Teaching & Learning in a Pandemic: Spring 2021

Trauma Informed Instruction

Jami Muse

You probably know someone who has been affecting by trauma and you will probably a student who has dealt with trauma. It is the upmost important to understand how trauma affects not only the student but their teachers as well.

This video from Sesame Street visualizes a child's reaction to domestic violence. While it is longer, I highly recommend watching to understand how a traumatic event can effect a child (Sesame Street in Communites, 2017).

Learning Target 1

The readers will understand what is trauma, the effects of trauma and what it means to have trauma informed instruction.

Learning Target 2

Educators do not always know which student has experienced trauma and to what extent.
Educators should be that wary of the reasoning in which students may act out
Educators should also be aware of secondary trauma and should find ways to heal themselves as well.

What is Trauma and what are the effects?

According to Cavanaugh (2016) trauma is defined as "an emotional response to a terrible event" which can lead to struggles with "emotional regulation, social relationships and the development of physical symptoms" and up to 68% of children have experienced a traumatic event.

Traumatic events can very from person to person because no two people will react to an event in the manner. Two people can go through the same event and one can where one can be fully functional and the other truly struggles with long lasting effects. However, that does not undermine one person's reaction to said event. Paccione-Dyzlewski (2016) said "whether the pain is the size of a pencil case, knapsack, or a duffel bag, the odds are the some degree of trauma is present and that it hurt."

With that being said, listed below are some traumatic events for children but absolutely not all.

Bullying
Abuse in all forms including physical, emotional, mental and sexual
Neglect in all forms such as medical, emotional and physical
Home issues such as divorce, domestic violence, incarcerated family members and drug use in the home
School shootings
terrorism

While school is place for children to learn academically and knowledge, it is also place of findings on self and emotional growth. We as educators or future educators interact with students on a daily basis and we may not know which students has gone through traumatic events. That is all the more reason to have trauma informed instruction in schools. Martin, et al., "as a result of their regular and ongoing contact with youth, schools are in a unique position to assist young trauma survivors by helping to buffer the effects of trauma and to assist with access to appropriate care (2017).

Effects of Trauma

What does Trauma Informed Instruction mean?

According to Paccione-Dyzelwski (2016) trauma informed instruction is "an organizational, structural, and treatment framework that involves understanding, recognizing and responding to all kinds of trauma. Basically educators should understand what trauma is, understand signs of trauma/ traumatic triggers and to implement policies that with resist retramatization for the students and educators.

Listed below of examples of trauma informed informed instruction practices.

Focus on positive interactions

By reinforcing positive behavior and increasing positive interactions reduces behavior difficulties even with child who have been through some sort of trauma. Positive interaction can include a reward, a complementary statement and creating a safe and welcome environment.

Increase supports

This can be done through peer support, targeted support or individualized support.

Peer support: This can be paring students up in a peer tutoring environment. It does not mean that both students have experienced trauma but it increase positive peer interaction.
Targeted Support: This is screening students for behavioral issues and offering support through positive reinforcements, prompts for expected behavior and assigning a mentor.
Individualized support: data collected from a funcatiuonal behavioral assessment in which traumatic triggers are identified and support plan is specially created for the student (Cavanaugh 2016)

Interview- Christopher Michiels

Mr. Michiels is the Assistant Director of Kiddie Academy in Virginia Beach, VA. He has been working with children since his senior year of high school and received Teacher of the Year in preschool classrooms. He has been with Kiddie Academy since 2016 working with the students, parents and teachers.

Interview Takeaways

We as educators do not always know a child's history.

Both the Family Educational Rights

and Privacy Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 protects students and their families personal information. Unless the school is specifically told or notice troubling signs, we may not be aware. That is why educators are given training to notice signs of abuse and neglect to ensure students are have safe life both in school and outside.

Be kind.

While students may act out or behave inappropriate, educators should address the behavior but also find the cause. The cause of the behavior is called the antecedent. If the antecedent is not addressed then the behavior may continue. That is not to say abuse is the cause of misbehavior but there could be other events effecting the child that educators should be aware of.

Self care is important

Educational personnel who works with students are at a risk of secondary traumatization or vicarious traumatization. This traumatization occurs when a students trauma begins to affect the educator negatively such as loss of sleep or thinking all children are being abused. Schools should also focus on the mental health of the educational personnel as well as the students. That can be done by promoting training, provided mental health resources and promoting self care. "At the Kiddie Academy, there are days built into the schedule where they are dress up days and both the teachers and the students thoroughly enjoy it" (C. Michiels, personal communication, February 17, 2021)

Multiple Choice Questions

In what ways can trauma affect a child?

a. Increased risk of behavioral problems

b. Mental illness

c. Attachment disorders

d. risky behavior

e. all of the above

In what way can educators support child who have experienced trauma?

a. issues disciplinary actions without finding the cause of misbehavior.

b. Use positive reinforcement for positive behaviors

c. encourage peer interaction

d. both b and c

Answers for multiple choice

Conclusion

Trauma informed instruction is all about creating understanding that trauma does happen even to our students. We as educators must understand the consequences of trauma and work to create a space where a child can flourish regardless. While educational staff may not be aware of if trauma occurred, we can understand what triggers look like and work to support each child to be successful academically, mentally, physically and emotional. Also, we should be aware of a student's trauma affect on our own psyche and realize how important mental health is to everyone.

References

Cavanaugh, B. (2016). Trauma-informed classrooms and schools. Beyond Behavior, 25(2), 41-46.doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/107429561602500206

Martin, S. L., Ashley, O. S., White, L., Axelson, S., Clark, M., & Burrus, B. (2017). Incorporating Trauma-Informed Care Into School-Based Programs. Journal of School Health, 87(12), 958-967. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12568

Paccione‐Dyszlewski, M.R. (2016), Trauma‐informed schools: A must. The Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter, 32: 8-8.
https://doi.org/10.1002/cbl.30139

Sesame Street in Communites. (2017, October 5). A Child’s Perspective of a Traumatic Experience. Youtube.
https://sesamestreetincommunities.org/activities/responses-trauma-age-age-video/

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