Strategies for Working With Students Who ’ ve Experienced Trauma

It’s a Monday morning in the New Haven (Connecticut) Public Schools. Every Monday, my speech-language treatment sessions kick off with one of my kindergarten students. Every week with this student is a new adventure. This Monday, he wears his typical soiled clothes and clings to the arms of the paraeducator bringing him to the session. He is not crying. He is not mad. He is clearly preoccupied, resulting in his usual withdrawn demeanor. He clings harder to the helper as I approach, places his head down and falls asleep within seconds as if he didn’t sleep the night before. We finally make it to my office but not without some apprehension. At the start of the school year, it took us nearly 10 minutes before we were able to start our walk to my office. We know this student at some point experienced trauma. Unfortunately, we don’t know the details. We don’t know what precipitated his presenting behavior this morning, but this is how he arrives at school and we rack our brains to figure out how to best meet his needs while giving him a positive and enriching learning experience. What I just described is common for many of my students. The prevalence of childhood trauma is at an all-time high in our nation and is drastically greater for students in inner cities, like my district, who are living in poverty. Trauma can present in many forms, including maltreatment, witnessing violence, or loss of a loved one. We know trauma can affect brain development, behavior, and emotion...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Tags: Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology Language Disorders social skills Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs