How Can I Identify It? |

No one knows your child better than you do

You know when they’re happy. You know when they’re sad. You know when they’re struggling. And, when you’re paying attention, you instinctively know when they are simply not themselves.

Traumatized children tend to show signs that they are feeling fearful and vulnerable. Some common behaviors that may signal trauma for older children include:

Behavioral Signs of Trauma

Appetite changes
Clinginess
Difficulty sleeping
Difficulty paying attention or concentrating
Headaches
Increased aggression
Problems interacting with other children
Problems at school
Regressive behaviors (acting like they did when they were younger)
Stomachaches
Temper tantrums

Emotional Signs of Trauma

Anger or irritability
Anxiety
Depression
Emotional numbness
Extreme emotional distress
Inconsolable crying
Nightmares
Sadness
Withdrawal or avoiding engagement with others

The problem is that perfectly healthy children demonstrate most of these behaviors at some time or the other, especially adolescents. That’s why you need to Look Through Their Eyes. It’s not the behavior itself that you’re looking for – you want to notice any changes from the child’s everyday “normal.” If changed behaviors continue over a couple of months, even after you’ve talked to your child, you may be dealing with trauma.

Trauma occurs in children as early as infancy. Babies do not have words to tell you how they feel or that something is wrong. Instead, you might see symptoms ranging from changes in eating or sleeping habits or excessive crying to persistent health problems. It’s easy to confuse these reactions with the baby’s basic needs if you don’t Look Through Their Eyes and Listen With Your Heart.

A GUIDE TO TYPICAL CHILD DEVELOPMENT

This guide lists typical milestones of development by age as a way to assess a child's development against common benchmarks. It was created to assist adults in recognizing if a child's development is not typical and therefore encouraging them to consider whether or not trauma has played a role in the childs life.

A Quick Way to Identify A Problem

Need a quick way to identify whether your child might be experiencing a trauma? Just remember the word “SCARED” and the six types of behaviors you should keep an eye out for:

S - Sudden changes in sleep habits

C - Crying

A - Afraid of things not feared before

R - Refuses activities s/he once enjoyed

E - Easily startled

D - Displays disruptive, violent, bullying or aggressive behaviors

Symptoms of Trauma

Learn more about the types of symptoms that occur at different ages:

Birth to 2

Unusual clinginess
Agitation
Unusually high levels of anger
Tantrums that don’t stop within a few minutes
Easily startled
Terrified responses to sights, sounds, etc. that remind the child of what happened
Aggressive behavior

Learn more