Understanding trauma and its impact on learning and thinking skills.

Teaching and Learning in Difficult Times

Ternopil, March 2023

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By the end of this session, you’ll be able to …

• Define your understanding of trauma;
• Explain the impact of trauma on learners;
• Understand the impact of trauma on learners’ behaviour, learning and thinking skills;
• Identify strategies to support your learners affected by trauma.

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Trauma

https://www.menti.com/alry97t4c8gt

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Definitions of Trauma

• Look at the 3 definitions below
• The origins of the word ‘trauma’ come from the Greek word ‘trauma’ which means ‘wound’. Although the Greeks used the term only for physical injuries, nowadays trauma is just as likely to refer to emotional wounds.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/

2. Trauma is an occurrence wherein an individual sees or experiences a risk to their own life or physical safety or that of other people and feels terror, fear or helplessness.

www.psychologydictionary.org

3. Individual trauma results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening with lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional or spiritual wellbeing.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach.

HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014, p.7

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Types of traumatic events

Loss – including death, divorce, separation from family members, loss of the family home, loss of job

Forced migration from a home country – often involving difficult travel and dangerous situations

Abuse – emotional, physical, sexual

Violence in home – seeing it or experiencing it

Violence in the community – seeing it or experiencing it

War and conflict – in the past or the present situation, including acts or threats of terrorism

Mental health issues in the family – for example, depression, anxiety.

Poverty – lack of enough money for basic life essentials such as food and housing

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Types of traumatic events

Abandonment & Neglect

Life threatening illness or on-going serious illness of a caregiver

Car accidents or other serious accidents

Bullying – in the home and/or outside the home

Life threatening health situations and/or painful medical procedures

Having a close relative in prison

Natural disasters

Living in very chaotic environments

Living in poor housing conditions

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Trauma definitions - feedback

What is the correct answer in each case, based on your experience

1. Trauma is A expected B unexpected.
2. People are usually A prepared B unprepared for trauma.
3. Trauma is A more than B the same as ‘risk to life’.
4. Trauma is A a single event B series of events C both a single event and a series of events.
5. Trauma A does B doesn’t create strong feelings of fear, powerlessness and terror.
6. Trauma can affect a person A emotionally B physically C both emotionally and physically.

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People do not respond to trauma in the same way. Even in one family, two children can have different responses to trauma. The reasons for the different reactions can be difficult to understand. For example, in a family who are refugees from conflict and war, one child might find safety and refuge in learning and academic studies but another child might react badly to the rules and expectations of school.

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People’s reactions on trauma

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What are common responses following a traumatic event?

There are three typical responses, namely:

• Resistance: people do not experience any major problems;

• Natural recovery / resilience: many people have symptoms similar to PTSD (see below), but often these symptoms disappear by themselves

• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): for others, these problems do not disappear by themselves, resulting in PTSD.

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What is PTSD?

PTSD is a mental health condition in which one or many of the following symptoms exist:

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Avoidance symptoms

Hyperarousal or physical / emotional reactivity

Negative changes in your thinking and emotions

Re-experiencing symptoms

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Re-experiencing symptoms

- Nightmares, which may feel very real;

- Flashbacks or thoughts about the traumatic event which you cannot stop;

- Intense physical or emotional reactions when you are reminded of the event

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Avoidance symptoms

- Avoiding thinking or talking about the trauma;

-Avoiding people, places, activities or sensations that remind you of the trauma.

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Negative changes in your thinking and emotions

-Feeling more, depressed, angry or anxious;

-Feeling distant from other people;

-Losing interest in things you used to enjoy;

-Being unable to remember important parts of the trauma;

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Hyper arousal or emotional/physical reactivity

-Being always on guard and/or easily startled;

-Having trouble concentrating;

- Becoming angry or aggressive very quickly;

-Doing things that are risky;

-Sleeping badly, if at all.

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What is Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD)?

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C-PTSD is a mental health condition which has many similar symptoms as PTSD, but it also includes:

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• Problems with regulating your emotions, e.g. finding it difficult to manage your feelings;

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• Problems in how you see yourself, e.g. feeling completely different to other people and/or having a negative self-image;

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• Interpersonal problems, e.g. finding it hard to trust others.

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The teachers’ role in supporting learners affected by trauma�

What can the teacher do to support these three learners?

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Andreas

My name is Andreas. I am 15 years old. I hate school. The teacher says I’m too loud and I don’t wait my turn but I am just trying to answer his questions and show that I know stuff. I never know what I’m supposed to do and when I ask, the teacher just shouts at me. I try to behave but get angry really quickly and then bad words come out of my mouth before I can stop myself. I love playing football but only if I can choose the teams. Sometimes when we play football I get too angry, especially when another boy tackles me and then we have a fight. I don’t want to fight; I have seen too much fighting. And I often forget to bring the right things to class and then the teacher is angry. I don’t want to talk to the teacher about my problems – I haven’t got problems and even if I have, talking doesn’t help.

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Specific support needed for Andreas

• Help to understand the rules, and with organisation. Maybe the teacher could give him a checklist of the rules of the class, possibly in pictures to make it clearer.
• Praise and reassurance when he is making an effort and trying to answer questions.
• A choice wherever possible to give him some power. For example, the teacher can give him a choice of working in the book or on a separate piece of paper, of working alone or in a pair sometimes.
• Notice and praise when he is doing the right thing, not only criticism when doing the wrong thing.

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Anna

I’m 17. I don’t like all the noise in my school. I try to sit at the back of the class so the teacher won’t ask me anything. I don’t like getting things wrong and I don’t want to bother the teacher when I don’t understand, she has enough work to do without worrying about me. Sometimes I daydream at school but most of the time I worry about my mum at home, she needs my help. She is often sad and depressed and I don’t want her to worry about me. I like Maths because there is a right and wrong answer but I don’t like creative writing because I cannot think of good things to write. Good things don’t happen in my life.

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Specific support needed for Anna

• A quiet place to go and work when the class is too noisy and a non-verbal way of showing the teacher that she needs to do this. For example, she could turn over a card on her desk or hold it up.
• Reassurance that it is okay to make mistakes and that mistakes are a sign that she is making an effort to learn. Give her examples of things you have learned by making mistakes e.g. learning to ride a bicycle.
• A chance to play and take safe risks in games. She might benefit from being given writing frames (where the teacher gives the learner some examples of what they can write) to encourage her to be more imaginative.

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Mohammad

I’m 20 and I really want to go back to school and learn. I missed a lot of time from school when I was younger because we had to move many times. Now I am trying to learn in evening classes. Sometimes it is fun and easy, but sometimes I hate it. I don’t know why. Some days are good days and some days are bad days. It’s hard to make friends because sometimes they are scared of me. I am scared sometimes when I get really angry. Then I shout and hit people or just give up with my work in class. Or I do crazy things outside school, like running across busy roads and nearly getting hit by a car. But sometimes I feel really sad and start crying for no reason, but only when I am on my own. I can’t cry at home even when I see TV reports of what is happening at home. We have to be strong.

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Specific support needed for Mohamed

• A calm, consistent environment and a teacher who does not get angry with him but who can listen to him and acknowledge his feelings.
• Opportunities to express his feelings in a safe way, e.g. through stories and perhaps role-play of imaginary situations which are not extreme conflict, like a role-play in a shop where the shop assistant does not immediately understand the customer or when the customer wants to complain.
• Opportunities to work with others on collaborative activities and games which will help him with his social skills and interaction.

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General feedback about what the teacher can do

General ways in which a teacher can help these learners include:

• Having a non- judgemental attitude
• Giving learners extra time if they need it
• Building time in lessons to allow learners to express feelings
• Being consistent with rules and routines
• Remaining calm
• Using good listening skills
• Showing empathy

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General feedback about what the teacher can do

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• Challenging or bad behaviour can be viewed as distressed behaviour, a sign that a learner is not feeling good and even feeling unsafe.
• This applies to older learners as well as children. For example, as a teacher you might think that your 23-year-old learner is not motivated or is trying to be difficult, but their behaviour could be a result of traumatic events they have experienced or are still experiencing.

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What helps people recover naturally after trauma?

Social support, e.g.:

• Believing that other people care about you and will be there if you need them;
• Being able to talk about the trauma and your reactions to it with supportive people;
• Having supporters who avoid reacting in unhelpful ways when told about the trauma.

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What helps people recover naturally after trauma?

Getting back to one’s life, e.g.:

• Returning to your routine, such as going to work or school, doing chores and maintaining a sleep schedule;
• Not avoiding safe reminders of the trauma;
• Staying connected to friends and other important people.

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What helps people recover naturally after trauma?

Making meaning of what happened, e.g.:

• Finding helpful and realistic ways to fit the trauma into the way you think about yourself, other people and the world;
• Noticing unhelpful thoughts that get in the way of making meaning, such as self-blame, and finding more helpful thoughts;
• Looking for examples of ways that you did your best / coped.

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