traumatic public health event and life storm that has swept the foundation out from underneath many families and communities. Just like rebuilding after a tornado, pandemic recovery requires crews of professionals from mental health, behavioral health, education, early education, housing, workforce development and philanthropy to rebuild together.

Through coordination of financial resources and common goals, Oklahoma can construct the pathways and opportunities that will restore strong foundations. Braiding American Rescue Fund Act (ARPA) funds with existing resources, and building on proven approaches and practices in the state, Oklahoma can ensure that families with young children and their communities emerge from the pandemic safe, secure, healthy and well.

The Potts Family Foundation, working in concert with other foundations, nonprofits and researchers, is supporting the development of such a framework of goals and objectives, focused on families with young children hit the hardest by this pandemic. What’s needed is for the Legislature, the governor, county and local leaders, and other decision makers over ARPA funds to support this strategic framework.

While it’s true the we have all been impacted, some more than others, on-going research from Johns Hopkins, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to name a few, indicates the pandemic has taken its greatest toll on families who were already experiencing adversity. If infants, toddlers and preschoolers are left out of Oklahoma’s pandemic recovery plan, it will be certain that the state will be left with the high cost of repairing the damage year after year into the foreseeable future.

We know that this age group, because of the sensitive period of human development that occurs in early childhood, is particularly vulnerable to elevated levels of anxiety, depression, income loss, housing instability and substance use that are evident in current data. Intentionally designing and funding a set of strategies to construct protective factors into the lives of families with young children and their communities will build the foundation on which the state’s current and future economy and workforce rests.

Our collective goal is to repair immediate problems and set a new foundation: As part of the state’s economic recovery, all Oklahoma young children and their families who live with adversities become safe, secure, healthy, thriving and contributing to strong local and state economies now and in the future.

There is a saying, “When is the best time to plant a tree? Twenty years ago. The second best time to plant a tree is today.” Oklahoma and its communities will pay a high cost for years to come, and suffer an intense drain of workforce capacity today and in the future, if ARPA and other funds are not collected together in a coordinated plan designed to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on young children and their families.

THIS OPED APPEARED IN THE TULSA WORLD ON FRIDAY, AUGUST 20, 2021 AND IN THE SUNDAY OKLAHOMAN ON AUGUST 22, 2021