Sage Vigil is a special education teacher at Lakeland School in Walworth County, where she teaches reading to students in grades 1–3. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Special Education from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, gaining valuable classroom experience in Milwaukee Public Schools before completing her student teaching at Prairie Elementary School in Waukesha.
One of my profound interests within education is trauma‑informed care and hands-off approaches to managing behavioral and developmental crises. In just my two years as a special education teacher, I have seen how seclusion and physical restraints, though sometimes used with the intention of maintaining safety, can retraumatize and further dysregulate students, ultimately diminishing trust. I want to help educators move beyond compliance‑based strategies, and instead toward responses that prioritize relationships, regulation, and understanding the functions of behavior. My ultimate goal is to study evidence‑based, hands-off strategies that de-escalate crises while maintaining dignity and safety, and to learn how to design and evaluate professional learning that changes classroom practice and school policy.