A Teacher’s Guide To Understand The Children With Childhood Trauma

TEACHER'S-GUIDE

You must have experienced and heard that the teachers are like the second parents to their students. Teacher’s guide is helpful in various ways they help students from their personal and academics to professional life. Along with the normal kids, you may encounter some kids with a traumatic childhood and may often misunderstand them if you don’t have the exact idea of their bearings. So, what could be the best ways to understand such kids? Well, it would definitely be by understanding them.

Thus, as an assignment help online provider, through this write-up, we will try to give you an idea of how you can understand the kids with childhood trauma.

What Exactly Is Trauma?

Trauma is the result of extreme stress on the emotional, psychological, and physiological levels. Trauma can be caused by a variety of factors, including physical trauma. It could be the result of abuse, but it could also be the result of being overworked. Food insecurity, unemployment, prejudice, suffocating living conditions, evictions, and unsafe neighbourhoods witnessing violence or other stressors — many of us have been there which are common occurrences in the lives of children who live in poverty.

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What Are the Causes of Trauma?

Teacher’s guide: Trauma has an impact on how people feel, think, and act. It has an impact on one’s view of oneself as well as one’s ideas about other people and the world.

Traumatic experiences can include the following, however this list is not exhaustive:

  • Medical crises
  • Accidents or injuries (like a house fire or car collision that threatens the student’s safety)
  • Bullying or harassment
  • Family separation (due to incarceration, deployment, divorce, foster placement or death)
  • Natural disaster
  • Abuse (emotional, physical or sexual)
  • Neglect
  • Observation of domestic, community or school violence
  • Substance abuse
  • Mental illness
  • Terrorism and war
  • Instability due to being unhoused
  • Poverty
  • Overt discrimination or constant microaggressions 
  • Refugee or undocumented status

Trauma is difficult to diagnose and recognise, and it is also unique to each person. A traumatic incident for one individual may not be traumatic for another. Furthermore, different persons may have various trauma symptoms as a result of the same event.

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Teacher’s Guide | How To Handle A Traumatic Child?

Trauma has been or is being experienced by children, adolescents, and teens. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 60 percent of people report having experienced abuse or other tough family situations as a kid, and 26 percent of children would see or experience a traumatic incident before the age of four.

Trauma’s effects may be far-reaching and long-lasting, affecting pupils’ capacity to access education. However, an experieced teacher can handle a traumatic child very gently. Lets’ have a look what teachers say:

  • Kids with traumatic childhood need time

Children with traumatic past may often have difficulty at school. They may not be able to concentrate well on the lecture, may submit their academic homework a bit late or may not be able to reach school on time.

It could take a toll on your mind and you may get angry at such kids without knowing their problems. Thus, as a teacher, it is a must for you to understand such students’ problems and should give them some time to get better.

  • Student with traumatic past worry much about the future

It is quite understandable that it’s not easy for the kids with traumatic past to live their lives even after the trauma. Not only the past memories keep haunting them, but they also keep worrying about what will happen next.

This way it gets tough for such students and their academics get affected much. You can be the person to help them in feeling confident by counseling them and by sharing a smile with them.

  • Violence is not always the cause of the trauma

People relate traumas with violence most of the time. It is true that it’s one of the most common cause kids feel trauma. However, many other things could be the cause of the young students suffering from trauma; parents’ divorce, being bullied or too much homework are some of those.

So, you should not jump to a conclusion without knowing anything if you have a traumatic student in your class and should understand the cause of the trauma well before taking action for help.

  • They need to feel they can do everything

As mentioned above, young students with traumatic childhood keep worrying over what will happen in the future or will they ever be able to come of out the stress they have. It makes them much negative about life and they can’t understand their worth.

Thus, such kids require support from you and the parents to realize that they can do everything and they will only hurt themselves by getting worried over something.

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  • Be Present For Your Child In Need

Working with students who have experienced trauma is simply coming up every day and accepting the student regardless of their behaviour. Be an adult in that student’s life who will accept and believe in him no matter what he goes through – youngsters can never have too many caring adults in their lives.

Refer: Child psychology – A vital branch of Psychology

  • Children who have experienced trauma are concerned about what may happen next.

In the classroom, a daily routine may be soothing, so strive to give certainty wherever feasible. Because words may not register with traumatised youngsters, different sensory clues are required. Have signs or a storyboard that outlines which activity—math, reading, lunch, recess, etc.—the class will do and when, in addition to outlining how the day will flow. Knowing what to expect allows children to concentrate on their studies. With time, this might demonstrate to children that they have the ability to persevere and succeed in school.

  • There is a clear link between stress and learning.

It is difficult for children to learn while they are worried. Create a welcoming, safe environment in your classroom by reassuring students that you understand and support their predicament. Kids who have been through trauma have a hard time learning unless they feel protected and supported. “The more the instructor can do to make the kid feel less worried and to help the youngster focus on the work at hand, the better the child’s performance will be.” There is a definite link between stress reduction and improved academic performance.”

  • Self-regulation might be difficult for students who have experienced trauma.

Some traumatised children have parents who are emotionally inaccessible. The incapacity to self-soothe is the outcome. They could acquire distracted tendencies and find it difficult to stay concentrated for lengthy periods of time. Schedule regular brain breaks and encourage social-emotional development to help kids manage. Tell the class when there will be free time, games, or stretching breaks at the start of the day.

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Conclusion

Academic achievement, social and emotional development, and mental and physical health can all be negatively impacted by childhood trauma in significant and long-term ways. A traumatised child is 150 percent more likely to use illicit drugs, 59 percent more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28% more likely to commit criminal behaviour in adulthood, and 25% more likely to experience delinquency, teen pregnancy, or poor academic achievement, among other risks.
Despite these obstacles, there is hope for a brighter future. Early on in life, nurturing relationships with caring adults can help to prevent or even reverse the negative effects of trauma. This is something that teacher’s guide can help with. Educators and school staff can create a compassionate, sensitive, and safe environment in which all students can succeed by becoming trauma-informed.

FAQ’s

Question.1. Is it possible to recover from childhood trauma?
Answer. Yes, it is possible to recover from unresolved childhood trauma. Seek help from a therapist who is trained in psychoanalysis or psychodynamics. A therapist who is familiar with the impact of traumatic childhood experiences on adult life.
Question.2. What are the five stages of a traumatic event?
Answer. This procedure has five stages:
1. This can’t be happening, right?
2. Anger is a strong emotion. Why was it necessary for this to happen?
3. Bargaining – if you promise not to ask for anything else, I promise I’ll never ask for anything else.
4. Depression is a feeling of doom that comes from having to adjust to so much in such a short period of time.
5. Acceptance.
Question.3. How can you assist traumatised students in the classroom?
Answer. Strategies
1. Pursue professional development in the area of working with specific identity groups.
2. Other educators can benefit from your support resources.
3. Make contact with local organisations.
4. Self-assessment and reflection on your trauma responsiveness should be done on a regular basis.