Support for developing skills
What can you do to assure that students who have experienced trauma will find the support in school they need to develop critical emotional, behavioral and relational skills? Listen to what former out-of-home care students have to share:
Pay attention to the child’s inner state
"What's going on?"
Transcript
“There’s definitely confidentiality and teachers don’t need to know everything about a child’s case. But I think it would be beneficial in a situation like that for a teacher to pull the child aside, or, you know, if the children are working on some type of school work and she just says, 'Could you come up to my desk for a few minutes?', and says, 'What’s going on?' That way, that child can share as much as they want, or they can share as little, but that teacher can give them words of encouragement and let them know that what they’re doing isn’t necessarily appropriate for the classroom.”
Time-ins, not Time-outs
In-classroom and out-of-classroom time-outs can increase traumatized children’s sense of shame and negative self-image And placement in a time-out room can be terrorizing for a child who is hyper-aroused and doesn’t have the ability to calm himself. Time-Ins place the child close to the teacher for support.
"If I got time to cool down"
Transcript
“I got in trouble a lot my freshman year. They handled it as well as they knew how to. If there was more trainings for the school teachers on how to react to the situations, I think it would have been better. Instead of me just going straight to the principal’s office, if I got time to like cool down or something and get collected, that would’ve helped.”
In the next audio clip, the student was asked how teachers handled it when he became really upset after his mother did not appear to reunite with him and have him live with her.
"How did the teachers handle it?"
Transcript
“The best way they knew how, because I would react violently. I would leave the classroom, leave the school, have to be restrained by the teachers or just be stubborn, shut down, so they had to react, whether they were restraining me, calling the principal, or whatever the technique they used, so it varied.”
Be respectful
"Maybe talk to them"
Transcript
How should teachers handle situations of misbehavior?
“Maybe talk to them after class and see - like if they’re sleeping in class, you - why they’re doing that, instead of calling it out in front of the class and making them stand out even more than what they do.”
"Just ask me nicely"
Transcript
“Yes, I’ve been in trouble in school. No, I don’t think they handled it the right way. The reason I felt that way is because instead of being treated the same way as the other person, I was physically grabbed by the collar instead of being respectfully led to the office... Just ask me nicely, could they lead me to the office.”
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