Trauma And Literacy Development Essay

1053 Words3 Pages

Emma Solini
Ms. Menickelly
Literacy Development
May 31, 2017
Trauma and Pediatric PTSD The first few years in a child’s life are very important, this is where they are learning how to speak, read, and write. However, some children may be affected by a traumatic event in their life and even suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Having experienced a traumatic event may have severe consequences on a child’s literacy development. There are five stages of literacy development. The first stage occurs around the ages of 6 months to 6 years. During this stage the child is learning the alphabet and how to write her/his name. the child can usually point to a picture and name what it is. Stage 2 occurs through the ages of 6 and 7. The …show more content…

A traumatic event that happens within the 2nd and 3rd stages of literacy development can have major effects on how and if the child learns to read and write. AT this stage in their life they are either just learning the alphabet, how letters and sounds are connected, or how to read on their own. Having experienced such a distressing incident could potentially make them stop reading altogether. Some symptoms that may occur if a child is experiencing PTSD would be feeling neglected and start sitting out on class activities which could enhance their reading and writing. If they start to have low self-worth and feel that no one accepts them they may start to skip school in general. Skipping school makes becoming literate harder for the child and become behind in all their classes. Michele Solini experienced a childhood trauma that still causes her to think of the event to this day. One of her classmates, who was a close friend of hers, died at a young age. When asked if this affected her work at school she said, “Yes, I was constantly thinking about it became harder to focus I class. My grades dropped and I was usually sad, angry, and fearful” (Solini 2017). Having a child go through this especially at this age is hard because they have to live with it for the rest of their life.(Kataoka) (Banes)(Cook-Cottone)(Child Neglect and PTSD)(Solini

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