Towards the end of the center I talked to some of the learners about how the brain works. I had read earlier that it was quite powerful to talk to children about the workings of the brain so they can better regulate themselves with a specific understanding. We talked about how the bottom brain (amygdala) is the fear center of the brain and how it prompts us to have fight and flight responses. While this is an important function of the brain we need to make sure that this center is not always activated and that we also need to use our top brain (prefrontal cortex) to make decisions. As I was talking to them a very young learner came and jumped on my lap. This frustrated the learners I was talking to and they were quite angry. I used this moment to reinforce what I was talking about and this really stayed with the learners. I explained that while at first glance it is easy to get frustrated and want to hit this learner for being angry. When we pause for a second and think about how this learner had lost her father recently and was simply looking for some affection we are able to make a more informed decision. I noticed that after this understanding the learners were pausing for a moment and putting things in perspective. They were a lot calmer as some others came in and were jumping on me and being disruptive. I’m quite convinced that understanding how the brain works can be really valuable for these learners and it would be interesting to observe if this effect is able to stay with them long term as well.