Understanding how trauma influences learning capabilities in children is important for several populations. Trauma is widespread in Canada. An individual who has experienced a traumatic event may develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms which can show up in different aspects of their daily lives (CPA., 2020).
It is important to recognize that some children experience traumatic events. Some events are short, whilst others extend over a long period of many years. PTSD may develop following a traumatic experience, especially if it is a recurring incident, and this PTSD could affect a child’s ability to learn and absorb information. Common childhood trauma includes neglect, abuse, witnessing abuse, and growing up in an area with social conflict, or war.
Trust and Safety
Many traumatic events are interpersonal. This means that there is a relational context related to the traumatizing experience. When this occurs, a child may learn that trusting others is not safe. This can have a massive influence on the child’s ability to be present in a classroom with an authority figure, such as a teacher. If a child is lacking a sense of safety, they are not as likely to ask for help resulting in them not understanding what is being taught to them.
Attachment
Symptoms of trauma can show up differently for different children. Some may be quiet because they feel withdrawn and shut down in a school setting. Other children may display symptoms that look like hyperactivity and consistently seek attention or approval from others.
Children who have experienced trauma also have far more difficulty understanding boundaries. If a child has been abused by a caregiver, for example, they may learn that their boundaries do not matter. Therefore, a child may not understand boundaries in relation to other children. This can create issues with their classmates and often, children who display symptoms that reflect a lack of boundary comprehension can struggle with authority figures such as their teachers. Consistent issues with authority for behaviour that is normalized at home can be very frustrating and isolating for the child. These issues will influence their ability to be present and attentive in the classroom.
Regulatory Difficulty
Regulating one’s emotions is something that people do on a daily basis. Emotional states influence how humans respond to and behave in different situations. The same goes for children. Sometimes it can be hard for any child to express their emotions effectively because they are unable to articulate themselves as an adult who has experience with their own emotions would. For children who experience trauma, the articulation of their emotions is especially difficult. When a child is struggling to understand their internal state, they are also going to have trouble expressing their needs. With PTSD, this can lead to misunderstandings, emotional breakdowns, shut down due to overwhelming emotions, frustration or other overwhelming emotional states.
The human brain is very adaptive. When the emotional centre is over-activated, it will often lead to an inability to think straight, form coherent thoughts, concentrate, experience the present, etc. This occurs because our prefrontal cortex, or our “thinking centre” starts to go offline. Now, consider a child who is in a constant state of overwhelm coupled with a classroom environment. This state is the least optimal for the intake, processing and retaining of information.
Behavioural Control
Children who experience PTSD and affect dysregulation will have issues controlling their behaviour. There are several reasons for this. As previously mentioned, one is affected by dysregulation and constant overwhelm which leads to behavioural issues. On the other hand, many more troublesome behavioural issues can occur. Research by Cook et al., (2017), highlights that some behavioural problems include aggression toward others, poor impulse behaviour, re-enacting their trauma with classmates (engaging in inappropriate behaviours likely due to the child thinking that’s how people interact with one another), excessive compliance or total disobedience, and compulsive self-soothing behaviours. These are all a visual, interactive result of affect dysregulation.
Children who experience the above behaviours are often mislabelled or misdiagnosed. A common misdiagnosis that has prevailed for children who are experiencing trauma is ADHD. Studies show that many symptoms of ADHD and PTSD can present similarly such as hyperactivity, issues with concentration, and disrupting class activities.
Self-Loathing
Children who experience long-term traumatic events may experience feelings of guilt, shame and self-loathing. This may be due to constant reinforcement that highlights their faults by their abusers, and sometimes inadvertently by their teachers and classmates. Self-loathing leads to several issues such as substance abuse and eating disorders. However, it also leads to negative thinking in many cases.
Traumatized children often feel that they must be bad because that’s the external input that they receive. Low self-esteem is a result of these negative thoughts and feelings about themselves. Low self-esteem can manifest as feeling unintelligent, inadequate and overall not good enough. This contributes to the lack of motivation to learn or put the effort forward to succeed.
Cognitive Function
A massive hurdle for children who have experienced, or are experiencing trauma consistently, are issues related to cognitive function. These functions are crucial to the learning environment. Research on children and trauma showcase that children who are dealing with PTSD often experience issues with concentrating, completing tasks, planning, processing information, issues with language, physical orientation, lack of persistent curiosity, and more. The reasons for these issues are due to how the brain is functioning as a result of experiencing traumatic events. Trauma changes the baseline of the overall body’s nervous system function, which may leave a child in sustained hypervigilance or hypo-vigilance. Each of the states directly negatively influences cognitive functioning, as the child’s state of consciousness may be altered or fluctuate between a safety and fear response.
Trauma takes a toll on a human’s entire system. It is clear, for children, traumatic experiences are extremely detrimental to their development and ability to learn due to impaired cognitive functioning, ability to identify effect and their needs, behavioural issues, a lack of safety, and a sense of internalized self-contempt. Understanding these issues is crucial to help these children find a sense of safety and ultimately, to help them develop and learn in an effective manner.
Resilience
Luckily, children are resilient and the beginning of their story does not always have to set the stage for what is to come. For some adults, this may reflect your experience as a child. There are ways to work to begin to heal your body and recognize symptoms of past traumas. Feel free to get in touch for more information. Often, trauma removes one’s power but you can gain that back. Re-establishing a healthy sense of self and your abilities is a realistic alternative to living in a state of anger, fear or frustration.
