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Disaster and
Their Effects |
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Disasters and Their Effects
What is a disaster?
A disaster is a devastating, catastrophic event
that can be life threatening and injury producing, which may
create the following distressful experiences:
Potential experiences or feelings:
c
Sense of fear,
worry
c
Disruption of home,
routine, etc.
c
Feeling that one’s
life was threatened
c
Witnessing
injuries, death, pain
c
Feeling trapped and
isolated
c
Being out of
control of something threatening to life’s
basics:
food, shelter,
clothing, people, comfort...even life itself
c
Having flashbacks
of other catastrophes
c
Feeling cut-off
from services
c
Being separated
from loved ones
c
Having a sense of
mortality
c
Feeling "survivor
guilt"
c
Children who are
forced to become "parents" to adults
who are
scared or worried
Symptoms of Distress in Children
As a result of traumatic experiences some
children will show a variety of symptoms of distress. The
teacher must first know a child’s baseline ("usual") behavior
and cultural/ethnic responses before he/she can identify
"unusual" or problem behavior in a child.
Symptoms:
c
Any unusual complaints of illness
c Keeping
isolated from the rest of the group
c Child seems so
pressured, anxious that he/she somehow
dominates,
has to distract others, or is otherwise in need
of attention
c Changed
behavior/appearance
c Resistant to
opening up
(however, child might just be shy, may have
language or cultural barrier)
c No eye contact
c Difficulty
concentrating, can’t focus
c "Feisty" or
hyperactive/silly, giddy
c Any emotional
display; crying, "regressed" behavior (less than
age-appropriate)
c Lack of
emotional expression
c Poor
performance
c Can’t tolerate
change; can’t move to next task
c Lethargic,
apathetic
c Easily
startled, jumpy
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