Problems posed by PTSD in the classroom
There are three main symptoms of PTSD. These symptoms are intrusion, avoidance and hyper-vigilance (Qouta, Punamaki and El Sarraj, 2003). Each symptom poses both learning and behavioral problems for the student and in the classroom. The symptoms often exhibit in ways that are hard for the teacher to understand, especially if they arrived to the learning situation after a disaster has hit an area and are not experiencing any symptoms themselves or did not witness the trauma with their own eyes. Looking at the symptoms in detail it becomes easier to understand their potential impact on student performance, classroom behavior and ability to learn in general.
The symptom of intrusion is typified by thoughts related to the traumatic event that recur to the individual at times when they are not welcome or appropriate (Pope and Campbell, 1992). In the classroom a student may often “space out” or find it difficult to pay attention to the material that is presented. In language classes this can be problematic because of the amount of specific and new information that is presented to the student that they will need to know, not just for the upcoming test, but for the rest of their study and use of the language. Missing critical information because of unwelcome thoughts that steal the attention of the student not only effect the students performance in class just that one time, but every time the missed information is needed. This serves to remind the student over and over about why they missed the information and can lower self esteem. Also in-class exercises may be hard to complete for the PTSD student as they may have inappropriate thoughts during the allotted time that prevent them from focusing on the task at hand. Intrusions also occur outside of school while a student is attempting to study or do homework assignments. This could cause students to hand in work that is
