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Learn the Child:
Supporting the education of traumatised children
© als-akamas ltd 2010 2
Why do traumatised children find it difficult to manage school?
They may experience many moves Unmet attachment needs may lead to
emotional, social and cognitive developmental delay
Trauma may lead to impairments and distortions
Speech, language and processing disorders Learning difficulties Distorted education narrative Emotional and behavioural difficulties Difficulties with social connectedness and integration
© als-akamas ltd 2010 3
Why do schools find it difficult to manage traumatised children?
Moves in the care system can make it difficult to integrate children into school
DfES survey showed main problem was post traumatic behaviour
Staff recognised traumatic origins but did not know how to manage behaviour in context of whole school
Can be difficult to define roles and responsibilities and work effectively together
Secondary trauma may affect attitudes and behaviour of adults who constitute the care team
© als-akamas ltd 2010 4
Training helps
Online BTEC qualifications aimed at developing expert practitioners in working with traumatised children
L3 Certificates and Short Course Awards Supporting the Education of Traumatised Children
L4 Certificate and Short Course Awards Expert Practice in Work with Traumatised Children
L5 Award for Designated Teachers Online short course programme mapped to
standards Face to face multi-disciplinary training “Learn
the Child” provided by Akamas
© als-akamas ltd 2010 5
Observation and analysis
Think of a traumatised child or young person known to you
What behaviours cause concern? Do these behaviours indicate that the child or young
person has difficulty with: Self-regulating? Processing information and making sense of the
world? Managing relationships?
If the child has none of these difficulties, think of a different child!
© als-akamas ltd 2010 6
Identity, attachment and education
The seven steps of infant attachment Claiming core identity
Attunement trust and stress regulation
Affective attunement feelings and empathy
Impulse regulation morality
Shame regulation social learning
Rage management social acceptability
Pre-cognitive patterning thinking
© als-akamas ltd 2010 7
Disruptions and distortions during the attachment process
At each step of the developmental process linked to attachment, disruption or distortion has an enduring effect
Attachment relationships affect the structure of the developing brain
Traumatic stress injures the developing brain Children with unmet needs may be thinking
and feeling with a different brain What sense do they make of their lives? What is the impact on the child’s education of
unmet needs in relation to infant attachment and recovery from childhood trauma?
© als-akamas ltd 2010 8
Developmental trauma
Trauma means injury Unregulated stress causes injury to the brain Children with unmet attachment needs often
cannot regulate stress Injuries acquired through stress dysregulation
because of unmet infant attachment needs may be described as developmental trauma
© als-akamas ltd 2010 9
Emotional trauma
Once children can process feelings and can
think, they may be injured through exposure
to terrifying events
Such events lead to extreme stress which
injures the brain
Injuries acquired through exposure to
overwhelming fear or horror may be described
as emotional trauma
© als-akamas ltd 2010 10
Trauma and education
For traumatised children life in school often triggers a post-traumatic response
They may be retraumatised OR They may have experiences that enable them to
process the trauma and recover
Education may increase traumatic identity But education may also, at other times,
resolve traumatic identity and allow the child to discover other possible identities
© als-akamas ltd 2010 11
What do traumatised children need?
Recognition Help with attachment
– Affective attunement: soothing/stimulation/trust
– Reintegrative shame:impulse/choice/responsibility
– Sociability: self-control/reflection/reciprocity Appropriate treatment for trauma
– Stabilisation: safety/explanation/words for feelings
– Integration: physiological/emotional/cognitive
– Adaptation: social connectedness/self-esteem/joy
© als-akamas ltd 2010 12
A nine-point curriculum for working effectively with traumatised children
1 Safety first: soothing hyperaroused children
2 Engaging: stimulating interest and teaching about trauma
3 Trusting and feeling: learning connectedness
4 Managing the self: regulating impulse and regulating the
body
5 Managing feelings: choices and emotional processing
6 Taking responsibility: making sense of the world we share
7 Developing social awareness: learning self-control
8 Developing reflectivity: promoting self-esteem
9 Developing reciprocity: learning that life can be joyful
© als-akamas ltd 2010 13
Recreating the claiming process
ABCD: attention, bonding, control, dependency Children and young people need to feel
That they have our attention, that we are fully aware of who they are and how they are
That they matter to us even when we are physically separate from them
That we will exert ourselves to keep them safe, that we are reliably in control of their safety
That they can depend upon us, that we can carry the burden of their needs
© als-akamas ltd 2010 14
Enhancing a sense of safety
Ensuring that every child or young person has some space where they feel safe
This may be a physical space or the emotional space of a safe and trusted relationship
Learn how sensory experience increases the sense of safety for this child or young person
Experiment with the space in discussion with the child or young person
Encouraging the child or young person to generalise the feeling of safety through imagination
© als-akamas ltd 2010 15
Recreating the attunement process
The child or young person needs patient encouragement to turn to a safe adult for soothing
We need to learn the child – what works for this individual person to produce the relaxation response?
Which senses are most involved? Sight: lighting, colour, vista, images Hearing: rhythm, music, words, silence Smell: relaxing oils, clothing, pets Taste: milk, chocolate, special food, special drinks Touch: fabric, water, care of hair/hands/feet …
© als-akamas ltd 2010 16
Helping children to connectto their physical experience
When children and young people dissociate they cannot connect to their own experience
They need help to recognise physical experiences such as hot/cold or sweet/sour
Activities and games may be used, such as: Working with clay Making bread Taste or smell guessing games Making and listening together to music
© als-akamas ltd 2010 17
Recreating affective attunement
Encourage the child or young person to pay attention to the facial expression of the safe adult
Notice non-verbal signals of feelings in the child and help them to recognise and name what is happening
Start with powerful feelings angry, sad, frightened
Add in more subtle feelings happy, lonely, sympathetic, awed
Whenever possible take pleasure in simply being with the child or young person, and comment on this
© als-akamas ltd 2010 18
Recreating patterns for self-regulation
Once the child or young person begins to form a secure attachment relationship, help them to build on this to begin to self-regulate impulse, rage and shame
Notice and bring to their attention indicators of physiological change, such as
Muscle tension Breathing changes Skin changes Posture
Physically model regulating stress
© als-akamas ltd 2010 19
Recreating pre-cognitive patterning
Games, activities and stories help the child or young person to begin to develop patterns for cognitive function:
Distinguishing fact from fantasy Recognising cause and effect Generalising accurately from the particular Distinguishing mine and yours
It is important to recognise that children and young people whose thinking is impaired or distorted do not have control over these impairments or distortions
© als-akamas ltd 2010 20
Working with the child to promote adaptation
Even when recovery is impossible children and young people can learn to adapt to acquired impairments
Everyone around the child must be aware of the nature of these impairments
We can say to the child: “it seems that some things are harder for you than they are for other people”
We can engage the child or young person by asking how we can help them with this
It is essential to be creative, and to help the child be creative, in finding solutions to the problems of developmental and functional impairment
© als-akamas ltd 2010 21
Teaching children about the effects of unmet needs and the impact of trauma
Before children can start to engage they must begin to understand and recognise their own stress arousal
To do this they need to learn about the impact of developmental and emotional trauma
Children can be helped to gain insight into their own stress responses
Carers and school staff can work with the child and with each other to help the child learn about trauma
© als-akamas ltd 2010 22
Teaching children about relaxation
Once children have some insight into their own
responses they are ready to learn to gain
some control of those responses
Relaxation is a change in physiology
Relaxation is enjoyable, but not for victims of
trauma
Different approaches work for different people
© als-akamas ltd 2010 23
Helping children to regulate impulse
Children with unmet needs may never have developed impulse regulation
The process of impulse regulation in the brain is also affected by trauma
Many traumatised children find it difficult to regulate impulse
They often find this frightening Children who cannot control their own
impulses may be very controlling of others
© als-akamas ltd 2010 24
Think first
Steps to impulse regulation:
Recognise the arousal Practise relaxation to modulate the arousal This builds a gap between impulse and action Use the gap to think about how you will explain the
action you are about to take to someone you care about
Now CHOOSE what action to take
© als-akamas ltd 2010 25
Helping children to regulate shame
Explain that shame is the affect that underlies Embarrassment Shyness Guilt
All these will become easier to live with when the child can learn to control their reaction to shame
Help the child to put words to the experience of shame
Sense of exposure Stress
Identify strategies to regulate the stress
© als-akamas ltd 2010 26
Developing social learning
Encourage the child to notice accurately the impact they have on others, and to discuss any differences between this outcome and their intentions
Talk about what has been learned from every mistake the child makes
Notice and comment upon examples of adaptation to a social setting
Model social learning so that the child sees that this is a lifelong process of adaptation to other people and situations
© als-akamas ltd 2010 27
Promoting resilience through developing self-regulation and social
learning Six domains of resilience in childhood
Secure base Education Friendships Talents and interests Positive values Social competencies
Resilience in each of these domains is enhanced as the child gains self-regulation and develops the capacity for social learning
© als-akamas ltd 2010 28
Assessing resources
Thinking about the child or young person as part of the school community:
Who are the members of the team supporting the education of this child or young person?
What do each of these people need in order to support the child most effectively?
What resources are currently available to enable the team supporting the child to work effectively?
© als-akamas ltd 2010 29
Whole school policies
Thinking about the school for the child or young person being considered:
What additional whole school policies or changes to existing policies would need to be in place in order to provide for the needs of all children including those who are traumatised?
Who are the key people to set these policies or policy changes in place?
What is the first step to be taken?
© als-akamas ltd 2010 30
Action plans/improvement plans
Thinking about the school action plan or improvement plan:
What would be the key steps in the action plan to implement such policies or policy changes?
How would the implementation be evaluated?