Are pandemic drills next for students?
Natural disaster drills are regular parts of school life. As school shootings increased, schools began drills for those, too.
In the post-coronavirus world, pandemic drills may be next.
Can children be prepared without becoming anxious or traumatized?
Dr. Fabian A. Boie and Jessica McEvily, psychologists at Greenwich Public Schools, weigh in.
Q. Could this pandemic heighten anxiety in children?
Before, anxiety disorders were a leading category of mental health disorders among the school-age population. With all the disruption and uncertainty that this pandemic is causing, anxiety in children who are already vulnerable will only surge to new levels of severity and prevalence.
Q. How does a child process, or not process, trauma?
Some children may not view this pandemic as a traumatic experience, but nearly all will express distress or behavioral change in the short-term as they recover.
Children and adolescents may develop new fears, separation anxiety — especially in young children — disrupted sleeping patterns, loss of interest in normal activities, sadness, anger and somatic complaints and irritability.
If their mental health is not addressed, these symptoms will impact the child’s normal functioning in the family, school and society.
Q. Active-shooter drills are controversial because they cause psychological harm. How can we teach students preparedness without heightening a student’s anxiety, or retraumatizing a student?
This pandemic will alter the very fabric of our society. We will all need to be proactive and creative about addressing similar situations in the future.
First, we need to talk openly and rationally with our children about probable life threats, such as pandemics and natural disasters. Experiencing life-crises is not a question of if, but of when and how disruptive they can be.
Resilience or grit in children develops only when they are faced with the expected and unexpected challenges of life, from a failed test to losing a parent to a global pandemic, while they receive support and learn to grow in resilience. The only way we can do that is by giving social and emotional learning as much, if not even more attention, energy and resources as we currently give to academics.
Mental health and SEL must, and hopefully will, take center stage following the current pandemic crises, which will force us to rethink education altogether.