Book and Resources: Trauma Informed Practices for Early Childhood Educators: Relationship-Based Approaches that Support Healing and Build Resilience in Young Children

Anthony is riding a tricycle at his preschool when a loud airplane flies over- head. He starts to cover his ears and screams repeatedly “no, no, no, no” over and over. His preschool teacher, Lawanda, walks over to Anthony, bends down to his eye level and using a calm and reassuring voice tells him, “Anthony, you are safe, you are here in preschool where the teachers will take care of you. That loud sound was an airplane way up high in the sky. You are safe down here on the ground with me. Let’s take some deep breaths together.”

Anthony’s teacher, Lawanda, is using trauma-sensitive strategies to guide Anthony back to a self-regulated state after his stress-response system was trig- gered by the loud sound of the airplane. Loud sounds like that remind Anthony of a serious and very scary car accident he recently witnessed on the highway that involved multiple cars and several fatalities. Whenever Anthony hears a loud sound that frightens him at his preschool, he now runs over to his teachers and says, “Hold me and tell me I will be safe,” a coping strategy he has learned by having the consistent and predictable trauma-informed approach at his pre- school. Recently, Lawanda observed Anthony practicing these strategies in the dramatic play area where he was pretending to be driving a car with two dogs in the back seat. When the dogs started to bark, Anthony turned around and said to them, “You are safe, you are going to be okay.” He then gestured as if he was turning on the radio in his pretend car and said, “I am putting on a song for you so you can take a nap and feel better.” Through his imaginary play, Anthony was communicating how children—with the support of adults who understand traumatic stress and its impact on young children’s behavior—can learn strategies to heal from traumatic experiences they have early in life.

Why is it Important to be Trauma-Informed? Childhood trauma has been named our nation’s single most important public health challenge. (van der Kolk) Research and decades of clinical evidence provide ample evidence that trauma experienced in the first five years of life can have a significant negative impact on children’s developmental processes with lifelong consequences.