It’s a Goldilocks situation. Just as the challenge shouldn’t be too big, it also shouldn’t be too small; it has to be novel enough to cause the child to leave the comfort zone of their known experiences and already-mastered skills. If the challenge is going to build resilience, it has to be moderate—just right. Finding the “just right” is a major issue with children who have had trauma. Remember, they frequently live in a persistent state of fear. And fear shuts down parts of the cortex—the thinking part of the brain. In a classroom, what may seem to be a moderate, developmentally appropriate
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