Monday, April 6, 2009 - 9:30 PM
Session 1:
3) Research on your special- need group and post your findings. Remember to give credit to your sources.
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Development stages affect how children interpret their fear or how they experience traumatic reaction.
Pre-School (ages 2 to 6):
>>Death may be thought of as a different state but not permanent.
>>Time and space is only related to concrete or personal concerns.
>>The focus for children of this age is on their immediate life.
>>They may also believe that what they think about something can cause it to happen.
School-age children (ages 6-10):
>>Death may still be thought of as reversible.
>>Death is externalized into concrete fears and images of monsters or scary people.
>>Death may cause conflicted feelings about other's death and hence fearing of their own death.
>>Lost sense of identity and belonging to the world.
>>Easily feel guilty if they had done something wrong.
>>If they think others have done something wrong, they are likely to feel violent anger.
>>If the issues are not clear to them, they will stay away from the feelings.
Early adolescence (10-13 for girls, 12-15 for boys):
>>Talk about physical stress symptoms due to physical change.
>>Preadolescence and adolescence brings with them a solid concept of death.
>>The emotional roller-coaster that a child deals with at this age is obvious in wide mood swings.
>>In early adolescence, children become more preoccupied with peer relationships and begin to distrust or challenge adult interpretations of the world. When they perceive adults have failed them, they may be particularly hostile to the adult world.
>>There is a tendency for children to become very emotional in response to emotion-laden events at this age.
>>Ideals and commitments are viewed as a sacred trust. Betrayal of promises, vows, or relationships is rarely tolerated, even when being faithful to them may be harmful to the children who rely upon them or when the person making such vows is incapable of honouring them.
>>Words and symbols mean a great deal to the preadolescent and the adolescent child. Emphasize the use of stories, plays, poetry, and music lyrics often as a basis for expression.
Adolescence (13-18):
>>Normally, adolescence tends to increase the emotional upheaval of preadolescence.
>>Adolescent behavior is inconsistent. Anger may manifest itself as rage, and sorrow may become suicidal.
>>The immediacy of death when it affects teenagers is in stark contrast to their desire to see death as a part of a far distant future and their inherent sense of immortality. Sometimes their activities center on proving themselves more powerful than death. Involvement in risk-taking activities may be exacerbated by the loss of risk-inhibitions due to traumatization. They often express themselves by acting out and through experimenting with new behaviors.
>>Most adolescents are creative and energetic. Their creativity is manifested through the creation of their own symbols, activities, and words. Many young people create symbolic activities to memorialize their losses and to maintain a living connection to loved ones who have died or been injured in a catastrophe.
Common coping skills among children and adolescents
>>Coping through spasmodic crises
>>Seeking and relying upon help from others
>>A sense of a foreshortened future
>>Retreat into fantasy
>>Education and aspiration
>>Spirituality
Interventions for traumatized children
>>Establish safety and security
>>Allow children to tell what happened and to talk about death and loss
>>Predict what will happen and prepare children for the future
Suggestions
>>Focus on their future.
>>Render help and give advices.
>>Let other changes in their lives a less severe one.
>>Address estrangement or their removal from peers and friends.
>>Help children frame their loss in the context of all of their relationships and their life as whole.
Credits: Shermin Ang Jia Xi (24) 2E7
