Are Traumatized Students Disabled? A Debate Straight Outta Compton [NPR]

Caitlin O'Brien 8/20/156:52 AM

The defendants may be one southern California school district and its top officials, but an unprecedented, class action lawsuit could have a big impact on schools across the country.

Today in Los Angeles, a U.S. District Court judge will preside over the first hearing in the suit against the Compton Unified School District. To understand the complaint, you need to understand Compton.

The city, located just south of L.A., has long had a violent reputation. Last year, its murder rate was more than five times the national average. Now, a handful of students say they've been traumatized by life in Compton and that the schools there have failed to give them the help they deserve.

The complaint is a terrifying read — of kids coping with physical and sexual abuse, addicted parents, homelessness, and a constant fear of violence.

One of the plaintiffs, listed as 15-year-old Phillip W., says he witnessed his first murder when he was 8.

"Somebody got shot in the back of the head with a shotgun," the boy explains in a video on a website dedicated to the case. "And they threw him over the rail, and he was just sitting there bleeding, blood all down the sewer line. It was a horrifying sight."

The complaint says Phillip has witnessed more than 20 shootings and, in 2014, was hit in the knee by a bullet.

What's this have to do with Compton's schools?

[For more of this story, written by Cory Turner, click here.]

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Former Member

I put this comment on this article posted by Samantha today but I will put it here too. Maybe this information can get in the hands of the folks pursuing this lawsuit. Thank You.

Yes they are disabled. Social-emotional skills are very likely disrupted and it isn't only in areas of concentrated violence like Compton, this occurs in rural areas too.

Here is the story of one student in a rural school. This student was doing okay in Kindergarden - but this student had already witnessed a murder. Her family was soon to lose their family business and things were about to get very bad. For this student in first grade, she was being constantly emotionally, physically, sexually abused and being emotionally neglected. On the school bus she was bullied because her family slipped into poverty and she had to wear rags to school. She had no way to shower as the family did not have running water or plumbing. In school she was asked during reading time to read out loud when called by the teacher. She couldn't read out loud, you see she had developed mutism, everywhere, in fact she had stopped talking. The teacher put her in a room by herself and told her to read to a tape recorder and when she couldn't, the teacher put her on her lap and told her to read. The child still couldn't and so the teacher tape reordered her crying calling her a "baby" the entire time then played it back for this child to hear. The child tells me this was very traumatic. The school called the child's mother who told the school to leave her alone, give her the materials and let her do it herself. The child was very happy that she didn't have to read on turn. She took the books and went from 1st grade to 4th grade in reading skills with no help. At the same time her brother was being frequently suspended for swearing in school.

This child was so traumatized she refused to go out for recess, eat in the lunchroom or around other children, or ask to go to the bathroom. She wanted to be invisible (so as not to be harmed in a very cruel and dangerous world). One day the child having had to go to the bathroom all day but being afraid to go was very happy when the bell rang to get on the bus to go home. She was happy because soon she would be home and able to relieve herself in a white paint bucket but when the bell rang her bladder sphincter loosened and under her was a lake of urine. Her mother was called. Why didn't anyone get that this child must be suffering from some severe trauma. She was tormented for "peeing her pants" for years afterwards only leaving her more mute. Things only got worse as she got older.

The American Academy of Pediatrics put out a paper called "Helping foster and adoptive families cope with trauma: A guide for pediatricians". This is an excellent paper with many resources that are useful for parents and pediatricians alike. Here is a link to the resource page.

https://www.aap.org/en-us/advo...es/Trauma-Guide.aspx

At the bottom of the page is a 55 minute webinar by Dr. Garner, Dr Forkey, and Dr. Stirling. The last speaker is a child abuse pediatrician, Dr. John Stirling. He states (and we know) that traumatized kids are special needs children.

This lawsuit should proceed and schools across the country should be mandated to become trauma-informed to help these kids because they can be helped with compassion and understanding. After all, they are Our Future.