Educational trauma develops when children repeatedly hear that their authentic selves are wrong.

Shame is a prickly and hot feeling in my face and it’s the holding of my breath and a strong desire to disappear. It is sticky and really uncomfortable, and the strong temptation is to attempt to avoid it and not to admit to it.

Our education system operates on an assumption: that children should adapt to fit its structures. But what happens to those whose neurobiology, trauma history, or simply whose authentic selves don't conform? They face an impossible choice—change who they are at devastating personal cost, or accept exclusion and judgement.