Transcript

Helping children cope with disasters/trauma

Sept. 12, 2001

Hello, my name is Jean Baker. I’m a professor in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education at Michigan State University. I’m a school psychologist and licensed psychologist in the state of Michigan.

The MSU College of Education is providing this information to help student teachers and interns as they work with students following the terrorist attacks of September 11^th. What I’ll do over the next few minutes is provide some basic information about helping children cope with crises. There is also good information on the World Wide Web at the addresses on your screen.

Taking care of yourself

As adults, we often are focused on getting the children through a traumatic experience and we may put aside our own feelings. The best first step in helping children effectively is to become aware of your own reactions and to take care of your own thoughts and feelings. There is a wide range of reactions to a traumatic event including:

Initial shock and disbelief – the event may not seem real
Feelings become intense and sometimes are unpredictable. You may feel more irritable, nervous, anxious or depressed and your mood may change back and forth dramatically.
You may find it difficult to concentrate or make decisions, or become more easily confused.
Sleep and eating patterns also may be disrupted.
You may experience physical symptoms, such as nausea or headaches. Any physical symptoms should be evaluated by a physician.
A disaster such as Tuesday’s events may trigger memories or reactions to a personal trauma that you’ve experienced in your life. Symptoms may be worsened if that is the case.

These reactions are the most intense for those immediately involved with the trauma but those of us at a distance may experience them as well. These feelings will vary between individuals – we all process grief in our own ways. They will lessen over time. If you are still experiencing significant distress after two weeks, you should talk with a physician or mental health professional about your reactions.

Being aware of our own thoughts and feelings, permits us to work more effectively with students.

How do students experience disaster/trauma?

Just as it is with us, students have a wide range of reactions to an event. Students who have recently experienced a personal loss or even who have visited the Pentagon or World Trade Towers may have a more intense experience. However, the most common reactions are:

A loss of control – by their nature, disasters are something over which we have no control
A loss of stability – a child’s sense that the world is a safe, secure, predictable place can be shaken
A fear for their own safety – children’s immediate reaction often includes a fear for their own safety.

How children react to the disaster is affected by their developmental level.

Very young students (preschoolers and early elementary students) have difficulty understanding the nature of the event, especially if it occurred at a distance and did not affect them directly. They are aware of and reactive to the feelings of adults, and may become frightened, especially for their own safety. They have difficulty articulating their feelings or describing their inner worlds and will often show us their feelings by actions.
Middle and upper elementary students are able to focus on the concrete details of the experience and often have specific questions about the event. They can also tell us more directly what they are feeling, but may not have sufficient vocabulary or experience to fully express themselves. They often need help understanding the more abstract aspects of the event (where it occurred, etc.) and clarification that their safety is not compromised
Middle and high school students can think about the more abstract issues involved in disasters – they can ask questions about people’s motivations for example, and think about concepts such as fairness or justice. They can talk more directly about their own feelings, and about their opinions, and are often very committed to “doing something” to help the situation.

What can Adults do?

Model calm and control – children take their cues from us
Reassure children that they are safe and that those they love are safe
Reassure them that trustworthy adults are in charge and working with the situation
Let children know that it is OK to feel upset, angry, or any other emotion – encourage children to verbalize their feelings. Very young children may not be able to do this, and adults have to be more proactive. For example, adults may need to say “You may be scared that something bad will happen here, but we are safe here and nothing bad will happen to us.”
Tell children the truth
Keep your explanations developmentally appropriate:

a. Preschoolers/early elementary: brief, simple information should be balanced with reassurances for their safety. Keep it simple and respond directly to their questions. You may need to label and discuss feelings directly (you might be feeling scared but we are safe.)

b. Elementary: again, brief simple explanations with reassurances of personal and school safety are helpful. Follow the children’s lead and respond directly to their questions.

c. Middle/high school: These students can engage in some of the “big” questions about the event and may be able to talk more abstractly about it. It continues to be important to provide factual information, and to limit the hype and contagion that often sweep up adolescents.

What should teachers do?

1. Make time to talk about the event in class. Try to address the basic “who, what, where, when” facts of the situation Don’t deny the seriousness of the situation, but keep from exaggerated or prolonged exposure to the event. Keep these sessions brief (15-20 minutes) and maintain the normal routines of the classroom as much as possible.

2. Assure children that they are safe and that the school will take care of them.

3. Talk about the feelings that children may have about the event. Activities such as art, writing projects, puppet plays, etc. can be used to help children express their reactions. Modeling appropriate talk of your own feelings can be helpful. However, you should always reassure children that they are safe and that you, the adult, is in control.

4. Maintain a normal routine – children benefit from increased stability and a sense of control during a trauma.

5. Be careful not to sterotype people or countries that might be home to the terrorists – children can easy generalize negative statements and develop prejudice.

6. Monitor student reactions. Refer students who exhibit extreme anxiety, fear or anger to mental health professionals in the school. Call their parents. Be aware that some students will seem unaffected – and that’s OK too. Be especially aware of students who have had a personal loss or are directly affected by the incident.

7. Provide an outlet for students’ desire to help – letters to community helpers, hospitalized victims, planting a tree, collecting money, writing poems or stories for a class book about the disaster, etc. can be helpful to students. Involving them in decision-making about what to do can help them re-establish a sense of control.

8. Monitor and restrict viewing of the event – repeated exposure to the event magnifies it and can be especially frightening to children

Tips for teachers in responding to children

1. Keep it simple! Use simple, declarative language

2. Remember that children don’t always tell us what they need in words. Sometimes their behavior indicates that they are stressed. Be attentive to any changes in behavior, affect, or motivation over the next several weeks.

3. Remember that they do not always ask the question that is foremost on their minds. Ask clarifying questions to get at a child’s deeper meaning – for example, a child’s question of “why did this happen?” might really mean “is this going to happen again to me anytime soon?” A clarifying question such as “are you concerned that it might happen again?

4. Remember that children often use action words instead of feeling or reflective words. For example, a student might say “I want to kill whoever did this!!” as a way of saying “I’m furious about this” or “I feel frustrated that I can’t do something about it!” Help children to pair feeling words to those action oriented statements.

How should teachers respond to the “tough” questions?

“I don’t know” is OK! When a child asks, “why did this happen?” it’s perfectly OK to not have a logical answer.
Establish limits for hurtful or aggressive talk. For example, in response to a child’s promises to hurt whoever did this, a teacher might respond “I can see that you are very angry about this, but we can’t hurt people just because we are angry with them.” – substituting the feeling word will often help children to back off inappropriate threats
Be respectful of children’s talk about faith experiences. Refer children to their parents or their communities of faith to answer questions about religious issues. For example, in response to a child’s question of “Why did God let this happen?” a teacher can respond, “That’s a very good question to ask your mom or dad, or maybe your rabbi/pastor. I don’t have an answer for that question.”
Limit stereotyped or prejudicial statements. Use such statements as “teachable moments” to help children understand that such statements are inappropriate.