Education Week - August 21, 2019 - 20

| BUILDING A TRAUMA-SENSITIVE SCHOOL

Some FAQs for Educators
On Children's Trauma
While the word "trauma" has become something of a colloquial term, the chronic stress
associated with severe and ongoing health and education problems is not related to lowlevel stressors such as watching a scary movie or getting in a fight with your best friend.
As school districts explore trauma-informed practices or work to develop trauma-sensitive
schools, a new understanding of trauma is emerging.

The National Institute of Mental Health defines
two basic kinds of trauma.
The first comes from a single incident, often
a disaster such as a hurricane or a school
shooting. These affect many students or a whole
community and often involve broad community
responses.
The second type-and common but often
much harder for school staff to spot-is complex
trauma, such as chronic neglect, housing or food
instability, or physical or sexual abuse.
Complex trauma can lead to so-called "toxic
stress," defined as a response to "severe,
prolonged, or repetitive adversity with a lack of
the necessary nurturance or support of a caregiver
to prevent an abnormal stress response."
Not all students who experience a traumatic
event develop a toxic response; studies have
found those with a strong support structure tend
to be resilient.

Are "Adverse Childhood Experiences"
the same as trauma?
One of the most popular concepts for
understanding and gauging trauma is the adverse
childhood experiences, or ACEs, framework,
which uses a set of common examples of abuse,
neglect, and family problems that are associated
with long-term problems in health, education,
and social relationships.
ACEs were coined in a study by the federal
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
and the health provider Kaiser Permanente.
Researchers initially interviewed more than
217,000 adults about whether they had ever
experienced the following situations: physical,
sexual, or emotional abuse; physical or emotional
neglect; having a parent or caregiver who died,
was divorced, or incarcerated, had severe mental
illness, or abused drugs or alcohol; or if they had
ever been the victim of or witnessed violence in
the home.
Traumatic experiences cluster, researchers
found. Children whose families were
dysfunctional or unstable were more likely to
experience abuse or neglect, for example.
In an ongoing series of longitudinal studies,
researchers found that the higher the number of
ACEs a child experienced (particularly if there
are four or more) the worse their outcomes in
education, physical and mental health, and the
tendency to engage in risky behaviors. Moreover,
no individual type of ACE proved more damaging
than another; chronic emotional abuse or living
with a drug-addicted family member caused
long-term brain changes in the same way as
sexual abuse.
It's important to note that the original ACEs
study focused on adults, and researchers in the 20
years since the original 1998 study have tailored
the types of childhood adversity included in these
lists. The most recent federal survey of adverse

childhood experiences, part of the National
Survey of Children's Health, also counts growing
up under extreme financial instability, in which
families often cannot afford basic food and
housing.

Roughly one-fifth of children have experienced two or more
adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), according to the most
recent federal survey. These experiences, which can include
abuse, parental divorce, or living with a drug-addicted adult,
are linked to long-term problems in health or education or with
social relationships. The more ACEs children experience, the
more likely they are to develop problems.

Child's family often finds it very hard
to cover basics like food or housing

23%
22

Child's parent or guardian divorced

What does toxic stress do?
Studies have found intense trauma and
chronic toxic stress increase inflammation
and weaken the immune system, impair
memory and attention, and increase the risk of
developmental delays. Neurologically, trauma
has also been found to make children's brains
more "reactive"-quicker to stress, harder to
soothe, and likelier to interpret and react to
neutral situations as threatening. A 2016 study
in the Journal of Applied School Psychology
notes that "children who have experienced
complex trauma may develop maladaptive coping
mechanisms: anger outbursts, substance abuse,
truancy, and other challenging behaviors. These
behaviors may make students appear hostile and
oppositional, belying their vulnerability."
In the long run, those who experienced four or
more ACEs were four to 12 times as likely to abuse
drugs or alcohol, engage in risky sexual behavior,
or commit suicide, compared with those who did
not have traumatic experiences. A 2018 study of
K-6 students also found each ACE increased a
student's risk of absenteeism, behavior problems,
and performing below-grade level in reading,
writing, and mathematics.

What does federal law say about
trauma-informed schools?
The federal Every Student Succeeds Act
encourages states and districts to incorporate
"trauma-informed practices that are evidencebased." Districts can use Title II money to
train teachers in "the techniques and supports
needed to help educators understand when and
how to refer students affected by trauma, and
children with, or at risk of, mental illness" as well
as "training for all school personnel on how to
prevent and recognize child sexual abuse."
The Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act currently refers to trauma only for preschoolage children. Districts can identify children
for early intervention services under IDEA for
experiencing a "substantial case of trauma due to
family violence."
However, in several ongoing lawsuits, courts
are exploring whether complex trauma may
qualify as a disability that would require a student
to be given an individualized education program,
and separately, that districts may need to adjust
a student's IEP to address trauma the student
experienced after first being identified under
IDEA.
Coverage of whole-child approaches to learning is supported
in part by a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, at
www.chanzuckerberg.com. Education Week retains sole
editorial control over the content of this coverage.

20 | EDUCATION WEEK | August 21, 2019 | www.edweek.org

Child has lived with a person with
an alcohol or drug problem

8

Child's parent or guardian
spent time in jail

7

Child has lived with someone
who was mentally ill, suicidal,
or severely depressed

7

Child has seen or heard parents
or adults slap, hit, kick, or punch
one another in the home

5

Child was a victim of violence

4

Child has been treated
unfairly because of race

4

Child's parent or guardian died

4

Only one adverse
childhood experience
Two or more adverse
childhood experiences

SOURCE: 2017 National Survey of Children's Health

25
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Image by Getty

What do we mean when we say trauma
and traumatic stress?

How Pervasive Is
Childhood Trauma?
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