Module 2: What are the Symptoms of a Traumatized Child?
What Should Teachers Know about Trauma?
Trauma can be triggered by anything that reminds a person of the traumatic event, including sights, sounds, smells or thoughts.
When trauma is triggered, a student may freeze, can begin to feel helpless, panicked, unsafe or overwhelmed with emotion, and they might even feel like they are re-experiencing the traumatic event.
It is often difficult for children to identify, express, and manage their emotions in response to a trigger.
The Traumatic Response
Teachers are critical in influencing the traumatic response. In the traumatic response scenario, students often suffer from a traumatic experience and generally cope to the best of their ability. Unfortunately, it is common for the coping mechanism to be inadequate. Often adults perceive the student who is trying to cope in a negative light. The adult's reaction, and sometimes the consequence, confirms the students beliefs (e.g., I am not loveable, worthy, good, etc.). And the pattern continues without the student receiving help or healing from their experience.
Trauma can be triggered by anything that reminds a person of the traumatic event, including sights, sounds, smells or thoughts.
When trauma is triggered, a student may freeze, can begin to feel helpless, panicked, unsafe or overwhelmed with emotion, and they might even feel like they are re-experiencing the traumatic event.
It is often difficult for children to identify, express, and manage their emotions in response to a trigger.
The Traumatic Response
Teachers are critical in influencing the traumatic response. In the traumatic response scenario, students often suffer from a traumatic experience and generally cope to the best of their ability. Unfortunately, it is common for the coping mechanism to be inadequate. Often adults perceive the student who is trying to cope in a negative light. The adult's reaction, and sometimes the consequence, confirms the students beliefs (e.g., I am not loveable, worthy, good, etc.). And the pattern continues without the student receiving help or healing from their experience.
The Trauma-Informed Response
In a trauma-informed response, it is like the earlier traumatic response. However, three steps can change the outcome. In the same scenario, the student suffers a traumatic experience, has a trigger event or memory, and copes the best way they know how. The adult recognizes the student's behavior in time as a trauma symptom and takes a trauma-informed approach by getting support. With the aid of the school and teacher, the student begins to get help. Over time, the student learns to feel safe in a trusted environment and copes and heals from their traumatic experience. The adult's reaction can help if the student learns how to self regulate and manage the intensity of their reaction.
In a trauma-informed response, it is like the earlier traumatic response. However, three steps can change the outcome. In the same scenario, the student suffers a traumatic experience, has a trigger event or memory, and copes the best way they know how. The adult recognizes the student's behavior in time as a trauma symptom and takes a trauma-informed approach by getting support. With the aid of the school and teacher, the student begins to get help. Over time, the student learns to feel safe in a trusted environment and copes and heals from their traumatic experience. The adult's reaction can help if the student learns how to self regulate and manage the intensity of their reaction.
What You Might Observe in Students Who Have Experienced Trauma
Select one or more of the tabs below to learn about the symptoms and stories of children who have experienced trauma.
All stories are personal accounts from Palestinian teachers.
Select one or more of the tabs below to learn about the symptoms and stories of children who have experienced trauma.
All stories are personal accounts from Palestinian teachers.
Omar's Story
Omar is a 6 year old boy in first grade from Nablus city. He is a very smart interactive student in his class.
He used to go to school with his father every morning by car, but suddenly Omar faced trauma that changed his routine and his life.
The Israeli army broke into his house in the middle of the night to arrest his father. Omar woke up to the crushing sounds of violence. He then witnessed his father being beaten by the soldiers without any reason. Omar hid under the table and kept screaming and crying hysterically all night. The next day, Omar was absent from school because he refused to go to school with anyone but his dad.
After two days, Omar returned back to school, but he remained silent throughout class and seemed to be pale. He didn't talk to his friends or participate in class. Omar's teachers noticed this change in him and tried to figure out the reason. At first, Omar refused to talk to anyone in school, yet after many tries from his favorite teacher, he told her about what happened with him the other night. He said with his eyes opened widely, "I could not go back to sleep because I saw many horrific weapons, I kept crying and my mother and grandmother stayed with me holding me to stop crying."
Omar could not focus in his classes for days, and he did not talk about anything except his father. He brought a necklace with his father's picture painted on it to remind him always of his happy days with his father and remind him of his father's encouragement for him to keep going in his class.
Even though Omar's teacher was working on it, she noticed that this incident had affected Omar's mentality. In the end of the semester, the teacher asked the children about their dream career. Each one of them seemed to have a lovely dream career, but Omar's dream was totally different and shocking. Omar said he wanted to be a "defender of the country" and said "I want to defend the country so no one else's father could be arrested".
He used to go to school with his father every morning by car, but suddenly Omar faced trauma that changed his routine and his life.
The Israeli army broke into his house in the middle of the night to arrest his father. Omar woke up to the crushing sounds of violence. He then witnessed his father being beaten by the soldiers without any reason. Omar hid under the table and kept screaming and crying hysterically all night. The next day, Omar was absent from school because he refused to go to school with anyone but his dad.
After two days, Omar returned back to school, but he remained silent throughout class and seemed to be pale. He didn't talk to his friends or participate in class. Omar's teachers noticed this change in him and tried to figure out the reason. At first, Omar refused to talk to anyone in school, yet after many tries from his favorite teacher, he told her about what happened with him the other night. He said with his eyes opened widely, "I could not go back to sleep because I saw many horrific weapons, I kept crying and my mother and grandmother stayed with me holding me to stop crying."
Omar could not focus in his classes for days, and he did not talk about anything except his father. He brought a necklace with his father's picture painted on it to remind him always of his happy days with his father and remind him of his father's encouragement for him to keep going in his class.
Even though Omar's teacher was working on it, she noticed that this incident had affected Omar's mentality. In the end of the semester, the teacher asked the children about their dream career. Each one of them seemed to have a lovely dream career, but Omar's dream was totally different and shocking. Omar said he wanted to be a "defender of the country" and said "I want to defend the country so no one else's father could be arrested".
Sami's Story
Sami is an 8 year old boy from Jenin. Sami lives near Jenin camp which is a targeted area for the Israeli army, and has experienced successive unfortunate events of bombing, house demolitions, infrastructure demolitions, and confrontations with bullets.
Sami was attached to his older brother Ahmad. They were best friends and used to share everything together, play football, and study together. In fact, Ahmed was a role model for Sami because he was nice to other people, took care of cats in the neighborhood and was an outstanding student in college, among other traits that Sami would like to have.
One day, Ahmad was accompanying Sami to school in the morning and sharing funny stories about situations that happened at school while they were walking. Suddenly, without any warning, they heard a sound of intensive shooting in their way. People in the street, including children who were on their way to school started to run away as fast as they could. Unfortunately, the Israeli army was faster and surrounded the area where Ahmad and Sami were walking. Ahmad and Sami were trapped in that area, scared to make any wrong move because they might get shot by a random bullet. They hid behind a wall for about fifteen minutes. Yet, the Israeli soldiers kept moving until they approached the brothers. Sami was crying and screaming because of fear while Ahmad thought that he had to do something to save his younger brother. As soon as Ahmad stood up to carry his brother, he was shot in the head. Ahmad's blood kept flowing in front of Sami's terrified eyes and no one could help. Everyone was afraid to take any step to save them. Even the ambulance was prevented from getting in the area to help Ahmad.
After this tragic incident, Sami faced deep trauma. He refused to go to school for a whole month. He lost weight because of depression. He had nightmares every night which made him scream in the middle of the night. He refused the idea that his brother was dead and kept asking "Where is my brother Ahmad? I want to see him now."
Sami's parents did not want to lose Sami in such tragic circumstances, so they decided to re-integrate him with his friends and school mates. After several tries, he is finally convinced to go back to school. Sami's teachers knew that he had a special case. They started to motivate him during the classes by cooperating with Sami's friends and classmates. His English teacher called Basma was very close to the children and she thought that she could do something special for him. Basma was more than just a friend for Sami, she was like a therapist for him. She was spending hours after school with him talking about how good Ahmad was, encouraging him to be like his brother and advising him to do what Ahmad was doing.
Sami was recovering day by day. He started to study more to be as good as Ahmad was in the college, feeding cats in the neighborhood, and telling his classmates about Ahmad and saying "Ahmad is not here today, but I will be the little Ahmad".
Sami is an 8 year old boy from Jenin. Sami lives near Jenin camp which is a targeted area for the Israeli army, and has experienced successive unfortunate events of bombing, house demolitions, infrastructure demolitions, and confrontations with bullets.
Sami was attached to his older brother Ahmad. They were best friends and used to share everything together, play football, and study together. In fact, Ahmed was a role model for Sami because he was nice to other people, took care of cats in the neighborhood and was an outstanding student in college, among other traits that Sami would like to have.
One day, Ahmad was accompanying Sami to school in the morning and sharing funny stories about situations that happened at school while they were walking. Suddenly, without any warning, they heard a sound of intensive shooting in their way. People in the street, including children who were on their way to school started to run away as fast as they could. Unfortunately, the Israeli army was faster and surrounded the area where Ahmad and Sami were walking. Ahmad and Sami were trapped in that area, scared to make any wrong move because they might get shot by a random bullet. They hid behind a wall for about fifteen minutes. Yet, the Israeli soldiers kept moving until they approached the brothers. Sami was crying and screaming because of fear while Ahmad thought that he had to do something to save his younger brother. As soon as Ahmad stood up to carry his brother, he was shot in the head. Ahmad's blood kept flowing in front of Sami's terrified eyes and no one could help. Everyone was afraid to take any step to save them. Even the ambulance was prevented from getting in the area to help Ahmad.
After this tragic incident, Sami faced deep trauma. He refused to go to school for a whole month. He lost weight because of depression. He had nightmares every night which made him scream in the middle of the night. He refused the idea that his brother was dead and kept asking "Where is my brother Ahmad? I want to see him now."
Sami's parents did not want to lose Sami in such tragic circumstances, so they decided to re-integrate him with his friends and school mates. After several tries, he is finally convinced to go back to school. Sami's teachers knew that he had a special case. They started to motivate him during the classes by cooperating with Sami's friends and classmates. His English teacher called Basma was very close to the children and she thought that she could do something special for him. Basma was more than just a friend for Sami, she was like a therapist for him. She was spending hours after school with him talking about how good Ahmad was, encouraging him to be like his brother and advising him to do what Ahmad was doing.
Sami was recovering day by day. He started to study more to be as good as Ahmad was in the college, feeding cats in the neighborhood, and telling his classmates about Ahmad and saying "Ahmad is not here today, but I will be the little Ahmad".
Bashir's Story
Bashir is a 6 year old boy in first grade. Bashir had an accident when he was 3 years old when a wall fell on him and hit his head. Bashir underwent several surgeries, and he lost half of his hearing sense. This greatly affected his mental health and his academic performance. Bashir was embarrassed by the loss of half of his hearing as he could only hear from one ear. Whenever someone spoke to him, he would ask them to repeat the words louder and clearer so that he could understand what was being said to him.
His embarrassment increased when he joined school as he faced difficulties in dealing with his peers in the class. He was exposed to a lot of bullying, as he did not want to play with them for fear of feeling inferior to them. He also preferred to sit alone in the class to avoid any situation that would embarrass him as he never felt that he was able to compete with his classmates.
Unfortunately, Bashir did not only suffer with his classmates, but he also felt very embarrassed in front of his teachers. He was afraid that he would be a burden on his teacher if he asked her to repeat what she said every time. This caused Bashir to fall behind in his lessons, a he could barely hear the lesson. The issue became even more difficult for Bashir when he found himself failing his exams, the thing that made him refuse to go to school.
One day, Bashir's math teacher (Amal) asked him to solve some questions on the board, but Bashir did not hear her well and did not understand what the teacher asked him to do. Amal repeated what she said to Bashir while looking at him and saw that he was nervous and feeling confused. She also heard the sound of students laughing and jostling among themselves over Bashir's condition, so she felt that something was wrong. The students' laughter increased when Bashir did not succeed in solving the questions on the board in front of the class. Thus, Amal noticed that the students were clearly bullying Bashir. Amal was upset by this situation and waited until the end of the lesson, then asked Bashir to follow her to an empty room.
Amal talked to Bashir and tried to understand what his problem was. At first, Bashir felt insecure, but with Amal's attempts to make him feel like a friend and a close person, she could make him speak about his issues then she understood that Bashir was suffering from a loss of half of his hearing. He told her that he felt embarrassed in front of his classmates and teachers because of this issue. Amal felt sorry for Bashir's condition and decided to restore his happiness and reintegrate him with his classmates in a better way, so she decided to surprise him in the class with the participation of his classmates.
First, she explained Bashir's condition to his classmates and told them that it is not nice to bully others, and if we find a special case like Bashir's, we must deal with it in a friendly way and accept everyone as they are. She also asked them all to sit next to Bashir for one day and exchange roles among themselves, talk to him and play with him during break. The students listened to their teacher carefully and started doing what she asked of them. The next morning, Bashir found his classmate Kamel sitting next to him, smiling at him and starting to talk to him. He also received encouragement from his teachers, who started raising their voices and repeating the lesson so that Bashir could hear clearly -after Amal told them about Bashir's condition-, then Amal helped him solving the math exam, so he got a good mark and received a gift from the teachers as a result.
Bashir felt happy and grateful for this change. He now has new friends and was more encouraged to continue his studies and get higher grades.
Bashir is a 6 year old boy in first grade. Bashir had an accident when he was 3 years old when a wall fell on him and hit his head. Bashir underwent several surgeries, and he lost half of his hearing sense. This greatly affected his mental health and his academic performance. Bashir was embarrassed by the loss of half of his hearing as he could only hear from one ear. Whenever someone spoke to him, he would ask them to repeat the words louder and clearer so that he could understand what was being said to him.
His embarrassment increased when he joined school as he faced difficulties in dealing with his peers in the class. He was exposed to a lot of bullying, as he did not want to play with them for fear of feeling inferior to them. He also preferred to sit alone in the class to avoid any situation that would embarrass him as he never felt that he was able to compete with his classmates.
Unfortunately, Bashir did not only suffer with his classmates, but he also felt very embarrassed in front of his teachers. He was afraid that he would be a burden on his teacher if he asked her to repeat what she said every time. This caused Bashir to fall behind in his lessons, a he could barely hear the lesson. The issue became even more difficult for Bashir when he found himself failing his exams, the thing that made him refuse to go to school.
One day, Bashir's math teacher (Amal) asked him to solve some questions on the board, but Bashir did not hear her well and did not understand what the teacher asked him to do. Amal repeated what she said to Bashir while looking at him and saw that he was nervous and feeling confused. She also heard the sound of students laughing and jostling among themselves over Bashir's condition, so she felt that something was wrong. The students' laughter increased when Bashir did not succeed in solving the questions on the board in front of the class. Thus, Amal noticed that the students were clearly bullying Bashir. Amal was upset by this situation and waited until the end of the lesson, then asked Bashir to follow her to an empty room.
Amal talked to Bashir and tried to understand what his problem was. At first, Bashir felt insecure, but with Amal's attempts to make him feel like a friend and a close person, she could make him speak about his issues then she understood that Bashir was suffering from a loss of half of his hearing. He told her that he felt embarrassed in front of his classmates and teachers because of this issue. Amal felt sorry for Bashir's condition and decided to restore his happiness and reintegrate him with his classmates in a better way, so she decided to surprise him in the class with the participation of his classmates.
First, she explained Bashir's condition to his classmates and told them that it is not nice to bully others, and if we find a special case like Bashir's, we must deal with it in a friendly way and accept everyone as they are. She also asked them all to sit next to Bashir for one day and exchange roles among themselves, talk to him and play with him during break. The students listened to their teacher carefully and started doing what she asked of them. The next morning, Bashir found his classmate Kamel sitting next to him, smiling at him and starting to talk to him. He also received encouragement from his teachers, who started raising their voices and repeating the lesson so that Bashir could hear clearly -after Amal told them about Bashir's condition-, then Amal helped him solving the math exam, so he got a good mark and received a gift from the teachers as a result.
Bashir felt happy and grateful for this change. He now has new friends and was more encouraged to continue his studies and get higher grades.
Zaina's Story
Zaina is a 5 year old girl from Gaza city. She is a very loveable funny girl who likes to dance ballet and play puzzles. She was dreaming of being a famous ballet dancer but unfortunately her life was completely changed after October 7th. After October 7th, Zaina's family has suffered from lack of food and resources in addition to suffering from displacement many time after their home was bombed. It ended with them living inside a tent as it is for the other people in Gaza.
Zaina was nostalgic to her friends in kindergarten whom she lost; some of them were killed in a bombing, others were displaced. She was always repeating "I miss my school and my friends". Zaina could not understand that is was impossible to see her dead or displaced friends again.
Zaina's parents sent her to study with the other children of her age inside a tent for studying in which was made by volunteer teachers who decided to continue teaching during the war. This tent involved children who have similar situations to Zaina. Teachers were aware enough of children's emotions so they tried as much as they could to provide the kids with motivation and hope. They also worked to engage the children with each other to build new friendships.
At first, Zaina could not interact with the kids and teachers, but with her new teacher's efforts and support, her mental health was getting better day by day. She had new lessons to learn and new friends to play with. Yet, she is still waiting for the day when she can dance ballet and return to who home again.
Zaina is a 5 year old girl from Gaza city. She is a very loveable funny girl who likes to dance ballet and play puzzles. She was dreaming of being a famous ballet dancer but unfortunately her life was completely changed after October 7th. After October 7th, Zaina's family has suffered from lack of food and resources in addition to suffering from displacement many time after their home was bombed. It ended with them living inside a tent as it is for the other people in Gaza.
Zaina was nostalgic to her friends in kindergarten whom she lost; some of them were killed in a bombing, others were displaced. She was always repeating "I miss my school and my friends". Zaina could not understand that is was impossible to see her dead or displaced friends again.
Zaina's parents sent her to study with the other children of her age inside a tent for studying in which was made by volunteer teachers who decided to continue teaching during the war. This tent involved children who have similar situations to Zaina. Teachers were aware enough of children's emotions so they tried as much as they could to provide the kids with motivation and hope. They also worked to engage the children with each other to build new friendships.
At first, Zaina could not interact with the kids and teachers, but with her new teacher's efforts and support, her mental health was getting better day by day. She had new lessons to learn and new friends to play with. Yet, she is still waiting for the day when she can dance ballet and return to who home again.
