TWO LEARNERS

Two forms of learning are happening at the same time.

The Cognitive Learner
Works through language, reasoning, memory, planning, and meaning.

The Body Learner
Learns through sensation, position, movement, environment, and direct feedback.

One human system. Two different languages.

THREE QUESTIONS

The Body Learner is continually orienting around three conditions.

Am I safe?
Can I stay present here?

Do I belong?
Am I accepted, connected, and still part of this?

What happens next?
Do I know enough about what comes next to remain oriented?

When these questions remain sufficiently answered, more access stays available.

FOUR STATES

As state changes, access changes.

The human system does not have equal access in every state. As state shifts, the range of available options shifts with it.

Settled
Access is wide. More is available for learning, flexibility, communication, connection, and choice.

Activated
Energy rises. The system is alert and engaged, while access begins to narrow.

Overwhelmed
The system is working hard to manage threat, uncertainty, or overload. Fewer options remain available.

Survival
Protection becomes the priority. Access is at its narrowest.

Behavior is not random. It reflects what access is available in that state.

THIS IS STATE LITERACY

Behavior is the conclusion of the story.

State Literacy is the ability to recognize that behavior does not begin with behavior.

The body is continually taking in information, making predictions, and adjusting what becomes available for learning, communication, flexibility, connection, and choice.

Access changes before behavior changes.

When we learn to notice state, we can respond earlier—before behavior becomes the only information we know how to read.

Instead of asking only, “What is this person doing?”
we begin asking, “What does this person have access to right now?”

DESIGN FOR ACCESS

You do not have to control behavior to change access.

Orient.
Help people know where they are, what is happening, and what comes next.

Protect belonging.
Reduce unnecessary signals of exclusion, shame, or disconnection.

Shape the environment.
Change what the body is being asked to process.

Respond to state before behavior.
Work with the access that is available now.

When we design for the body, cognition has more to work with.

WHY KATIE WISEMAN

Katie Wiseman is an educator, speaker, and creator of the State Literacy framework. Her work draws on decades of experience in special education, movement, learning, and human behavior to help organizations understand how state shapes access, participation, and performance.

BRING STATE LITERACY TO YOUR ORGANIZATION

State Literacy can be taught, applied, and adapted across schools, teams, workplaces, healthcare settings, public safety, and other human systems.

I work with organizations through:

Speaking
Keynotes, conference sessions, and talks that introduce State Literacy and make the framework immediately usable.

Professional Development
Interactive training for teams who want to understand state, access, behavior, belonging, and orientation in practice.

Consultation
Focused work with leaders, educators, teams, or organizations to apply State Literacy to a specific challenge, environment, or population.

Licensing & Partnerships
State Literacy is available for licensing and strategic partnerships with organizations seeking to bring the framework into broader systems, programs, and professional practice.

If people are involved, state is involved.

New Teacher Institute

Build the map before the students arrive. A half-day, highly interactive State Literacy institute for districts, campuses, residency programs, alternative certification programs, and induction teams.

Bring State Literacy to Your Middle School

Prepare Students for More Than High School. Help Them Understand Themselves.

Adolescence will bring challenges, discoveries, relationships, disappointments, successes, and experiences students cannot yet imagine.

What if they entered those years with a practical language for understanding themselves?

Katie Wiseman brings decades of experience in education, special education, movement, and human learning to an engaging, age-appropriate introduction to State Literacy.

Invite Katie to bring Before the Spiral to your students.