5 Tips for Helping Children Cope with Early Childhood Trauma

I previously published a blog on trauma in children on Psychology Today.  Common forms of trauma include physical and sexual abuse, witnessing domestic and community violence, being separated from family members, and neglect.  According to the US Dept of Health and Human services (2013), child neglect is the most common trauma experienced by children.  Furthermore, children in the age group of birth to 1 year had the highest rate of victimization at 21.2 per 1,000 children ( DHHS, 2013) In regards to ethnicity, the most confirmed cases by CPS are among Whites (43.9%) followed by African-Americans (21.5 percent) and Hispanic Americans (22.1 percent).

Signs of Trauma in Young Children

Children’s reactions to trauma vary at different ages. Some of the common reactions of children are listed on the next page. If any of the behaviors or symptoms don’t improve or go away over time, it is important to seek professional help. Possible reactions to trauma may include:

• Fear of being separated from parent

• More clinging and dependent behaviors

• More aggressive behaviors

• More withdrawn behaviors showing little emotion

• Aimless motion, disorganized behaviors, and or/freezing

• Unable to comfort self

• Difficulty falling asleep, night waking

• May reenact scene in play

• Problems with toileting (bedwetting, soiling)

• Thumb sucking

• Loss of language skills and acquired language

• Memory problems 

Tips for Helping Children Cope with Trauma

1. Avoid blaming the child or displaying your anger: It is important to remain calm and use a calm voice with talking with children about their traumatic experience. 
2. Reassure the child that they will be safe: Many children fear for safety after experiencing trauma. It is important to let the child know that you will be present to support them. This may involve letting the child be aware of your whereabouts at all times.
3. Don’t minimize the child’s feelings: Avoid telling the child to “Stop being a baby, don’t cry”. Normalize the child’s emotions at let them know that it’s okay to be sad.
4. Follow the child’s lead: It’s okay to not encourage the child to talk about the trauma. However, it the child decided to open up to you be there to listen and support them.
5. Help the child identify their feelings: It is important for children to talk about their hurt or sadness. It may be necessary to seek professional help from a psychologist or licensed mental health professional trained to deal with trauma.

Copyright 2013 Erlanger A. Turner, Ph.D. 

Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook

References:

Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2013). Child Maltreatment 2011: Summary of key findings. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.

National Child Traumatic Stress Network (2010). Early Childhood Trauma Retrieved September 2013 from http://www.nctsn.org/sites/default/files/assets/pdfs/nctsn_earlychildhoodtrauma_08-2010final.pdf

Osofsky, J. Helping young children and families cope with trauma. Retrieved September 2013 from http://www.nctsnet.org/nctsn_assets/pdfs/Helping_Young_Children_and_Families_Cope_with_Trauma.pdf

To Spank or Not to Spank: What the Research Supports

Last month, I had the opportunity to attend the American Psychological Association (APA) convention in Honolulu. As usual, I am re-energized after attending the sessions and learning about new perspectives on science and psychological practice. While attending a talk on spanking and children, it made me think back to all the conversations that I’ve had with parents in my practice around the use of corporal punishment (which includes domestic, school, and judicial). During the talk, Dr. Shawna Lee (assistant professor at University of Michigan) and her colleagues presented data on the frequency of parents that use spanking as a parenting strategy and highlighted the effects of spanking on childhood outcomes (e.g., aggression and compliance). Surprisingly, a high percentage of parents use spanking despite if not being an effective long-term strategy to change behavior.

As a child psychologist, I often discuss the impacts of spanking with parents. First, spanking tends to increase aggressive behavior in children. Secondly, the research shows that spanking is less effective to increase compliance than positive reinforcement. The pros and cons of spanking have been discussed for decades yet many still see it as a viable parenting strategy. Many times when I bring this up with parents they respond, "I was spanked as a child and I turned out fine". But what does the research support? 

During the APA symposium, Dr. Lee, stated that “spanking has the iatrogenic effect of increasing the very child behaviors it is often trying to reduce”.  In a recent study published in Development Psychology (Lee, S. J., Altschul, I., & Gershoff, E. T., 2013), the authors found that maternal spanking  at age 1 was associated with higher levels of child aggression at age 3; and continues to be associated with aggression by age 5. Furthermore, the study found that maternal warmth does not serve as a protective factor against child behavior problems. 

Being someone who is interested in early intervention to prevent more severe behavior difficulties I felt armed with new research findings that I could use in my own life and clinical practice. Overall, the research does not support the use of spanking as an effective parenting strategy and shows that it has significant negative outcomes for children. Currently 31 countries (not including the United States) have recognized the detrimental effects of spanking and have banned the use of corporal punishment in the home. Yet, the U.S. does not have a national policy against spanking. Furthermore, only a small percentage of states ban the use of corporal punishment in school. What are your thoughts on spanking and corporal punishment?

Copyright 2013 Erlanger A. Turner, Ph.D. 

Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook

Note: A version of this was submitted to the Richmond Times Dispatch. 

Understanding Adolescent Self-Harm Behavior

Self-injury, also called self-harm, is the act of deliberately harming your own body, such as cutting or burning yourself. It's typically not meant as a suicide attempt. Rather, self-injury is an unhealthy way to cope with emotional pain, intense anger and frustration. Self-harm behaviors may also be linked to a variety of mental disorders, such as depression, eating disorders and borderline personality disorder. 

The following video presents on adolescent self-harm behaviors.

Featured presenters:

Reo W. Newring, Ph.D.

Licensed Clinical Psychologist

Paige Lembeck, M.A.

Graduate Student

Children's Hosptial & Medical Center

Omaha, Nebraska