TCI TRAINING CORNELL CORE 2026 MAIN EXAM
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔When does a crisis occur? - ✔✔A child's fight, flight, flock, or freeze response is
activated and they are unable to regulate their emotions and behaviors.
✔✔What are the goals of crisis intervention? - ✔✔Support & Teach
Support: providing immediate emotional and environmental support to reduce stress
and risk and increase child's sense of safety
Teach: helping the children to learn and practice ways to regulate their emotions and
behaviors
✔✔What are the recovery phase outcomes? - ✔✔Higher
No change
Lower
✔✔What are the 4 questions we ask ourselves in a crisis situation? - ✔✔1. What am I
feeling now?
2. What does this child feel, need, expect, or way?
3. How is the environment affecting the situation?
4. How do I best respond?
✔✔How do I best respond? - ✔✔- exercise self-control over feelings the situation may
evoke (stay in control)
- engage child and defuse pain-based behaviors (provide emotional support)
- manage the environment to neutralize potential triggers (provide environmental
support)
- assess impact of the response on the child and the situation (decrease level of stress)
✔✔What are some non-verbal techniques? - ✔✔- silence
- facial expression
- eye contact
- tone of voie
✔✔The reflective response... - ✔✔connects with the child's feelings
✔✔The empathic response... - ✔✔connects with the child's experience
✔✔Active listening... - ✔✔- helpings children express their thoughts and feelings
- reduces defensiveness and opposition
- promotes change
- communicates we understand and have a desire to help
- helps children learn to self-soothe as we model ways to respond (co-regulation)
- helps children to "talk out rather than act out"
, ✔✔What are behavior support techniques? - ✔✔- managing the environment
- prompting
- caring gesture
- hurdle help
- redirection and distractions
- proximity
- directive statements
- time away
✔✔What are the criteria for using directive statements? - ✔✔- the child has a trusting
relationship with the adult
- the expectation is important enough to risk escalation the situation
- the child has the ability to meet the expectation and has demonstrated this ability in
the past when they were at the same level of arousal
- the request is made respectfully and calmly
✔✔What are the criteria for using time away? - ✔✔- the child has demonstrated an
ability to self-regulate
- the child is not too highly escalated
- the child can go somewhere to relax, be quiet and think
- the purpose is to help the child quiet their emotions, not to punish
✔✔How can adults be a source of strength for children? - ✔✔- seeing the situation from
the child's point of view (empathic response)
- lending enough support (emotional and environmental) to help bring the situation
within the child's ability to manage
- celebrating the child's efforts and success
✔✔What are the goals of emotional first aid? - ✔✔- to provide immediate support to
reduce emotional intensity
- to identify and resolve the underlying concerns causing distress
- to keep the child in the activity
✔✔What are the strategies for emotional first aid? - ✔✔- co-regulating emotions - to be
a calm presence
- maintain the relationship and lines of communication
- plan and anticipate - be a coach
✔✔"What am I feeling now?" - an amygdala hijack - ✔✔- anger or fear triggers a fight,
flight, or freeze response (an emotional and physical state)
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔When does a crisis occur? - ✔✔A child's fight, flight, flock, or freeze response is
activated and they are unable to regulate their emotions and behaviors.
✔✔What are the goals of crisis intervention? - ✔✔Support & Teach
Support: providing immediate emotional and environmental support to reduce stress
and risk and increase child's sense of safety
Teach: helping the children to learn and practice ways to regulate their emotions and
behaviors
✔✔What are the recovery phase outcomes? - ✔✔Higher
No change
Lower
✔✔What are the 4 questions we ask ourselves in a crisis situation? - ✔✔1. What am I
feeling now?
2. What does this child feel, need, expect, or way?
3. How is the environment affecting the situation?
4. How do I best respond?
✔✔How do I best respond? - ✔✔- exercise self-control over feelings the situation may
evoke (stay in control)
- engage child and defuse pain-based behaviors (provide emotional support)
- manage the environment to neutralize potential triggers (provide environmental
support)
- assess impact of the response on the child and the situation (decrease level of stress)
✔✔What are some non-verbal techniques? - ✔✔- silence
- facial expression
- eye contact
- tone of voie
✔✔The reflective response... - ✔✔connects with the child's feelings
✔✔The empathic response... - ✔✔connects with the child's experience
✔✔Active listening... - ✔✔- helpings children express their thoughts and feelings
- reduces defensiveness and opposition
- promotes change
- communicates we understand and have a desire to help
- helps children learn to self-soothe as we model ways to respond (co-regulation)
- helps children to "talk out rather than act out"
, ✔✔What are behavior support techniques? - ✔✔- managing the environment
- prompting
- caring gesture
- hurdle help
- redirection and distractions
- proximity
- directive statements
- time away
✔✔What are the criteria for using directive statements? - ✔✔- the child has a trusting
relationship with the adult
- the expectation is important enough to risk escalation the situation
- the child has the ability to meet the expectation and has demonstrated this ability in
the past when they were at the same level of arousal
- the request is made respectfully and calmly
✔✔What are the criteria for using time away? - ✔✔- the child has demonstrated an
ability to self-regulate
- the child is not too highly escalated
- the child can go somewhere to relax, be quiet and think
- the purpose is to help the child quiet their emotions, not to punish
✔✔How can adults be a source of strength for children? - ✔✔- seeing the situation from
the child's point of view (empathic response)
- lending enough support (emotional and environmental) to help bring the situation
within the child's ability to manage
- celebrating the child's efforts and success
✔✔What are the goals of emotional first aid? - ✔✔- to provide immediate support to
reduce emotional intensity
- to identify and resolve the underlying concerns causing distress
- to keep the child in the activity
✔✔What are the strategies for emotional first aid? - ✔✔- co-regulating emotions - to be
a calm presence
- maintain the relationship and lines of communication
- plan and anticipate - be a coach
✔✔"What am I feeling now?" - an amygdala hijack - ✔✔- anger or fear triggers a fight,
flight, or freeze response (an emotional and physical state)
