Students who have experienced trauma pose a unique challenge in classrooms.
Trauma is an emotional response to something horrible that has happened. Some studies estimate that up to 70% of people have experienced trauma… That means an awful lot of our students are dealing with some seriously heavy stuff at home. Those issues are impacting progress in the classroom, for the students who are dealing with trauma, as well as their peers in the classroom. Students with a trauma history need support in the classroom in order to be successful.
How many times have you had a lesson interrupted because of disruptive behaviors? How many times have you dealt with attitude that seemed to come out of nowhere? How many times have you wondered why a capable student flat out refuses to cooperate or even try?
Some of these situations are caused by trauma in a student’s life. Many times students aren’t able to regulate their behaviors or emotions because of things going on outside of school. This is why it is important for teachers to know how to help support students with a trauma history.
What are some ways teachers can support our students with a trauma history?
There are many ways to support students with a trauma history. Listing them all here would break the internet and this blog, so we don’t do that today. Instead, I’ve broken up the ways we can help students into four categories and will talk about each one. For more information about trauma itself, check out my blogpost: Resiliency and Trauma.
But, I also need concrete ideas to help me figure out ways to help my students. So, I have made a free EBook in which I have listed over 100 ways to support students with a trauma history just click the picture or HERE to download the EBook.
Category 1: Social
Socially, students with a trauma history may be hyper-engaged in the social aspect of school. They also may be very uninterested in social interactions.
Students who are hyper-interested need support in finding ways to be more comfortable being by themselves or on their own. These students may be overly interested in all the drama going on in school. Helping these students learn to be interested in a topic outside of the social drama helps them gain balance.
Students who are uninterested in social interactions need to be encouraged to find something in common with at least one other student. Then encourage friendships with this student. These students struggle forming strong relationships with their peers because they struggle finding similarities between themselves and peers. Helping them find similarities with their peers encourages them to become a part of the classroom community.
Category 2: Academics
Academics are the main focus for teachers in the classroom. This makes sense given the focus of education. But, for students with a trauma history, academics are just not that important.
Students who don’t have a safe place to live, or know they will eat over the weekend, or maybe they don’t know if the adults in their lives will be able to care for them….they just aren’t going to be able to put a lot of focus on academics. For these students, finding ways to help them with their basic needs is a must. This has to happen before we put any focus on academics. Comfort closets are a great way to help these students. I encourage you to talk about options in your school to help these students.
To support students who are ready to start focusing on academics, the first step is to figure out what skills or knowledge is missing for these students. While students are in the middle of or right after trauma, students’ brains aren’t able to process information. This creates some serious gaps in learning. The first step in helping these students is to identify the most basic skill gaps. Then start to reteach those skills and help students progress through the learning stages so they are more able to understand the grade level material. This is a long process, so working on ways to help the students understand the grade level material is a must. These students really benefit from reteaching, as well as working in pairs or small groups. Working with their peers allows the students to benefit from what their friends know.
Category 3: Behavior
Behaviorally, students who have a trauma history can really struggle with regulating their emotions and behaviors, especially when something is frustrating.
Many teachers try to avoid any frustrating events, but that just puts off the inevitable. Instead, teach them skills to regulate their emotions, as well as strategies to deal with frustrating or irritating events. By teaching them these skills, we help them be better able to manage all the things that life throws at them. This is a really big category for many students. Don’t be afraid to take time to teach these skills to your entire classroom. There are a lot of students who struggle to deal with frustrating situations, so teaching these skills whole group or even in a smaller group with a variety of students can make a big difference in your classroom.
Category 4: Self-Image
Many students with a trauma history have a warped sense of their self image. Some see themselves as overly powerful. This means that they feel like they can (or should have) change things that are really out of their control. One example of this is the student who blames themselves for not stopping their parent from going out to get high.
The other extreme is students who feel they have no control of their lives. Teaching these students what they do and do not have control over is a piece of helping students see themselves as the unique, important child that they are. Being able to honestly see your strengths and weaknesses as well as zones of control or influence is an important part of growing up and learning where you fit in the world. Helping students with these skills helps them be able to maintain healthy relationships, regulate their emotions and behaviors, and eventually builds up to students being able to use self determination skills effectively.
Students with a trauma history just want to be kids.
No matter what the trauma may have been, students with a trauma history could benefit from support. There are many ways to support these students.
Think carefully about your student and choose 2 or 3 interventions to try. If you need ideas, download the EBook, and be sure to let me know what you try and how it works!