Blog

PTSD, COVID, WAR and SCHOOLCHILDREN.

In the ordinary everyday experiences of life children may encounter very stressful events that affect how they think and feel. Most of the time, children recover quickly and well. However,  Covid has impacted on the world at large in a way only comparable with plagues of long  forgotten history  or world wars. 

School staff have never been trained to deal with the post pandemic. They , to my knowledge , never been trained to support children suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Yet this is what many children are suffering with. 

Instead young children are being expected to take SATs tests and  older children the usual school exams as if the last two years never happened.

The problem has been exacerbated  for children by the plight in the Ukraine. 

When children develop long term symptoms (longer than one month) from Covid stress, which can be very upsetting or interfere with their relationships , school performance and activities, they may be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Examples of PTSD symptoms include

  • Reliving the last two years over and over in thought or in play
  • Nightmares and sleep problems
  • Becoming very upset when something causes memories of the time spent in Covid 
  • Lack of positive emotions
  • Intense ongoing fear or sadness about the plight of the world 
  • Irritability and angry outbursts
  • Constantly looking for possible threats, being easily startled
  • Acting helpless, hopeless or withdrawn
  • Denying that Covid happened or feeling numb
  • Avoiding places or people associated with Covid 

Because children who have experienced traumatic stress may seem restless, fidgety, or have trouble paying attention and staying organized, the symptoms of traumatic stress can be confused with many other conditions. 

It is not too late to train school staff to deal with PTSD. 

angelique5

Ange Anderson is a visionary educational consultant who has revolutionized therapeutic and technological support for the neuro-divergent community. Her innovative methods have been widely recognized and she has appeared on many podcasts worldwide and spoken at educational conferences across the world. She is the former headteacher of a leading specialist school and now supports schools and parents on site / at home, as well as remotely. As well as writing academic papers she writes for magazines catering for those who are neuro-divergent. She is the author of special educational books published by Routledge . Her book on utilizing virtual reality as a tool for those with unique minds has been translated into Arabic expanding her impact to international markets. She is an esteemed advisor to a leading global VR company. VR was the catalyst for her latest book ‘The Cosmic Caretaker’. She has also self-published several children's books and both edited and contributed to 'The Future of Special Schools'.

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Radha May 9, 2022

    Thanks for this article. As a special educator I am also noticing that some of my students are struggling more with aspects relating to their memory as well post-COVID. Ability to retain their learning and retrieving also seems to have been affected. I never correlated that with PTSD but now I am wondering about it !

Comments are closed.