Trauma related behaviours

in the classroom

A guide for educators working with traumatised

children in a range of education settings.

What does trauma look like?

The effects of abuse, neglect, or family violence can be so encompassing that children’s
development slows down, they believe the world is unsafe and that adults cannot be trusted,
and that good things don’t happen to them. This means they often experience difficulties with
learning new things, coping with new people or new situations, and making and keeping friends.

The world is experience as dangerous for traumatised children and even the tiniest reminders
can cause them to relive their terror. They constantly scan their environment for new threats.
They don’t automatically feel safe as soon as the abuse has stopped.

Traumatised children struggle to concentrate at school, give up on relationships as they view

them as too painful, and display behaviours that are often viewed as naughty or disruptive, but
it is about what they needed to do to survive their abuse.
(Australian Childhood Foundation 2017)

The impact of trauma

Trauma can impact on all elements of children’s development

brain, body, memory, emotions, behaviour, learning, and relationships

The impact of trauma on a child’s development can have a significant academic performance
and social relationships at school.

Academic performance can be impacted by reduced cognitive capacity, sleep disturbance,

difficulties with memory, and language delays. This results in gaps in learning, poor concentration,
learning being too hard, and a reduced capacity for listening, understanding, and expressing.

Social relationships can be impacted by the need for control, attachment difficulties, and poor
peer relationships. This results in conflict with teachers and students, attachment to school being
problematic, and school being an unpleasant experience.
(Calmer Classrooms 2013)

Strategies for supporting traumatised students

Relationships and appropriate learning and classroom environments are important to the success
of traumatised children. Focusing on these elements will ensure the traumatised child’s success
within education settings.
Relationships
o Building relationships with safe and consistent adults and peers are the
foundation for change for traumatised children.
o Traumatised children who have safe and consistent connections with adults
and peers are calmer and more able to access their internal systems to
learn.
o You should be in control of the relationship with the child, without being controlling. Set the tone,
rhythm, and emotional quality. A child who cannot control you emotionally will learn that it is
safe to trust you.
o Manage your reactions to the child by remaining calm. This may involve stepping away and
coming back to the interaction.
o Facilitate peer relationships by finding an activity the traumatised child is good at and inviting
others to join them.
o Consider building supportive peer groups based around areas of interest, rather than social
ability.

Learning Environments
o Regular classroom routines, and preparing the child for changes to routine, will help the child to
develop internal structure.
o Display sensitivity and support during transition periods.
o Stability and familiarity allows traumatised children to experience themselves as more flexible
and more able to tolerate small degrees of change in their environment.
o Allow children to make choices regarding the structure of their day.
o Create a visual timetable that includes photos of the child completing required tasks.
o Utilise structured breaks throughout the day to interrupt patterns of trauma-based behaviours.
o Offer choices, with humour and creativity, to avoid oppositional behaviours (eg. standing when
asked to sit) and keep the child responding to you.
o Position clocks and timers in view of the child to provide them with a clear reference point that
encourages them to stick to a task until the end point.
o Promote the child’s strengths and interests in learning experiences.
o Acknowledge good decisions and choices that relate to their actions.
o Ensure that positive reinforcements in relation to good decisions and choices are consistent and
ongoing.

Classroom Environment
o Consider your classroom layout, organisation, and theme and whether it promotes a safe and
calming environment for the child. ‘Less is more’ is often the case for supporting traumatised
children.
o Create spaces in the classroom for child to move into and still be part of the class group.
o Use such spaces for cool/calm down time for the child.
o Develop a safe person to connect to that the child can approach if a situation is stressful or
threatening.

Trauma related behaviours in the classroom / Amy Ramsey

o Create a cool/calm down box that contains items which help the children
to feel comfort and ease. This may include sensory objects, special toys,
visual cool/calm down cues, and favourite things.

Try to
o Use consequences that are designed to repair any damage to relationships or property over
punishments that have no relation to the behaviours displayed.
o Avoid using time out, suspension, and exclusion. These replicate the rejection traumatised
children have often experienced and reinforces the child’s internal working model of self as
unlovable.
o Avoid asking ‘why did you do that’ when focusing on their behaviour. They often will be unable
to answer why.
o Give the child simple instructions one at a time. They will have difficulty remembering too many
complicated instructions.
(Calmer Classrooms 2013; Making SPACE for Learning 2010)

Traumatised children are challenging; however, when they are responded to

with patience and care can come to see school as a safe, supportive place
where they can learn and grow.
(Calmer Classrooms 2013)

Classroom resources
For Students For Educators
o Visual task timetables o Data collection methods;
o Calm down kits o Escalation charts
o Visual timers o Record of day (using emojis)
o ‘The Incredible 5 Point Scale’ o SMARTAR goals
o ‘First… Then…’
o Brain break videos (eg. Go Noodle)

Social Emotional Programs for the Classroom

o Keeping Safe Child Protection Curriculum
o KidsMatter
o What’s the Buzz?
o What Should Danny Do?

Trauma related behaviours in the classroom / Amy Ramsey

Who to approach for support?
If you require support in or out of the classroom, do not be afraid to ask for it.
There are a number of people, departments, and agencies who you can
approach.
o Site leadership
o Network of colleagues in similar situations or roles
o Interagency behaviour support coordinators
o Department of Child Protection
o Australian Childhood Foundation

Supporting families and carers

o Stay in close and regular communication with parents and/or carers.
o Acknowledge the positive aspects of the child.
o Involve the parents and/or carers in problem solving around school issues and include them in
decisions.
o Listen to their dilemmas and difficulties and seek options for support outside of school.
o Helplines such as Parentline, Kids Help Line, and beyondblue can provide support for families
and/or carers.
o Child Wellbeing Practitioners within DECD schools can offer support outside of school.
o Seek options for therapy for the child.

Resources and professional development

Online Resources
o Calmer classrooms: A guide to working with traumatised children
http://education.qld.gov.au/schools/healthy/pdfs/calmer-classrooms-guide.pdf
o Making SPACE for learning: Trauma informed practice in schools
https://www.theactgroup.com.au/documents/makingspaceforlearning-traumainschools.pdf
o SMART (Strategies for Managing Abuse and Neglect) Training
https://professionals.childhood.org.au/smart-online-training
o Australian Childhood Foundation https://www.childhood.org.au/

Professional Development
o Keeping Safe Child Protection Curriculum $120/1 day
o What’s The Buzz? $332/1 day or $300/online
o Berry Street Education Model $1000/4 days

Thank you for taking the time to read this guide.

I hope the information provided proves to be useful in your work with children.
If you have any further queries or suggestions, please contact me at
grias004@mymail.unisa.edu.au

Trauma related behaviours in the classroom / Amy Ramsey