“Author: Oleksandra Gorchynska What changes in a child’s behavior may indicate that he is experiencing the consequences of trauma or is under stress, and why it is worth revising school programs in accordance with today’s conditions. Svitlana Royz is a child and family psychologist, the author of books and educational projects for parents, teachers and doctors, a consultant for the children’s TV channel PlyusPlyus, an expert on UNICEF projects. With the beginning of a full-scale war, Svetlana Royz devotes a lot”, — write on: ua.news
What changes in a child’s behavior may indicate that he is experiencing the effects of trauma or is under stress, and why it is necessary to revise school programs according to today’s conditions.
Svitlana Royz is a child and family psychologist, the author of books and educational projects for parents, teachers and doctors, a consultant for the children’s TV channel PlyusPlyus, an expert on UNICEF projects.
With the beginning of a full-scale war, Svitlana Royz pays a lot of attention to the topic of trauma sensitivity and trauma pedagogy of children and adolescents, in particular, during her stay at school. In his Facebook, he regularly writes posts with recommendations for adults, in particular for teachers who interact with children, on reducing the number of triggers when interacting with children during lessons, at children’s holidays, etc.
NV reporter Sasha Gorchynska spoke with Svitlana Roiz about how children of different ages experience traumatic events, what to pay attention to in order to prevent their retraumatization, and how a modern school should adapt curricula to the new, wartime reality.
— How to recognize when a child is traumatized?
– With a word “trauma” is already causing a lot of confusion. Both we and our children go through traumatic experiences. But it will definitely not have traumatic consequences for everyone.
Sometimes we confuse the effects of trauma with the stress response. There are too many stressors now. After an event associated with a sense of danger – not only physical – the child may be in a state of freezing, may cry, be too talkative or, on the contrary, silent, may show excessive activity, irritation.
If the child was in a state of numbness, the regulation can take place in the reverse order. If we take as a basis possible reactions: fight – run – freeze, then recovery can go like this: freeze – run – fight. Or at first due to excessive activity, and only later the child may react as if he is fighting back against what happened in the past. And this reaction of anger, aggression is not a manifestation of the child’s aggressiveness, or a sign that the child is experiencing the consequences of trauma. It is a stress response.
Children are adaptive, the nervous system has a reserve of elasticity. However, there is no person who is not vulnerable at all, and every resource is exhaustive. Stress resistance and the ability to counteract trauma depend on many factors: it is both an innate trait and an acquired one at the same time. It is necessary to ensure that the child can restore the resource, as well as not to overload him with things that he may not be able to handle. We teach children regulation practices, the ability to counteract the experience of stress. And we learn ourselves, because the condition of children depends on the condition of adults.
What will be the consequences of any difficult events depends on the general stress resistance of the family, and on attachment, and on closeness. When we feel danger, we look for an object of closeness with our eyes – to feel protection. We have to meet—literally and figuratively—someone who looks at us, who can provide acceptance and at least some emotional protection.
There is a study of the effects of stress. After a traumatic experience, a mother rat licks her cubs, not even her own. This changes gene expression, reduces cortisol levels, and prevents the effects of trauma from developing. It is important for children to have those they can trust, whom they feel safe and close to.
Along with a sense of protection, it is important for children to have a sense of self-efficacy. We should be attentive to changes in self-esteem: a child experiencing the consequences of trauma may feel helpless, unable to influence anything in life. So the following is very important here: no matter what happens, we try to leave the child with the opportunity to act, and we show him maximum respect. A child can always take care of his toys, count the steps to the exit, carry something, hold our hand. The key is the feeling that children can influence something themselves.
Now I see the efforts of adults to compensate children for the trials of war. To create, as far as possible, ideal conditions. However, in reality, it is important for children to face tolerable stress, to learn to withstand it, to cope with it. Each experience of a small victory, overcoming stress adds strength.
Sometimes I hear, they say, what is the training during the war, why overload the child one more time? However, there are interesting studies: the higher the cognitive level of a person, the easier it is for him to cope with the consequences of stress and traumatic events. Children need “cognitive training”, their brains need to develop and receive loads. And they need regulation skills.
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– How to recognize that something is wrong?
— Only about 8% of children with complex trauma develop PTSD. With pronounced symptoms: intrusive memories, avoidance, negative cognitive changes, mood changes and agitation.
In general, we should pay special attention to the following manifestations: for more than two weeks, we observe a child’s sleep disorders, night terrors, we see a return to earlier manifestations in his behavior, speech, games, and at the same time there is no recovery dynamics if the child is constantly experiencing anxiety, flinches at the slightest stimulus, talks about a traumatic experience and is afraid that it will happen again. Also – if the child has constant problems with concentration, does not let go of adults, has eating disorders, if we see signs of depression and the child says that he does not feel anything – in such cases it is very important to consult a specialist.
— Are there any training, classes with psychologists for teachers who work with schoolchildren, in order to teach them to recognize such “bells” in time?
– Many teachers have already been trained. There are already many such online and offline courses, they were and are free for educators. Together with the Eastern Europe Foundation, I took part in the creation of an online course Air Anxiety at School to help educators. There are skills courses EMDR for teachers I know that there are also educational projects with CPT low intensity. I know about developments UKU It is my dream that all educators — teachers and kindergarten teachers — have knowledge and tools for diagnosis and regulation, helping children.
— You write many posts with advice on how to communicate more correctly with children who have experienced traumatic events in order to avoid re-traumatization. However, from these posts it turns out that almost anything can become a trigger: the topic of the work about “My home” or “My pet”, incorrectly chosen songs and music on the festive line, holiday script, etc. And all this often does not look obvious. Is it possible to take everything into account?
– In fact, we really cannot predict what might become a trigger for a child. But we can always show respect for her experience and needs, attentiveness and empathy. If something did provoke the child’s reaction, we can recognize it in time and help.
Our attentiveness is not the same as avoiding difficult topics. For example, when we know that a person who has experienced a loss is next to us, we can not talk about it at all, pretend that nothing happened. But in this case, such behavior will create a feeling of strain and artificiality, and this child or this adult will feel even more alone.
— Are there any key principles to pay attention to in the first place?
– Our task is to learn wise trauma-sensitive tact, for example, in the case of the topic of loss. We can say to the child, “I know about your loss, and it’s hard for me to find the words to talk about it right now. I am so sorry you are having to go through this and it is very sad. I want you to always know that you can rely on me. If it is acceptable for you, you can tell the class about N. We will have a tea party in class and dedicate it to your family. You can bring some thing or photo.”
If the class is going through an essay that has a theme of loss, we can warn that student, ask if he or she is ready, and suggest maybe a different kind of work.
We do not completely exclude the topic of the house, but we must be attentive to it. If we know that there is a child nearby who has lost his home, or had to leave it forcibly and it has not yet been worked out, it still hurts, we must be aware that mentioning it will cause strong reactions.
Our etiquette now is not to ask a child where his parents are. Instead, you can formulate the question more carefully: for example, “Who did you come with?”. Remember that you should not touch the child without his permission. Be sensitive to the distance in contact with her – although this advice applies to any contact. A manifestation of simple prudence is not to use the sounds of air alarms, explosions, but in videos and photos – images of the dead and blood. Do not use balloons or firecrackers near children, especially on children’s holidays.
We remember that poetry, music, songs, all manifestations of creativity are “living metaphors” that directly affect our state. And at any time, not only in war, we have to be responsible when we use them and think about the possible consequences. Such healthy criticality not only to external information, but also to what we use, and awareness of why I use it is a manifestation of adulthood.
For example, I was saddened by a song that is offered now in kindergartens and schools. There are words that children should sing: we will stop the rockets with our hands or our hearts. Children do not have to protect the world by themselves, they do not have to take responsibility for adults. This is just a manifestation of impropriety.
— How often are there examples of traumatic content in old-style textbooks?
– The year before last, after parents and teachers began to constantly contact me about panic attacks and tantrums that children had in classes, I reread all the textbooks on Ukrainian language and literature for junior high school. I wrote to all publishing houses about what should be paid attention to right now. And some publishing houses responded.
I also contacted the Ministry of Education and Science. And thanking you [керівникові директорату шкільної освіти] Ihor Hvorostyan, we together published a manual for teachers. It is not about what should be excluded from the program – although teachers have such a right. Namely, how to talk about different topics in a way that takes into account the feelings of children who live different experiences. I want to emphasize once again: the main task is not avoidance, because this is one of the signs of trauma, but a more sensitive and in-depth study of the topic.
BaraBuk Agency. The space of the Ukrainian children’s book launched a wonderful initiative – the creation of manuals to help parents and adults on various topics. The last such project was devoted to how to talk to children about war and peace. It included a manual with a description of 50 books for children of various ages. Many experts worked on this project. I wrote about each book: what exactly is important to pay attention to, what can be discussed while reading. BaraBuka experts conducted broadcasts for book authors and book publishers on similar topics.
— Do you notice any changes in the approach to schoolchildren already now?
– My daughter went to a new school this year. I liked the questionnaire prepared for families: there I could write about everything that should be paid attention to [у взаємодії здонькою]. About how my daughter likes to be called, what foods she doesn’t like, what she might react to stress, what topics might be sensitive for her right now. I think this is a very mature initiative.
Now, in order to meet the demand for psychological services, we all need to learn how to deliver low-intensity interventions. These are the aids and interventions that can help to manage the condition of the person next to you. Such techniques require special training, but not necessarily special education.
World Health Organization manuals such as Problem Management Plus are freely available online (UP+), as well as Important skills in times of stress. There is a separate low-intensity CBT course where intervention in CBT-based techniques is offered. Everyone who is close to children should have this knowledge.
I can also add that the reform of the psychological service at the school is currently being prepared. I hope it will lead to children trusting specialists more. And also that the profession of psychologist will cease to be stigmatized for children, and school psychologists will adhere to the code of ethics. Then the children will be sure that they are safe with the psychologist. And more importantly, school psychologists will have high-quality professional training and respect. After all, their role is very important.