When students who have been traumatized find themselves in a stressful situation or a situation where they feel unsafe, they will exhibit one of three responses: fight, flight, or freeze.
These are primal responses that students cannot necessarily control without proper support and coping skills.
It’s important to keep this in mind when you recognize students entering into this self-protecting state of mind.
But before we tackle this topic, we need to remember that we are operating under different definitions of stress and safety when we are talking about students who have been traumatized.
Let’s do a quick review, so we can all be on the same page.
A completely non-stressful, typical, everyday situation can be a HUGE stressor for someone who has experienced trauma. It could be as simple as the tone of a teacher’s voice (even if it’s positive), or a certain phrase that a teacher or student uses might be a trigger for a student. It could be a fun event like a field trip or a fun Friday afternoon.
However, it could also be an actual stressful situation like a schedule change or a fire drill. Or worse yet, a code red drill. It’s one of those things that you will learn about your students as you get to know them better. These stressors stem from the type of trauma that a student experienced, so they are unique to every student.
Students who have been traumatized also need FELT safety in a classroom. Remember the difference between physical safety and felt safety? It’s an emotional feeling of safety. It’s feeling safe enough to express feelings, relax, and trust those around them.
So when safety is threatened (whether physical or felt) OR a stressful situation arises, students’ primal responses will be one of three choices – fight, flight, or freeze.
Here’s what FIGHT might look like in a school setting:
Arguing or defiance
Verbal aggression- swearing, name calling, threatening
Physical aggression – hitting, kicking, punching, throwing things, tipping desks or chairs
Back talk or mouthing off
Here’s what FREEZE might look like in a school setting:
Refusal to make eye contact
Refusal to speak
Minimum one word answers
Refusal to DO anything – follow directives, complete assignments, or play at recess
“Shutting down”
Holding breath
Putting their head down
Visibly shrinking inside themselves
Hood up
Here’s what FLIGHT might look like in a school setting:
Fidgeting
Physically moving away from the source of stress
Leaving the classroom without permission
Leaving the school building without permission
Purposefully avoiding contact with someone
The RUNNER – you know the one!
There are many more ways that these responses can manifest themselves, but these are the most common ones that I have seen in my teaching experience. Have you seen these in your room? Comment below and let me know!
