By the beginning of fall, most children are acclimated to the routine of the school year and thriving in their school environment; however, this can be much more difficult for children with disabilities. Although all children have to learn coping skills to overcome challenges in day-to-day life, children with disabilities may be experiencing much more stress than you anticipate.
Some of the types of trauma that a child with a disability may experience include:
- Medical trauma – The challenge of many different doctor’s appointments, medications, and even hospital procedures
- Educational trauma – The struggle to get the extra supports needed in the school system in order to be as successful as possible and even the trauma of being continuously separated at school from same-age peers
- Bullying – The emotional rollercoaster of having classmates point out their differences and compare them to other students
It’s also important to remember that the families of children with disabilities (adults and siblings) experience many of these traumas right along with the children.
In order to support a child with a disability who has experienced trauma, here are a few tips to keep in mind:
- Children with disabilities are often overwhelmed by big emotions and melt down when they don’t know how to process those feelings. To help a child work through these emotions, it is important to teach the child calming techniques when he or she is content, because it is very hard to teach new skills when the child is already dysregulated.
- Many children with disabilities experience anxiety or high levels of stress that can lead to a “Fight or Flight” response. To make sure that a child avoids aggressive behavior or does not flee from home or school, caregivers can make a plan in advance for a place the child can go to calm down (like a bedroom at home or a safe place at school) where the child can take some time to calm down and remain safe.
- Caregivers should make sure to watch and see what happens right before and right after a child has an emotional meltdown in order to see what triggered the event or what outcome the child was seeking. This may help to reduce these episodes in the future.
In order to help caregivers continue to support children with disabilities who have experienced trauma, the Bounce Coalition is offering a new training focused specifically on this topic later this year. To see all the trainings that Bounce offers, you can click here.
