How can you recognize childhood trauma symptoms? Sometimes you just know. I knew. Deep in my gut I knew something was wrong. What child vomits every time you take them outside? Why would a child shriek in this high pitched noise, for hours on end until my ear bled? What baby stiffens like a board, solid from the top of his head to the tips of his toes, each time you held him? Why would my toddler sit for hours on end, bouncing objects against a wall? How did my toddler have such intense flight/flight/freeze reactions that he was injuring full grown adults? But of course, he was too young to remember. He was only just shy of 10 months old when we held him for the first time. Children are resilient, tough, they don’t understand what is truly happening. He was too young to remember the atrocities he survived. Except he wasn’t. All those people were wrong. Trauma is devastating to a young brain that is still growing and forming core neural pathways.
Of course he wasn’t too young to remember
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My mommy gut recognized the signs of childhood trauma symptoms. It’s society that all too often doesn’t recognize the signs of early childhood trauma and this can confuse parents who are struggling to help their children.
Early childhood trauma can happen in many ways. Those that are fostering or adopting children are more likely to encounter the effects due to extreme losses, challenges and adverse experiences these children have lived through, but even children in secure, safe homes can experience trauma. Trauma can be caused by neglect, abuse, hospitalization/medical procedures, death or loss of a parent/caregiver, natural disasters, war, bullying, even a severe accident. Trauma can occur at any age (even prenatally), and it can happen to anyone.
Identifying Trauma – the struggle
The struggle with identifying the effects of childhood trauma exposure is that it is complicated, just like many other mental health issues. Two people can go through a traumatic experience together. One will develop PTSD and the other seemingly escapes unscathed. Doctors are not sure why people react so differently to the same events and this can make identifying and recognizing the symptoms of trauma exposure even more difficult, especially in children.
Two children may have exactly the same experiences, yet one only has minor struggles with language while the other has intense disabilities and delays. Trauma and mental health issues are extremely tricky beasts this way. They affect everyone differently. Not only that, but different issues may only start to present themselves at different times. But there is something most of us have, it’s universal and it’s that gut feeling that we as parents have when it comes to our kids. If your gut is telling you this is something you need to look into, keep reading.
The first step to identifying the possibility of a trauma disorder is to determine if a traumatic event has taken place. This may not be as easy as it sounds. Many abuses, neglect and bullying happen in secret and it can be hard to determine that traumatic events are occurring. Other times the event or traumas may be easy to identify.
If you suspect your child has experienced a traumatic event, or series of traumas, it is important to start recording their behaviours and possible triggers in a journal. This journal will be very important in the diagnostic process and treatment for your child.
Look for behaviours that are out of the norm or extreme in nature. One of the greatest struggles parents of special kids face is other parents telling us “it’s normal” for our children to exhibit certain behaviours, but as parents we are the best judges of when a behaviour goes beyond normal ranges and it is time to seek professional help. Don’t let well-meaning but misguided people prevent you from seeking help.
For a comprehensive resource on Childhood Trauma, check out this resource.
Signs of Possible Trauma
When trying to identify childhood trauma disorders, here are just a few childhood trauma symptoms to look for:
Flight/Flight/Freeze
Hypervigilence
Sleep disorders
Panic attacks
Anxiety
Depression
Attention issues
Sensory issues
Eating/food related issues
OCD, ticks, self-harming
Extreme moods (tantrums, anger or even extreme/unnatural affection for strangers)
Struggles with self-soothing and regulation
Learning difficulties
Behaving younger than their proper age (developmental regression)
Helplessness
This is far from an exhaustive list, if you think a behaviour or issue is related to trauma exposure, record it in your journal. Heck, even if you have no idea why the behaviour is happening, if it is disruptive record it and as much information as possible about the situations around the behaviour.
Once you have spent the time recognizing and documenting the signs of a possible trauma disorder, you can use that to start advocating to get the right help for your child. The field of childhood trauma is relatively new, there are many who do not understand it or how to work with traumatized children, so it’s important that you educate and arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible so you can help your child.
Read, read, read. There are some fantastic books that can help you understand childhood behaviours better. One thing that is common in children who have experienced trauma is sensory issues. I’m not sure I’ve ever met a trauma child who doesn’t struggle with sensory issues. Sensory Processing 101 is a fantastic resource to help you understand what is normal, how to classify certain behaviours, and some things you can do to help address sensory needs.
More books that have really helped me over the years include:
The effects of childhood trauma can last a lifetime. Childhood trauma symptoms don’t go away like a flu bug. It’s important to understand how trauma can be the root cause of so many issues such as ADHD and ODD. By understanding the source of the disorders we can better treat and parent the child so they can become successful adults. Recognizing the signs was just the first in a very long journey toward helping my son. If you have a child that has experienced trauma, watch for the signs and seek professional help if you start to see areas of concern.
In honour of all the parents and families helping children with trauma histories I wrote a story called Shattered Embrace. Although it is fictional, the story is very real and pulls on the threads of my own experience and those I’ve connected with over the years as we face childhood trauma together.
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Renae says
While reading your first paragraph, I cried. I know it all too well with two adopted daughters who have Reactive Attachment Disorder. I love the tips you give here to help parents prepare to meet with a specialist, especially when it comes to the sensory aspect of things.
Nicola Perrins says
I am really interested to read your post, I’m doing a lot of research on attachment. My partner and father to my 2 children is now 33, at 2 he was fostered and suffered neglect and abuse at the hands of his birth mother. We’ve recently read his social services reports, he had and has a lot of the indicators you stated in this post. He was functioning at 15 months when he was 3 and could only say 2 words at 2 and a half years. He has severe Dyslexia and learning difficulties. His growth and development was effected as he was left in his cot for the majority of the day. He was extremely jealous of his younger brother and has a fairly young mind for 33. I also read of behavioural problems. What I am researching at the moment is if attachment, behavioural issues can be passed down to the next generation, my 4 year old has SPD with traits of ADHD and ASD, even though my daughter is growing up in a different environment to her father, she is a carbon copy of him as a child. He went to live with his father at 4 years old as his mum hadn’t named on birth certificate and therfore had to prove via DNA test that he was the father.
Shelley says
Yes, there is evidence that the damage caused by childhood trauma can be passed down. Here is an article to get you started, I hope it helps you find many resources and information. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/21/study-of-holocaust-survivors-finds-trauma-passed-on-to-childrens-genes
Nicola Perrins says
Thank you 🙂 such a helpful article, I’ve been trying to find something like this for ages now 🙂
Kirsty @ My Home Truths says
This is such important information. Sadly, there seems to be increasing cases of abuse, neglect and trauma reported which means there will be so many kids out there battling the affects of childhood trauma. Kids take in everything, even if they are too young to properly process and deal with this input, so it’s important for us all to recognise the signs and do what we can to help them. Thanks for writing what must have been a tough post x
Bess says
This post has left me with a lot to think about. I never thought about how some of my daughter’s early medical experiences could have affected her long term. She certainly struggled desperately, especially when she was on a chemo drug that made her sick. I’ve seen a number of issues on the list. I’ll have to look into this deeper.
Amy Falkofske says
I am confused. My son exhibits many of these traits, some of them since before preschool. I gave birth to him and he hasn’t suffered any abuse or neglect. I know I haven’t been a perfect mom. I yelled at him a lot when his younger brother came along because he was very needy and I was under a lot of stress and had very little help. But he was diagnosed with developmental delays even before that. He’s since been diagnosed with ADHD and is on the autism spectrum. He has sensory issues, depression and anxiety and frequent screaming fits/emotional breakdowns. He’s 13.
Shelley says
Autism and trauma exposure are very different. I recommend you find a pediatric psychologist specialized in dealing with autism to help you find solutions for your child. Best of luck
Bibi K. says
Hi I am the spouse of a borderline. We suffered in silence for 4 yrs until the abuse stopped. obviously through intense therapy. was frightening and empowering journey. now my 6 yr old was diagnosed with ADHD and SPD. we are struggling through the therapy process since we did not find OT that is well versed with trauma treatment. it is pretty clear to us that his SPd and ADHD are symptoms of the early abuse she experienced. I wish you can share with us which approach or type of therapist can be helpful in dealing with this. the memeories are preverbal (mostly) for this child and I don;t think he has verbal memeory of what was…
STEAM Powered Family says
I am so sorry you faced that. There are a number of therapists that specialize in children with trauma history. In my experience, we found working with therapists who work a lot with foster children and especially ranches that use proper animal assisted psycho-therapy (which is very different from the normal animal assisted therapy you see promoted by many places, you don’t want a therapist, you want a psychologist or psychiatrist). I hope this helps you find someone local. I have a number of other articles on childhood trauma and therapy here on the site. You can access most of them from this article: https://www.steampoweredfamily.com/childhood-trauma/
Wishing you and your child the best of luck and much healing.