ACCOMODATIONS FOR STUDENTS WITH TRAUMA

In my last post, I explained the types of learning and behavioral challenges you’re your students who have histories of trauma may exhibit. These learning and behavioral challenges are not deliberate actions by the students, but rather the results of trauma’s effects on the brain. Students whose brains have been affected by trauma may need a variety of classroom accommodations in order to be successful in school. Let’s take a look at some possible accommodations you could implement for your students.

Classroom Environment and Procedures

Making adjustments to the classroom environment and procedures can enable a student with a trauma history to better stay organized and regulated. Examples include the following:

• Allow and encourage the student to drink water throughout the day. Proper hydration helps brains stay regulated. Have the student keep a water bottle nearby.
• Make sure the student is able to snack whenever hungry. Allow the students to keep snacks nearby and eat them when they wish.
• Snacks with protein are best and should be eaten at least every two hours.
• Post the daily classroom schedule on the board. Alert the student in advance to any changes from the normal routine.
• Reduce the amount of visual noise in the classroom. 
• Allow the student to chew gum. This can help with staying calm and focused.
• Permit the use of fidgets. Fidgets have been shown to reduce anxiety and enable greater focus.1
• Allow the student to sit on a wiggle cushion and put their feet on a stretchy band on the desk or chair.
• Let the student wear either noise-reducing headphones or use headphones to listen to instrumental music during study times to block out auditory distractions.
• Have a calming corner in the room (a quiet place with a beanbag chair or small rocker and some soft, safe toys). Allow the student to go there when feeling anxious.
• If the student seems restless, allow the student to stand or move around during instruction. It may be best to seat the student at the back of the room for this reason and for the next accommodation listed.
• Do not take away recess times for disciplinary purposes. Movement and play are important for healing.
• Let the child take frequent brain breaks. Brain breaks are best for the entire class, and if done with the whole class will help the student not feel singled out. However, allow extra brain breaks for the student if needed.
• Allow the use of a weighted blanket on the student’s lap, particularly if recommended by an occupational therapist.
  Plan for a safe place and person for the student to go to if needing to leave the classroom briefly due to anxiety.
  If transitions to and from the playground or lunchroom are difficult, allow the student to leave early or be the last to move.

Academic Expectations

Students who have trauma histories may have difficulty with concentration, memory, organization, and language. Accommodations that may help in these areas follow.

• Exempt the student from all homework requirements; expect assignments to be done during school study times as much as possible, but do not require any to be taken home.
• Alternatively, limit homework time. Set a certain time limit, such as ten minutes for each year of the child’s grade level, and then excuse the student from any work that could not be completed during that time per parent report.
• Reduce assignments for the student, or give alternative assignments that reduce stress.
• Make sure that the student has written instructions and a properly completed example problem, if possible, for all assignments.
• Post assignments on the board each day, and allow the student to use a device to take a picture of the assignments board at the end of each day.
• Extend deadlines for larger assignments as needed. Assist the student in staying on pace by breaking the assignments down and providing a deadline for each part.
• Communicate frequently with parents on the student’s progress. A daily log on a shared Google document could be helpful. Be sure to note good news as well as bad, and share information on upcoming deadlines.
• Provide a quiet study hall area with supervision and help from an aide as needed.
• Allow the student to dictate answers to a “scribe” (parent or aide) or input answers on a computer rather than writing them out, as needed.
• Ask the student to do a sample problem of each assignment and then show it to the teacher in order to verify that the student understands the lesson concept and the assignment directions before moving on to the rest of the assignment.
• Teach social skills or social-emotional learning in the classroom, or have the student participate in a small group learning those skills.

One of the most important “ingredients” for classroom success is that the student experiences felt safety. 

Students with trauma histories need accommodations every bit as much as students with disabilities or chronic medical conditions. You have the power, as a teacher, to help children from hard places feel safe, accepted, and successful. What a great reason to be a teacher!

1https://www.forbes.com/health/mind/fidget-toys-for-anxiety/