Understanding and Responding to Trauma

Trauma is an emotional response to stressful, distressing or painful events or experiences that are difficult to cope with. Experiences that can cause trauma might be one-time events or ongoing over a longer period. Trauma can have significant and lasting effects on children and can play a critical role in learning and behavior concerns that require understanding and support.

The following strategies can help educators learn how to recognize the signs of trauma, better understand the causes of trauma, and take steps to establish social and emotional safety. While these steps can help educators in their response to behavior, addressing trauma requires schools to provide mental health counselors and support services and, depending on an individual child’s experiences, may require additional community resources.

Essential Questions To Consider:

What assumptions do I make about children based on behavior? How do my assumptions affect my classroom facilitation?
How can trauma manifest in a child’s behavior? How can I recognize if a child is experiencing trauma?
How can I create learning and community spaces that are trauma-sensitive?

Becoming a trauma-sensitive educator begins with self-assessment. Much of what we believe about student behavior may be rooted in assumptions, but we have the power to transcend those assumptions and get to the root of what may be causing children to act out, withdraw or disengage from learning.

Bad Behavior or Reacting to Trauma?

Step 1: Consider your assumptions about children’s behaviors.

Think of a child who challenges you. Have you observed any of these behaviors in that child?

Excessive anger
Unusual startle reactions
Loss of appetite
Extreme fatigue
Physical or verbal aggression
Regular tardiness or absence from class
Perfectionist, controlling or anxious behavior
Difficulty concentrating
Frequent headaches or stomachaches
Low self-confidence
Irritability
Clinginess
Trouble making friends
Self-harm or suicidal ideation
Hoarding
Risky behaviors (including drug or alcohol abuse or sexual acting out)
Panic attacks
Extreme self-reliance
Running away
Defiance
Alienation from peers

Consider, in the past, what assumptions you might have made about a child exhibiting the behaviors described above. Then, consider what actions you have taken based on those assumptions or behaviors. Be honest with yourself. Most educators have made assumptions and reacted accordingly. Becoming more aware of children’s needs means first being aware of our own biases and preconceived notions.

If you’ve observed even some of these behaviors (or other troubling symptoms), you may have a child who is directly or indirectly experiencing trauma. Trauma can be defined as the reaction to a shocking or painful event or series of negative events. Some traumas require immediate intervention and court-mandated reporting; others go by unmarked. Regardless of whether or not you are aware of the details, there are things you can do to mitigate the effects of trauma for an individual child and for all children in your classroom.

What Causes Trauma?

Step 2: Learn to look at these behaviors through a trauma lens.

Trauma affects the ways individuals feel, think and behave. It influences self-perception as well as beliefs about other people and the world. Though this list is not exhaustive, traumatic experiences can include:

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 frequent microaggressions
Refugee or undocumented status
National or local crisis, political instability

Trying to determine whether a child’s behavior stems from trauma can be confusing, but engaging with families and local communities (through home visits, service projects, etc.) can help educators recognize or understand what sources of trauma children may face.

Building relationships with and between children and giving them a safe space to write, speak, express emotions and share stories can also open a window into their experiences. Identifying trauma also requires understanding possible sources of trauma.

Responding to Trauma

Step 3: Consider strategies to create a more trauma-sensitive classroom and school.

Proactively applying trauma-informed classroom strategies benefits all students. Children respond positively when educators get to know their individual circumstances, affirm their identities and cultivate empathy in the classroom. To help achieve these goals, here are some ideas to consider incorporating into your teaching practice.

Social and emotional safety are the cornerstones of positive classroom outcomes. Research shows that students need to feel both physically and emotionally safe to learn. Children experiencing trauma, including bias, bullying and social isolation, are more likely to feel unsafe. Provide opportunities for students to complete activities that affirm their competence, sense of self-worth and feelings of safety. Social emotional learning and wellness practices can support self-regulation during stress and provide a healthy sense of control over controllable aspects of an overwhelming situation.

Strategies:

Practice intentional relationship-building
Use explicit anti-bullying or community-building curricula
Practice timely interventions in conflicts and hurtful exchanges
Teach and model empathy and active-listening skills

Create behavior plans that focus on positive relationships and student-led classroom culture.

Discipline and behavior management are central to classroom culture but often present unique challenges for children responding to traumatic events or experiences. Foster compassion for and among your students. Focus on praising children for appropriate classroom behavior, not on punishment.

Strategies:

Implement student-generated agreements and contracts
Adopt “zero indifference” (not zero tolerance) policies
Seek out training in restorative practice techniques
Explore stress-management strategies to diffuse tense situations and help children process feelings in the moment
Give children opportunities to demonstrate their strengths

Increase your self-awareness and trauma competency.

Increase your knowledge about trauma and how it may manifest for your students. Remember, children respond to trauma in different ways, and their responses may be influenced by cultural traditions, religious beliefs or familial relationships. Connect with children and their families to identify resources and services that can inform how best to support children who experience trauma.

Strategies:

Seek professional development on working with specific identity groups
Share support resources with other educators
Connect with community organizations
Engage in ongoing self-assessment and reflection on your trauma responsiveness

More children may experience trauma than educators are aware of or can recognize. Trauma is difficult to assess and identify; it’s also specific to the individual. An event that has not traumatized one person may traumatize another person. Moreover, the same event may lead to different trauma responses and symptoms in different people. Therefore, ensuring teaching and classroom practices are intentional and conscious of the likelihood of unidentified trauma among children is essential.

This resource is adapted from “Responding to Trauma in Your Classroom,” originally published in Learning for Justice’s PD Café column and including information from Mental Health Connection of Tarrant County and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network; “Toolkit for ‘The Opioid Crisis’ and Trauma-Sensitive Practices;” and “A Trauma-Informed Approach to Teaching Through Coronavirus.”

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Understanding and Responding to Trauma

Essential Questions To Consider: