What are the warning signs of traumatic stress in early age children?

The warning signs of post-traumatic stress, especially in early age kids, are commonly found in depression, regressive behaviour, bed-wetting, whining.  Kids that don’t want their parents to leave, or kids that are anxious – they don’t want to be left alone.  They are complaining about maybe what we call ‘psychosomatic symptoms,’ and stomach aches. They are complaining about headaches, they have physical symptoms. Also, we may find that they might start sucking their thumb again, or they might start biting their fingers again.  So, a lot of these behaviours are regressive, and so it’s very important that if we see these behaviours, that we do address them early in the behaviour, and don’t wait.  Don’t think that “Oh, it will pass”, because commonly it doesn’t. It usually progresses into something worse.

This video clip is part of the series “Mental Health During A School Crisis“.

Michael Dorn and Sonayia Shepherd (School Safety Analysts) gives expert video advice on: What is a school “crisis intervention team”?;  What steps should a school take to minimize trauma in a crisis?;  What are some common responses after a school crisis? and more…