Kids will ‘never be the way they were’
Nine years on, Christchurch children still show more anxiety than pre-quake kids, writes Lee Kenny.
Christchurch children will never be the same as they were before the earthquakes, says child behavioural expert Dr Kathleen Liberty. Her assessment came after she headed a study of almost 2500 school students, both before and after the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.
The 12-year investigation found that primary pupils at schools across the city still demonstrate symptoms of post-traumatic stress (PTS) years after the quakes.
Four studies were completed at 44 preschools, kindergartens and primaries and identified that 70 per cent of children had between six and 10 PTS symptoms.
Even children born well after the earthquakes were different to pre-quake children. ‘‘The new cohorts coming to school are never going to be like before the earthquakes,’’ said Liberty.
But the research also found the introduction of simple changes to school classrooms and timetables heralded huge reductions in symptoms and significant improvements in academic attainment and they have since been implemented at schools on the North Island and the West Coast.
The investigation began when the mental and physical health of 298 five-yearolds was studied as they entered schools in 2006 and 2007.
Liberty, an associate professor at University of Canterbury, told a gathering of Christchurch teachers and principals recently that the cohort, who were born in 2001 and 2002, served as a pre-earthquake baseline for the research that followed.
‘‘We got ethics permission late in 2012 and recruited children in 2013, we ended up with 360 children in that study,’’ she said.
‘‘That really described for us some of the struggles that children were having, these were younger than four years of age during September 2010.
‘‘These were the core children that provided us (with) a picture of how many children were struggling and suffering from stress.’’
A 222-page report of the findings – authored by Liberty, Maureen Allan, John Bangma, Liz McNaughton and Britta Liberty – says despite the ‘‘out-dated’’ belief that children are naturally resilient, ‘‘young children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of natural disasters’’.
Children with PTS may exhibit a range of clinically recognised symptoms, such as being overly-clingy, or having a lack of concentration and feeling anxious, restless or argumentative.
PTSD in young children differs from those experienced by older children due to differences in development, language and problem solving, the report concludes.
‘‘Older children may have developed coping skills or language to describe their inner emotional and physical states, which young children have not yet developed,’’ said Liberty.
She said the early results of the study showed that the problems with PTS would not abate without support being offered to teachers and parents.
‘‘By 2015 it became pretty clear that the children were just not getting better,’’ she said.
‘‘What we saw was almost half of our kids either had high symptoms that were continuing or were getting worse. We realised that sitting around waiting was not enough.’’
The team devised a support package of strategies which could be implemented by teachers and parents.
Among the recommendations were increased PTS education for teachers and parents, the introduction of ‘‘calm-down classrooms’’, ‘‘drink-to-think’’ and a ‘‘play-eatlearn’’ timetable to better structure the school day.
The schools that introduced the strategies saw a marked improvement in student learning, behaviour and a reduction in PTS symptoms.
‘‘Children were able to better self-regulate as their symptoms of post-traumatic stress reduced,’’ Liberty explained. ‘‘We have data that the more strategies schools implemented the better the results.’’
During the three-year period children with six or more of the 10 PTS symptoms saw improvements in their reading, writing and maths.
In 2016, 55 per cent of children were at or above the curriculum average for reading but by 2018 that had risen to 85 per cent.
‘‘I’m really thrilled about the reading because language is one of the areas that’s so strongly affected by posttraumatic stress. We see a similar pathway for writing and math.’’
There was also an improvement in schools where the strategies were replicated, with children from Ma¯ ori or Pacific Island backgrounds, in particular, making ‘‘huge gains in reading and writing’’.
The strategies have since been introduced at Runanga School on the West Coast and two schools in Porirua.
And Liberty said the outcomes of the strategies implemented in Christchurch schools are comparable to the outcomes gained with individual and small-group therapy, but it does take longer.
‘‘Our effects are similar (to when) you have an intervention that is delivered by a clinical psychologist or trauma-focused CBT (therapist), the Gold Standard,’’ she said.
‘‘We don’t have enough professionals to deliver those therapies to our children. Our strategies will take longer but they can have almost a similar effect.’’
Shevaun Karipa, deputy principal at O¯ pa¯ wa School said pupils’ anxiety was often a result of behaviour learnt from parents or siblings. ‘Parents were quite rightly anxious for the safety of their children, fearful of leaving them and (putting their) trust in that school,’’ she said.
‘‘So the children were witnessing that and hearing those conversations and being a part of that.
She said even everyday things could potentially be a PTS trigger.
‘‘Post-quake, a truck might rumble past and you immediately (shudder), it’s a natural response to flinch if you’re seeing something (move).
‘‘What we noticed too was that, (pupils’) normal coping mechanisms and strategies they have been practicing and learning just went out the window.
‘‘Because they were already aroused they weren’t actually starting at zero, they were coming in the gates at a five, so they would go from five to 10 in a very short space of time.’’
Beckenham Te Kura o Pu¯ roto was among the first cluster of schools to take part in the research in 2012.
Principal Sandy Hastings explained that one of the strategies introduced was to remove any objects hanging from the walls or ceilings which could move and trigger memories of the earthquakes.
‘‘Traditionally in New Zealand, teachers would put a string across the room and hang things on it,’’ she explained.
But she said the sight of things fluttering in the breeze could be anxiety-provoking for children who were on ‘‘high alert’’.
‘‘All these earthquake children have high arousal, all the time,’’ she continued.
‘‘Their fight, flight or freeze mechanism is alert all the time and their peripheral vision is watching for movement.’’
She said high anxiety meant pupils could ‘‘go from zero to 100, just like that’’.
‘‘One minute everyone’s sitting calmly, next minute someone’s throwing a chair across the room.’’
She said the most effective strategy they had implemented was ‘‘flipping our lunchtime’’.
‘‘We now have play-eat-learn, rather than eat-play-learn, which is the traditional way that most New Zealand schools have organised,’’ she said.
‘‘Now kids go out to play first, teachers are able to help them get into groups so they go out with a friend and they have a plan in their head of what they are going to do at lunchtime, rather than sitting and waiting to be told they can go and play.’’
She said the previous structure meant children would often become agitated or angry.
‘‘Kids were coming back in and they were disregulated and they had been arguing and fighting.
‘‘When the parents picked them up at 3 o’clock they would melt down instantly.
‘‘We flipped-it around and within two weeks we had emails from parents saying ‘I don’t know what you’ve done to my child but when we pick them up they are a different child and their lunchbox is empty, instead of still full of food’.’’
Belfast School joined the study later. Principal Sue Elley said the north Christchurch primary implemented the strategies after staff learned about the positive results elsewhere.
‘‘We started working with Kathleen last year. We were able to see from the data that she’d gathered that there was a downward trend (in PTS symptoms) so we knew it was something worth persevering with,’’ she said.
Staff also introduced the play-eat-learn strategy after the early data showed students’ concentration levels could be maintained for longer periods during the day.
‘‘When we first started, children’s attention seemed to wane around 11am but by introducing the different eating strategies, teachers noticed the attention spans were lasting much longer, up until about 2 ‘o clock in the afternoon.
‘‘Kathleen’s comment that children entering school are never going to be the way they were. We see that.
‘‘We see new entrants coming in who have much higher levels of anxiety and although you can’t attribute it (all) to the earthquake, things have changed and children present with many more symptoms of anxiety than they used to.
‘‘Children are coming in almost programmed now to be slightly more vigilant than they were before.
‘‘You would think that nine years after the earthquake that kids would be going back to the way they were.
‘‘They’re not and there’s probably lots of reasons behind that but these strategies do help.’’