What is trauma?

A necessary starting place is to explore what exactly is considered "trauma". Put simply, trauma is "too much for too long with too little support" (DeveloPlay, 2019). According to the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition), trauma is "exposure to acute or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence", but scholars agree that trauma is any experience "that impairs the proper functioning of the person's stress-response system, making it more reactive or sensitive" (Wilson, 2022).

It is important to note that trauma is highly subjective; what may seem traumatic to some may not be experienced as trauma by others. Additionally, our role as educators is not to identify specific causes of trauma nor to treat trauma in students, but rather, to adjust classroom conditions to create an environment in which anyone can learn regardless of their past or current experiences related to trauma.

What are the causes of trauma?

For English Language Learners (ELLs) who have come to the United States as refugees or immigrants, the causes of trauma include:

War
Violence of all kinds
Migration
Political upheaval
Genocide
Ethnic cleansing
Religious persecution (Palanac, 2023)

There are several types of trauma that may also impact our other students at Spokane Community College:

Intergenerational Trauma
Systemic Trauma
Educational Trauma

Additionally, we all may be impacted by the trauma caused by the worldwide pandemic, COVID-19. (Casimir & Baker, 2023).

Prevalence of Trauma

While the focus of this module is on supporting ELLs who have experienced trauma, research has shown that over 64% of adults in the United States have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience, resulting in trauma. The initial findings from the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study conducted by the CDC and Kaiser Permanente in the late 1990s reported data from participants who were "mostly white, insured, high school-and college-educated adults" (Casimir & Baker, 2023, p.23). Those not included in the preliminary study--individuals from low-income, racial and ethnic minority, and urban backgrounds likely have also experienced ACEs, and often times, more than one (Casimir & Baker, 2023; Daniels, 2022).

Clearly, this would suggest that in a typical class at Spokane Community College, the chances of encountering a student who has experienced a traumatic event in their life, whether as a child in the U.S. or as an adult across the world, are extremely high. Much like other beneficial teaching practices, what is good for select students will also be beneficial for the rest: trauma-informed and trauma-responsive pedagogy is beneficial to all students.

To learn more about the Adverse Childhood Experiences study (ACEs) conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser Permanente in the late 1990s, click here: https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/fastfact.html