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"This book is an absolute must-read for educators. Educator fatigue and burnout are at an all-time high. Students are carrying their mental and emotional exhaustion into the classroom. Intentional Neuroplasticity explores the plasticity of the brain and nervous system, while learning how adversity and trauma impact a student's developing nervous system to affect behaviors--which ultimately changes the way educators approach discipline and engagement. Neuroplasticity is more than the latest and greatest buzzword-when educational practitioners are informed and encouraged to share this dynamic, miraculous superpower of human potentiality, both teachers and children understand why they feel the way they do, and how feelings and thoughts impact their mood, motivation, and engagement. When we empower and relieve our nervous systems with the language of science and deepened understanding of why we sense, feel, and behave the ways we do, we are preparing for a lifetime of possibility through the knowledge of brain and body architecture and plasticity. With the growing body of research in relational and affective neuroscience, our schools can benefit and serve the whole student as we prioritize the nervous system by addressing the embodied experiences, generational and historical trauma, and the stories they hold. Lori Desautels is a teacher, not a neuroscientist-she knows that the translations and applications from the affective, developmental, social, and relational neuroscience research are critical to educational practitioners now more than ever. No one could have been prepared for the emotional and social losses, challenging behaviors, and dysregulation that are impacting the well-being of our students during the past few years-our collective nervous systems feel the tension and unrest. Intentional Neuroplasticity: Moving Our Nervous Systems and Educational System Toward Post-Traumatic Growth can provide educators cutting-edge information, practices, tools, and exercises to regulate and empower themselves and their students for resiliency and success! KIRKUS REVIEWS writes: ""A manual for empathic and trauma-informed teaching. In her latest book, Desautels, an assistant professor in Indiana-based Butler University's College of Education, builds on her work in Connections Over Compliance (2020) to offer a framework to create an effective learning environment for students while also optimizing teachers' mental health. Drawing on applied educational neuroscience and polyvagal theory (which foregrounds the role of the vagus nerve on emotions and reactions to trauma), Desautels explains how to approach and maintain emotional regulation, help students achieve stability, and create a supportive environment that allows space for learning. The book encourages teachers to coregulate with students, modeling such behaviors as deep breathing, taking breaks, and mindfulness, while also understanding that the methods they find most useful may not be the ones their students prefer. Desautels addresses the specific problems that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought to the learning experience but reminds readers that there's always been a need for welcoming approaches to teaching. The book includes several 'Guest Reflections' by other teachers, which offer additional perspectives on trauma-informed teaching and provide concrete examples of implementing this book's highlighted techniques. Desautels acknowledges that her methods may require a fundamental shift in classroom management, but she persuasively presents the work as worthwhile."

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In her new book Intentional Neuroplasticity, Dr. Desautels captures the essential elements of Interpersonal Neurobiology and its application in the classroom and beyond. She presents a model of the human brain as a social organ of adaptation that becomes primed to learn and heal through empathy, attunement, and positive human interactions. Very much recommended! -LOU COZOLINO, PH.D., Author of The Social Neuroscience of Education and Attachment-Based Teaching Dr. Desautels has interpreted vital learnings from decades of research in the neurobiology of trauma into friendly, engaging messages, and she shares an abundance of creative resources and ideas that are so relevant and so needed in classrooms today! This book is filled with real world stories, examples, and solutions from educators and for educators. The message is clear-to help soothe the unsettled nervous systems of my students, it starts with how I manage my nervous system. It begins with me! -DR. JUDITH HOWARD, Associate Professor in Trauma-Aware Education, Queensland University of Technology, Australia This book will undoubtedly transform the way in which you view the emotional state of our children in a school environment. The practical strategies provided in this book for how to support the emotional well-being of children are unparalleled. Lori Desautels beautifully distills our current understanding of neurobiology and provides teachers with the tools necessary to more compassionately engage with their students. -CHRISTINE M. CRAWFORD, MD, MPH, Associate Medical Director, Research, Support and Education, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Wow! Dr. Desautels digs deep into the impact of trauma-informed work throughout this whole book. From the thought-provoking graphics to applying the theory to practice, this is a paradigm-shifting book that all educators need to read. Every chapter connected how we as educators can utilize science to ensure that our students experience safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments, which are the keys to successful classrooms and schools. -MATHEW PORTELL, Founder of the Trauma Informed Educators Network In this day and age, where the ravages of trauma burn through our nervous systems and wreak havoc in our communities and schools, Dr. Lori Desautels offers a glimpse into a possibility of a different world-a world in which our nervous systems are regulated, and we can learn, heal, and grow together. By softening our bodies, sharing our stories, and letting the light come in, there is indeed much cause for hope. Many thanks to Dr. Desautels for this marvelous book that helps lead the way. -DR. ALBERT WONG, Director of the Trauma Certificate Program, Somatopia This book is an absolute must-read for educators. It brilliantly ties in trauma responses, applied neuroscience, and connection into tangible strategies. Dr. Desautels brilliantly combines, not just the 'why' and the skills needed for educators, but also provides real easy-to-use strategies for any educator to start using immediately. One of the best books I've ever read that combines research of applied neuroscience with easy-to-use strategies. -NATHAN MAYNARD, Best-Selling Author, Educational Leader, and Internationally-Leading Expert in Restorative Justice

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