Understanding the Brain
We will cover the basics of the brain and where memories are stored that affect anxiety issues. According to the National Survey of Children's Health, in 2012 there were nearly 35 million children who were affected by trauma.
Are you noticing that students seem to have forgotten how to be a student compared to the kindergarten-second grade students you taught in the past?
Researchers are finding that concerns about the spread of Covid-19, social confinement, and physical distancing have increased the risk of multiple traumatic experiences for our children. The social isolation that occurred in 2020 also increased the risk of complex trauma among children and adolescents.
The isolation made many children vulnerable to physical, sexual, and psychological violence (emotional and physical neglect, exposure to fighting between family members, alcoholism, drug abuse, mental illness of family member, and food security issues due to instability of income). Approximately 40% of children in the US under 12 experienced food insecurity in the past two years.
So, what happens in the brain when this occurs? We will look at where memories are stored in the hippocampus and learn some unique strategies, we can try in the classroom to alleviate those stressors that could trigger anxiety issues.