Educating Traumatized Children Free Essay Example

“According to the 2011 12 National Survey of Children’s Health, nearly 35 million children in the United States are living with emotional and psychological trauma” (Banks & Meyers, 2017). These numbers are unbelievable, but this also furthers explains why trauma informed practices are vital in all classrooms.

Teachers are on the frontline when it comes to seeing the impact of trauma and the needs of children (Banks & Meyers, 2017). They come into the doors of educator’s classrooms with a wide range of needs such as education, health, physical and social/emotional.

Yet in many classrooms there is only a focus on educational when there is so much more to the child. This new face of trauma is often invisible in today’s classroom because the responsibility it often placed on the counselors or social workers, but this responsibility belongs to all of us.

There are two types of trauma our students experience. “According to The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, children can be exposed to a wide range of traumatic experiences resulting from one incident, such as a natural disaster, for example, tornado, hurricane, fire or flood, or exposure to an isolated incident of violent crime” (Haas, 2018).

This is classified as an acute traumatic event.

Traumatic stress reaction can also be the result of numerous experiences over time or prolonged traumatic events. This is classified as complex trauma exposure and typically involves the simultaneous or sequential occurrence of chronic child maltreatment, including psychological maltreatment, neglect, physical and sexual abuse, and domestic violence (Hass, 2018).

Children who have experienced complex trauma exposure from abuse and/or neglect may have significant regulatory capacities or relational abilities (Brunzell, Stokes & Waters, 2018).

This can manifest in a multitude of different ways in the school setting, often masking itself as disengagement, absenteeism, attentional difficulties, behavioral problems, or an unexplained inability to learn (Haas, 2018).

The acute traumatic experience is often known by the child’s educators and proper assistance is put in place in order to meet the needs of the students. However, complex trauma experiences are often hidden from educators and this type of trauma has long term effects. (Haas, 2018)

The classroom may be the only consistent and stable environment the student experiences. If this is the case then the teacher is responsible for all the needs of the student while they are in their room. Teachers are not mental health professionals, but it is beneficial for them to learn trauma informed practices so they can redress the specific learning capacities that trauma impacts (Brunzell, Stokes & Waters, 2018).).

Lacking high quality support in an early childhood class, these students’ struggles will intensify as they get older. “Without knowledge or training in the area of childhood trauma, educators tend to misinterpret emotional and behavioral dysregulation, and consequently these children are being suspended or expelled, even in the early grades, from the very environment they need for success” (Haas, 2018).

The aim of academic learning will always be central to teachers’ organizational mission and design of job tasks, but there is a “hidden curriculum” present and this includes the teaching of wellbeing. Brunzell (2018) defined wellbeing for students with phrases such as “learning how to take care of your stress in the classroom,” “knowing about your heated emotions,” or “having strategies to make relationships.”

In the past decade, the term “trauma-informed” has been most commonly applied to settings such as medical and mental health as well as prevention and intervention programs; less has been done to develop trauma-informed practices in classroom settings (Cless & Nelson, 2017).

With all the research present this is no longer a buzzword but a crucial piece of implementing prevention and intervention services for individuals and families. There have been many recent recommendations for creation of trauma-informed systems which provide education training regarding traumatic stress for all professionals who may work with children and families (Cless & Nelson, 2017).

“The current proposed model for trauma-informed teaching aims to begin to address the current gap for implementing trauma-informed teaching practices in higher education” (Cless & Nelson, 2017). Since these plans are just being formulated there are many students from all ages who will miss out of these affects.

“It is imperative as college professors that we develop a trauma-informed lens to provide students with opportunities to thrive, become more resilient, and work with the entire college community to assure their success” (Gutierrrez & Gutierrez 2019). Trauma does not just vanish because you grow in age, every person can benefit from this program.

A section which must be embedded in the training is role clarity and this is the process of defining the goals of our relationships with students, and then maintaining boundaries that allow us to focus on that goal.

This is imperative we are cognitive of our students’ mental health needs.(Venet, 2019) When these strong relationships develop with students, it’s normal that mental health will come up in conversations and interactions. In a trusting relationship, students must share how they feel.

They look to us, the trusted adult, for support and perspective. We should encourage the development of this relationship, while recognizing that our role as teachers is not to guide a student’s mental health treatment. (Venet, 2019)

Non Directive Teaching

The non-directive model centers on the student’s mental and emotional development. Carl Rogers’ idea, what was initially a method of psychotherapy, conintued to the field of education in that therapy can be used as a mode of learning (Gonzales, 2017).

Principally, if a teacher treats students with dignity, respecting students’ capabilities to manage their actions, then students respond by improving their performances and living up to the high expectations generated by themselves and the teacher (Peterson, 2015). Nondirective teaching consists of conversations in which the teacher poses questions to help students examine the possible area of growth.

It is imperative the student discovers the area of needed growth and therefore the teacher must refrain from controlling the conversation. Once the goal is identified for the student it is then time to create a personal plan for change. A student created the improvement plan becomes an intrinsically motivating experience. “Nondirective teaching is also related to positive self-esteem and effective feedback in the classroom.

Self-esteem is linked to a belief in self-efficacy”( Petersen, 2015). Nondirective teaching, from beginning to end, is a creation of the students’ efforts. Students create their own action plans for development, they are intrinsically motivated to follow-through on the action plans, and subsequent sessions of nondirective questioning reveal to them that the progress they have made toward their goals is directly linked to their own efforts (Petersen, 2015)

“In today’s world, knowing how to learn makes a more powerful person. It is something others cannot steal, and it is something in which students can take pride in for its own sake, not just to secure the approval or avoid the consequences adults might choose to present, or to get into the right college” (Rickabaugh, 2015)

Tenenbaum (1959) describes his first encounter attending a non-directive course facilitated by Carl Rogers himself (Gonzales, 2017). He states “the course was all together unstructured”(Tenenbaum, 1959). For a period in the classroom students spoke at random and none of these thoughts seemed to go anywhere. However, none of their thoughts were found out of order by Rogers.

The students became frustrated and demanded to be lectured the traditional. This frustration leads them to band together and communicate like never before. There was a freedom they have never experienced before which lead to discover and the author even states “I am fairly certain that it would have been impossible to learn as much or as well or as thoroughly in the traditional classroom setting” (Tenenbaum,1959).

“Tenenbaum admits that the unstructured approach was not entirely successful: some students were critical of the course and preferred the traditional manner of teaching; though some others, he observed, developed clarity in their thinking and appreciation of the self at the end of the sessions” (Gonzales, 2017).

To conclude, the freedom which was discovered in Rogers class to freely express how students feel about any event is the same freedom needed in today’s classes in order to help students solve the necessary problem which our occuring in their lives.

These two concepts go hand in hand. The trauma informed approach provides teachers with the tools needed to identify the effects of trauma and how to create a safe space for students and Non-directive teaching method gives room for student voice and incorporates problem solving into the lessons so it will eventually become a part of their nature.