Teaching Children in Trauma
I am preparing to teach some demonstration classes for homeless Kindergarten and Pre-K children. It’s part of a grant through Massachusetts Young Audience Healing Arts for Kids, in which music educators give teachers tools and skills for integrating music into their classes.
Last month, I gave a training at the Horizons for Homeless Children Center, and the teachers were enthusiastic about me coming to their classrooms and teaching their children. One of them told me afterwards, “It’s so good to have someone come who can actually answer our questions and give us practical things to do.”
But working with a group of committed adults is different than working with a group of traumatized kids. Here’s one teacher’s list of issues:
Transitions Meltdowns Violent Throwing chairs Breaking things Curl up and cry
It breaks my heart. I also wonder if what I offer is up to the task. But the teachers seemed to think so, so I will take courage from that.
Here are some of the principles I plan to use in my classes:
1. Rhythm. Do as much in possible in rhythm all day long. Start with a beat. Sing or chant everything you can. Rhythm provides a kind of home for us; our first nine months were spent surrounded by heartbeat. Rhythm helps us get our bodies organized in movement and our minds organized for learning. Rhythm also creates an environment that is larger than most distractions. It makes tantrums less likely, and makes the tantrums that do occur less noticeable.
2. Follow the Movement. Watch the children closely, and notice their movement patterns. This can help you deflect the tantrums before they happen. For example, The Babkin Palmomental Reflex, which combines sucking movements of the mouth with kneading motions of the hands, is often a player. So when you see mouth movements, know that these can presage unwanted hand motions, like hitting out or hurling objects. If a child begins making mouth movements – grimaces, licking lips - immediately get both hands going. Start the class on a slap-clap pattern, or hand drums, or putting both hands flat on the floor to make bridges or play wheelbarrow. It doesn’t matter, just so the hands are occupied. As the activity develops, the reflex can move through its trajectory, and be integrated in rhythm and play.
This kind of thinking goes for the other reflexes, too. As you begin to learn the movement patterns of the reflexes, you begin to develop an early-warning system, and to create strategies for deflecting them. Reflexes are not inherently negative or positive; they are just movements. If we are tuned in, we can catch them early and direct that movement in a positive way.
3. Be Flexible and Keep the Energy Moving. Be ready to turn on a dime. Have six songs ready at any moment. Know your props and be ready to use them. If something isn’t working, ditch it. Have your sixth, seventh, and eighth senses feeling for the class mood at all times, and go with what your instinct tells you will capture the energy and keep it flowing in a positive direction.
4. The Class is an Organism. Even when one child needs to leave the center of the activity, remember that all the children are part of the whole. They feel the isolated child and it can make them all afraid. If you hold the whole in your intention and keep each child integrated – even in your mind - you create a sense of safety for all.
5. Stay Inclusive. Whenever possible (it is not always possible, but it is often more possible than you think), don’t isolate a child. Change the activity of the group to the activity that that one child needs. Often that one child is expressing something unexpressed in the whole, and all the children will benefit from the activity.
6. Stay Grounded. If you are centered and peaceful – no matter what is going on around you – the children will be more able to find that quiet place in themselves and feel safe.
I’ll let you know how it goes. Wish me luck.
Gari Stein Jan 10, 2013
Wishing you the very best Eve. What important work you are doing. I look forward to reading more about it. Gari