This may not be surprising, but it bears notice because it is very easy to forget that a student who is displaying anti-social behavior in school might also be in extreme psychological distress that is being daily compounded by academic frustration.

A well-known psychological theory explains that the brain functions better when it is not overly encumbered. Our brains constantly evaluate internal and environmental stimuli that we experience no conscious awareness of. And that is a good thing. Imagine being consciously aware of your exact blood pressure, heart rate, respiration and temperature, as well as the myriad things that your eyes, ears, nose and skin are experiencing in a classroom of 35 students. It would be overwhelming. There is just too much going on around us for our minds to consciously focus on all of it at once.

The problem is that trauma adds an extra burden to our brains. Trauma distorts how we interact with our environment, including other people (Muldoon et al., 2019). Childhood trauma especially violates a sense of safety and normalcy that most take for granted. The traumatized child does not have the normal filter for environmental stimuli (Bethell et al., 2014). Things that the rest of us might see and hear, but not be truly aware of, may lead to hyper vigilance in a trauma victim. If you have ever driven down the road with a recent combat veteran, you might see them take in a sharp breath, or speed up and swerve widely around a pile of trash on the curb. It makes no sense, unless you know that this person has been conditioned to see that pile of trash as a potential IED location.

Traumatized children can have a similar response to seemingly innocuous things. The many little nonverbal and verbal cues we give to students in our interactions are very easily misinterpreted by a traumatized mind (Bellazaire, 2018; Ortiz & Sibinga, 2017). It is also important to note that no one is at fault here, not the educator nor the student. But we do owe it to them to be aware and alert to their cognitive differences. Learning requires the brain to receive the appropriate information, manipulate it and access the necessary structures and processes to transfer the knowledge to the correct neural node where it can be retrieved when needed (Tyng et al., 2017). Facilitating retrieval is key, and without getting into a discussion of synaptic weights and such, educators should understand that the brain structures, such as the hippocampus, that are involved in learning, storing and retrieving memory are also the structures most affected by trauma. In other words, the neurological capacity of the brain to learn and access information is deeply impaired by trauma (Tyng et al., 2017; Bethell et al., 2017).

Most of us have learned that if any teaching strategy or technique is effective for students who have barriers to learning, it will likewise tend to be effective for all students. The same maxim applies to working with trauma survivors. Remember, survivors of trauma must constantly be made to feel safe. It is imperative to ceaselessly remind them, verbally and non-verbally, that the worst is over (Bellazaire, 2018). This will usually mean getting them the help they need. This could require notification of administration, social services, mental health providers and others who are engaged in collaborating for student success and well-being. It will also be helpful for teachers to engage students in activities that promote wellness (Ortiz & Sibinga, 2017).

Trauma resilience and recovery is often described as peeling an onion. Each layer will reveal new things, and not all of them will feel like an improvement or healing at first. Meditation, quiet reflection, yoga, music, getting outside and engaging in creative activities will go a long way to helping students become more resilient. (Ortiz & SIbinga, 2017). And, none of these practices pose any harm to other students. In fact, they are good for everyone.

In one sense, the return to any type of normalcy will be a significant help to traumatized students. This will be true to some extent for all of us as we go back to familiar routines. Once we have daily face-to-face contact with students again, we will have a better opportunity to provide more of the emotional and physical supports they have been lacking. Educators should be prepared to take things slowly. Syllabi, pacing guides and standardized assessments notwithstanding, the coming year is going to require flexibility and compassion from all of us. Going back to brain theory, if the child’s focus is impacted by trauma, they will simply not be able to learn as quickly and efficiently. And that is OK. Resilience studies are showing that even if children fall behind, it is better to do the work of mitigating trauma and relax our academic pressure until they are ready. In the long run, it is the best policy.

Administrators and teachers should begin this summer having tough conversations about things like homework, assessment and grading in order to lay the groundwork for the adjusted expectations we all will need.