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Disaster and
Their Effects |
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:
Sense of fear,
worry
Disruption of home,
routine, etc.
Feeling that one’s
life was threatened
Witnessing
injuries, death, pain
Feeling trapped and
isolated
Being out of
control of something threatening to life’s
basics:
food, shelter,
clothing, people, comfort...even life itself
Having flashbacks
of other catastrophes
Feeling cut-off
from services
Being separated
from loved ones
Having a sense of
mortality
Feeling "survivor
guilt"
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:
1) Any unusual complaints of illness
2) Keeping
isolated from the rest of the group
3) Child seems so
pressured, anxious that he/she somehow
dominates,
has to distract others, or is otherwise in need
of attention
4) Changed
behavior/appearance
5) Resistant to
opening up
(however, child might just be shy, may have
language or cultural barrier)
6) No eye contact
7) Difficulty
concentrating, can’t focus
8) "Feisty" or
hyperactive/silly, giddy
9) Any emotional
display; crying, "regressed" behavior (less than
age-appropriate)
10) Lack of
emotional expression
11) Poor
performance
12) Can’t tolerate
change; can’t move to next task
13) Lethargic,
apathetic
14) Easily
startled, jumpy
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