Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

I was able to find a podcast that had to do with helping children cope through trauma in their lives.  Dr Steven Berkowitz is an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine and is very knowledgeable of what is best to do for children and trauma.  I felt this podcast was applicable to challenges we are currently facing in the world, especially with the terrorism attack that recently occurred in Paris and that goes on in other parts of the world.   It is important for teachers to understand that each child varies on their responses to trauma.  Children who are six and under should not watch the news (Berkowitz, 2015).   Watching the news can cause children to believe that the same awful thing they experienced is occurring again.   It is important to make sure that children know that they have an adult there and they are safe.  For older children, teachers and parents can look at previous stories and correct false ideas that children might have.  Rumors are easily transferred through social media and so it is important to talk about the facts.  Adults need to recognize their reactions around children because sometimes children don’t have an understanding or control over their responses.  Children are naturally more self-centered and so problems that have in distance locations, such as Paris, may have no effect on children and that is OK. Seeing or hearing something can be a traumatic experience for children and younger children will show this in a change of behavior (Berkowitz, 2015).  It is our responsibility as adults to help children feel safe and secure.

I was able to study Harvard's Center on the Developing Child website and found out interesting ideas about things that are happening around the world in early childhood systems. Currently in Brazil, there is an interdisciplinary group of Brazilian scholars that are teaching and guiding policy makers about child development.  In Canada, the Alberta Family Wellness Initiative (AFWI) works to supporting research in early brain and biological development, including mental health, and addiction, and translating that research for policy makers, healthcare communities, and the general public (Center on the Developing Child, 2015).  The Center on Developing Child has a partnership with Grand Challenges Canada, called Saving Brains that seeks to improve outcomes for children living in poverty through interventions that nurture and protect early brain development in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life (Center on the Developing Child, 2015).

References

Davis, V. & Berkowitz, S. (2015). Terrorism: How to talk to your students, say this, do not say... Every classroom matters Retrieved from
http://www.bamradionetwork.com/every-classroom-matters/3514-how-to-talk-to-your-students-about-terrorism-say-this-do-not-say

Harvard University’s Global Children’s Initiative. (2015). Working globally. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/about/what-we-do/global-work/