Many children find classrooms stressful.
In a room full of sights, sounds and smells, a vulnerable child can easily be triggered into a state of sensory overload. In this hyper-reactive state it doesn’t take much to tip them over the edge into a full-on fight/flight or dissociative reaction.
These behaviours are all natural survival responses to feeling threatened, and are bringing us a message. They are often linked to signs of ADD, ADHD and Dyslexia.
Learning and Behaviour Through a Trauma Lens
Learning happens best when we feel safe, and our senses are open to taking in new information. When we don’t feel safe, our nervous system will scan our environment for sources of threat.
When people in authority, such as parents or teachers are stressed, their voices can sound threatening to a child who has experienced early trauma. This makes it really hard to pay attention and focus on what they are saying.
Trauma, Listening and Learning Difficulties / ADHD, Dyslexia
Learning in the classroom requires the ability to focus on the speaker’s voice and block out background sounds. A child may sit quietly and appear to be paying attention, but when questioned, has been off in dreamland.
Others might be easily distracted, talking to classmates and disturbing their neighbours. Alongside this you may notice poor social communication and/or hyper-sensitivity to loud or sudden noises.
Difficulties with listening or auditory processing can impact your child’s learning in a number of ways:
- Trouble bringing thoughts to words
- Delays in reading, writing and spelling
- Difficulty taking notes
- Poor phonics and speech discrimination
- Difficulty with memorising
- Difficulty following a sequence of instructions
- Heightened stress responses
- Daydreaming, or dissociating (tuning out)
- Inconsistencies in spelling
- Spelling words exactly as they hear them
- Poor social skills
- Often seems to be “off with the fairies”, and not listening
- Hypersensitive to certain sounds
- Restless, talkative as they seek co-regulation with a classmate
Not Naughty but Feeling Unsafe
Our children’s behaviours are bringing us a message. Could they be saying “Help me, I’m frightened and I can’t deal with all of this on my own”?
Reactive children risk being labelled as “naughty” or “troublesome”and punished for “bad” behaviour. However, when the behaviour is a response to feeling threatened, it is happening below conscious awareness. In other words, they are not choosing to upset you. The behaviour is not a choice, and has nothing to do with being “good” or “bad”. In an attempt to understand these behaviours, a diagnosis of ADD, ADHD or Dyslexia is often suggested.
Supporting Children at Home
Our vocal tone conveys what we are feeling. If we are stressed, children will sense this in our voice. This can easily trigger their behaviour to escalate. The resultant behaviour is often a fear response.
Alternatively, a friendly, co-regulating presence, and well-modulated vocal tone helps children to feel safe, seen, and understood. As their nervous system relaxes, background sounds retreat, and it is easier to focus on and make sense of what you or their teacher is saying. Feeling safe as a result, their potential for learning is improved.
According to Dr Stephen Porges, leading research scientist, regulating our own stress levels first makes it easier to connect with our children. One way of doing this is through deep breathing, inhaling slowly for a count of four, holding for four, then slowly exhaling for a count of six.
Bruce Perry, world-renowned psychiatrist and head of the Child Trauma Academy, offers the following, which he refers to as the three R’s:
- regulate and calm their behaviour by offering comfort and reassurance
- relate to the child, offering safety, empathy and validating feelings, so they can feel seen, heard and understood. Only then are they open to listening and learning, and we can
- reason with them, integrating the experience, and bringing it into context.
Supporting Children in the Classroom
There are a number of ways to help children when learning and behaviour are impacted by sensory processing difficulties, particularly auditory processing:
- Sit where they can watch the teacher’s face for visual cues
- Speak directly to the child
- Offer information is small, digestible parts and make sure they have understood
- Minimise background noise
- Find a quiet space with minimal distractions for classwork
- Minimise visual distractions to avoid overwhelm
- Maintain a friendly vocal tone when speaking, avoiding high or low-frequency sounds that can be triggering for a vulnerable nervous system.
- Explain concepts visually using pictures and written text
Supporting Parents and Carers
With over 20 years of supporting children with learning and behavioural challenges, I understand how difficult this can be for you. My goal is to provide a warm, safe and non-judgemental space where together we can explore options for helping your child. Please remember there are no “bad” children, and you are not a “bad” parent! We all struggle at times.
What next?
If you are concerned about your child’s learning and/or behaviour, making an appointment for a chat is a good place to start.
From here, I might suggest a Listening Assessment to help identify the “roots” of your child’s struggle. It is available either on its own, or as part of a more comprehensive assessment to identify immaturities in other areas of early development.
The Assessment will look at how well your child is able to:
- block out background sounds and focus on a speaker’s voice
- make sense of unclear speech
- understand language when they are presented with a different word in each ear simultaneously
- memorise a series of instructions
- process sequences of syllables and sounds within common words (phonological awareness)
A written report is included to share with your child’s teacher, if you would. like to.
Following the assessment, we can talk about options for helping your child.
To learn more, please don’t hesitate to reach outl. Your first 15 minute call is free.
School-based Sensorimotor Development Program
Perhaps your child’s school is interested in offering a generic sensory motor development program such as that developed by the Institute for Neuro-physiological Psychology (INPP). This has been well-researched and is based on understanding brain science and the importance of early stages of development as a foundation for all later learning.
Note: If you’re worried about your child’s hearing, you might like to consider seeing an audiologist. (May need a GP or paediatrician referral).
You might also find it helpful to talk to your child’s teacher.
Related Articles
Listening and Auditory Processing Difficulties
Learning Difficulties and Challenging Behaviours
Understanding ADHD – an Holistic Approach to Healing
References
- Badenoch, B. (2018). The Heart of Trauma. Norton. NY.
- Dana, D. (2018). The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy. Norton. NY.
- Goddard, Sally. 2005. Reflexes, Learning and Behaviour. Fern Ridge Press.
- Goodard Blythe, S. (2012). Assessing Neuromotor Readiness for Learning. Wiley-blackwell. UK.
