It is scarcely surprising that special education groups for learning disabled children typically cater for a disproportionate number of child abuse victims.
Implications for courts and children’s services
Perry (2009)37confirms that there is hope if children’s problems are identified, intervention is early and aggressive and the trauma isn’t repeated. Interventions must restore a sense of safety and control. However, in chronic cases of abuse, the stress associated with family reactions, assessment and the legal process can contribute further to the child’s fearful state. Court involvement, removal from home without preparation, being placed with strangers in emergency foster-care then moved again to other foster-homes or, worse, multiple carers in motels or other inappropriate accommodation, add to the trauma. Children are further damaged when attempts at family reunification fail, when they are re-abused on home visits then sent to different foster placements and different schools. Similarly, abused children will be further traumatised when a Family Court issues an order for police to snatch children from their primary carers and hand them over to the parents the children had accused of abusing them.
Policies for children in out-of-home care and Family Court decisions should obviously aim to reduce trauma and, wherever possible, encourage and nurture secure relationships with the same primary carer. All those whose work involves young children need specific education in child development, child abuse and infant learning to respond satisfactorily to infant behaviour. Learning theory shows that infant learning is facilitated by the provision of nurturance, support, security, predictability, focus and expansion. Family Courts and child protection systems can diminish the risks by making orders that provide consistent care, nurturance and predictability, returning some control to the child. However there is widespread agreement that overburdened and reactive child protection services that only investigate “serious” cases of abuse are ill-equipped to provide these key elements.
Perry warns that as a nation, what we sow, we reap. Despite the weIl-documented critical nature of the early years and the damage caused by abuse and neglect, comparatively few resources are dedicated to this age group. “As a society we put more value into hours of training to drive a car than we do on formal training in childrearing.” 38
The impacts of trauma on learning and behaviour39
Traumatised children often have problems with the following:
Short-term memory: diminishing their capacity to recall and carry out instructions and retain information.
Emotion: engaging in feeling-based activities.
Communications: not seeking help if they find that adults are unreliable.
Concentration: may be impeded as children try to understand events. Their hyper-vigilant state makes it difficult to learn.
Representation: negative self-perceptions, guilt and shame as most victims have been taught that they are to blame for their own abuse. Children may find it hard to accept responsibility for their inappropriate behaviour. They struggle with feedback and avoid decision-making and new chaIlenges for fear of failure. This prevents progress in numeracy and literacy. They may choose the same puzzle repeatedly which means that they don’t learn from the experience. They choose the company of others in similar situations.
Impacts of trauma on behaviour
Memories of the trauma: Abuse victims may re-enact sexual abuse and violence. When they have difficulty managing stress, they may withdraw, avoiding activities and acting in ways that make others uncomfortable.
Emotion: Traumatised children may not understand the impact of their behaviour on others. They lack friends if they can’t control anger and have the potential to inflict pain on others. Children who have difficulty with impulse control find it difficult to know when to stop. They break rules, damage property and struggle to find explanations for their behaviour. They are susceptible to negative influences. They are difficult to support in groups that rely on social norms because, unable to empathise, they don’t understand others’ feelings. They harm them remorselessly. They struggle with their own feelings and feel out of “sync” with the rest of the world.
Behaviour: This may be frustrating and difficult to manage. Emotional or violent outbursts and over-reaction are likely.
Organisation: A state of chaos is prevalent.
Impacts of trauma on social relationships
Memory: Diminished language and depression make it difficult for them to communicate. Social skills are often not well developed in maltreated children.
Emotion: Other children’s emotional outbursts may cause distress.
Social: Maltreated children may avoid group activities and peers avoid them because of their unpredictability, extreme behaviour, lack of empathy and depressed state. Maltreated children focus on daily survival and may be too tired to engage socially. They either distrust everyone, or misjudge the intentions of others, trusting the wrong people. Abuse victims are often re-abused. Children in out-of-home care may have poor attachment or self-regulation skills. Peer-group acceptance depends on a child’s capacity to regulate anxiety, impulsive behaviour, and frustration. Without these strengths, a child may be rejected. Rejection creates a negative cycle as reduced opportunities for socialisation lead to slower social learning resulting in even greater isolation. Because they perform poorly in groups they avoid others. Excluded children can either turn pain inwards, becoming sad, self-loathing or they direct pain outwards with aggression or violence. Unless there is intervention, these children find it difficult to concentrate and achieve in school.
Representation: Traumatised victims may demonstrate inappropriate sexual behaviours to gain kudos. This can result in groups being prematurely sexualised by victims. In adolescence this leads to peer-group alienation. The more isolated and threatened they become, the more regressed their thinking and behaviour. When in the “alarm” state, they are more anxious and unable to concentrate, paying more attention to “non-verbal” cues such as body language and tone of voice. This has implications for understanding the way that abused and traumatised children react. Perry (2009) states that staff should remember that they will often be in a state of low-level fear and their emotional, behavioural and cognitive functioning will reflect this40.
Guidelines for working with traumatised children
Teachers and carers can intervene to stop the cycle from progressing41.
Nurture these children. Babies and toddlers need to be held, loved, rocked and cuddled. However, be aware that for many, touch is associated with abuse. Stay attuned to responses. Watch for apprehensive looks, flinching and moving away. Ask children whether they would like a hug, placing control back in their hands. “In many ways you are providing replacement experiences that should have taken place during their infancy – but you are doing it when their brains are harder to modify and change. Therefore they will need even more bonding experiences to help them to develop attachments” 42.
Try to understand their behaviours before punishing or implementing consequences. The more you know about attachment problems, bonding, normal-versus-abnormal development, the easier it is to develop appropriate interventions. Information can prevent you from misunderstanding children’s behaviour. Food-hoarders, for example, should not be treated as thieves; hoarding is a normal reaction for neglected children. Sex abuse victims who draw sexually explicit pictures should be questioned rather than reprimanded. Punishment increases insecurity and distress. Many behaviours are disturbing and professional help should be utilised if you find yourself struggling.
Interact with these children based on their emotional age. Maltreated children may be emotionally and socially retarded and when they are fearful, they regress further. That means that a 10 year old may suddenly behave as a 2 year old. The adult should then interact at the two-year level. It is inappropriate to criticise them for