Читать книгу Essentials of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) - Donna Lord Black - Страница 53

In addition to the public’s growing concerns for school safety, the rising impact of trauma and adversity on a growing number of children and youth is considered another significant force underlying the surge of interest in SEL. As discussed in this chapter, the trauma experienced around the world during the COVID‐19 pandemic of 2020 led experts to predict a long‐term toll on mental health for people of all ages. In fact, a report published by the Well Being Trust and the Robert Graham Center (Petterson et al., 2020) predicted that an additional 75,000 Americans would die from “deaths of despair” (i.e., deaths due to drugs, alcohol, and suicide) as a result of the pandemic, and that was in addition to the more than 240,000 deaths already caused by the virus, as recorded at the time of this writing. Essentially, this would amount to an epidemic within the pandemic. In circumstances such as this, children and youth are not immune to these outcomes. In fact, the suicide rate for persons aged 14–18 increased 61.7% from 2009 to 2018. (Ivey‐Stephenson, et al, 2020). Other data on children’s and youth’s mental health were reported in the 2019 YRBS study issued by the CDC in 2020, indicating a rising concern for mental health problems with this population.

The repercussions of any traumatic event can undermine a child’s sense of safety, stability, and well‐being, and those with a history of abuse, neglect, or exposure to negative environmental conditions are most vulnerable. Other vulnerabilities include, but are not limited to, foster care placement, the presence of a disability, or living with caretakers already suffering from mental health problems, as noted in the study by Fothergill (2017). Young adults who are just entering the workforce and beginning to experience the struggles of learning to live independently also are vulnerable to the long‐term impacts of trauma, particularly under the economic distress caused by the pandemic. Prior to the onset of the pandemic, numerous studies had already reported that schools, communities, and families were “feeling the impact of adversity and trauma on a scale of massive proportions” (Wycoff & Franzese, 2019, p. 3). More than half of the school‐age children in the United States had experienced at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE) prior to the pandemic. In 2014, the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence indicated that 67.5% of children (ages 17 and younger) were exposed to violence within the past year, either directly as victims or indirectly as witnesses. More than one‐third of all youth (37.3%) were physically assaulted in the prior year, and 51% had been assaulted during their lifetime (Finkelhor et al., 2015). While not all children experience the same degree of distress from exposure to adverse experiences, those with the vulnerabilities previously discussed are at higher risk for harmful and lasting effects.

ACEs not only place children at risk for long‐term mental health problems, but also can alter their brain development, therefore altering their social and emotional functioning. Over the past 10 years, research on the brain has demonstrated how environmental factors influence and shape the brain and how they play a central role in shaping the circuits of the brain, especially in early life. Although these brain circuits can persist throughout the adult lifespan, they are malleable and thus are adaptable to change. This insight into the brain and its influence on emotional maturation will be discussed in greater detail in Chapter 3, along with some highlights of recent research on the brain. What is important to recognize about the brain’s influence on emotional development is that the parts of the brain devoted to understanding emotions are as important, if not more important, to learning as are the parts of the brain devoted to learning how to read, write, and perform math calculations.

Stress and emotional distress play significant roles in the brain’s overall learning process, including how it learns to manage and regulate emotions. When individuals become stressed or frazzled, they become disengaged from this learning process because the part of the brain that controls comprehension and focus is essentially disabled. This part of the brain is known as the prefrontal cortex, and it controls what are referred to as executive functions. The effects of persistently high levels of stress on these functions can be debilitating and long‐lasting. In schools and classrooms, this may be observed as problems with sustained attention, memory, planning, impulse control, decision making, and social behavior, among others. These difficulties also may manifest as one or more clinical disorders (e.g., anxiety, depression, attachment, and conduct or behavior). Furthermore, prolonged exposure to stress may result in these students being unable to differentiate between real threats and perceived threats. As a result, they may react adversely in circumstances in which there is no genuine threat. The impact of this “learned fear” is often observed in how they act and interact with others, thus providing strong support for trauma‐sensitive practices in schools.

SEL is a trauma‐sensitive practice, and staff who are well‐trained in SEL and possess strong social and emotional skills themselves are better able to recognize the emotional “triggers” with these students; thus, they are better able to respond calmly and quickly. Consequently, staff who are trained in trauma‐sensitive practices are more likely to foster relationship building between adults and students, promote empathy and understanding, and encourage the development of supportive environments where these students feel they belong and are safe. As a result, trauma‐impacted students can learn to manage and cope with environmental threats and reduce their levels of anxiety by developing and improving their social and emotional competencies.

It’s important to note that the effects of trauma and adversity will manifest differently across the age span and to different degrees. Not all trauma‐impacted students will experience the same degree of impact and for the same length of time. Individuals servicing these students will need to understand typical child development and the vulnerabilities associated with high‐risk impact for these students in order to understand these manifestations. The areas in which functioning is likely to be impacted more significantly, however, include cognition, language, learning, memory, self‐regulation, self‐concept, social skills, social relationships, and decision making, among others. Therefore, it will be important for schools and practitioners to assess those areas in which functional performance is most impacted in order to provide successful supports and interventions. There are challenges, however, in assessing trauma‐impacted youth, and those serving these individuals will need to be well informed of these challenges, particularly as they relate to school functioning.