PRESUPUESTO GENERAL DEL PROYECTO

II. BASES TÉCNICAS

6. PRESUPUESTO GENERAL DEL PROYECTO

“I can’t concentrate or remember.”

“It is an ultimate irony that at the time when the human is most vulnerable to the effects of trauma—during infancy and childhood—adults generally presume the most resilient” (Perry 1996).

Conservative estimates of the number of children in the United States exposed to traumatic events in a one year period exceed four million. These experiences include children who live in the fallout zone of domestic or community violence, have experienced physical or sexual abuse, have witnessed or experienced violent crime, or have been exposed to other sudden, unexpected human- induced violence such as car accidents, burn accidents, kidnappings, etc. At least half of all children exposed to traumatic experiences may develop a variety of signicant psycho- emotional symptoms in adolescence and adulthood. Depending on the severity, frequency, nature and pattern of the traumatic event(s), these children are at a great risk for developing profound emotional, behavioral, physiological, cognitive and social problems.

When an adult experiences a traumatic event, their maturely developed brain is capable of creating a temporary traumatic thought process to help it deal with the trauma. Once the trauma is healed, the adult can dissolve this trait and return to an integrated state within the mature brain. This is not the case with children. If children experience trauma while the brain is in its developmental stages, the temporary traumatic trait needed to survive the trauma will be built into the brain as a permanent trait. Therefore, if a child grows up in a traumatic environment, the more it is forced to use trauma thinking patterns, the more those patterns will be embedded into their natural thought processes. Traumatized children will now begin

to process all unfamiliar and overwhelming events as though they had the potential of being dangerously traumatizing. Their reactions will naturally be over-reactive to normal events causing hyperarousal or dissociative symptoms and behaviors.

Parents, along with school teachers, administrators, and other important people in the child’s life are often left alone to deal not only with the maladaptive behaviors of traumatized children, but with the vicarious traumatization they develop as a result of being exposed to the children’s PTSD symptoms on a daily basis. Given the daunting statistics of childhood trauma, parents, educators and school personnel should receive education on the symptoms and effects of trauma as well as methods for dealing with PTSD.

I had the opportunity once to work with an entire school system after the children had a traumatic experience. Initially, I helped the faculty to reect on their own experiences of vicarious traumatization while dealing with the severe emotions of the children. When I

explained that they too were victims of an overwhelming situation, the guilt, shame, anger

and hurt they had experienced about their reactions to the children began to be replaced

by a sense of renewal, understanding and self-acceptance. After several discussions, what we

conc

concluded was tluded was that we would need to employ a two-hat we would need to employ a two-fold procfold process of recovery. First we needed toess of recovery. First we needed to

resolve the vicarious trauma of the faculty in order to restore their healthy thought processes

and relationships. Secondly, we decid

and relationships. Secondly, we decided to redesign ted to redesign the school’he school’s currs curriculum and claiculum and class schedule.ss schedule.

We included included specic specic exercises exercises designed designed to to release release deep deep chronic chronic tensions tensions in in their their normalnormal

physical education classes. This would help them to discharge the high adrenal and cortisol

levels created as a result of their traumatic experiences. We shortened the teaching segments

of each class by introducing 5 minute breaks every 20 minutes. This allowed them to be able

to concentrate for the entire segment. Eventually the classes would be lengthened until they

could concentrate for the entire class period. We introduced small study groups that allowed

the children to learn at t

the children to learn at their own pace, which evenheir own pace, which eventuatually gave them more condelly gave them more condence. This gavence. This gave

the children a sense of unity and coh

the children a sense of unity and cohesion as they all stresion as they all struggled together to ruggled together to regaiegain their naturan their naturall

cognitive processes. The nal change we made was to include a story telling class into the

school curriculum specically designed to safely elicit the multitude of traumatic memories of

these young children. These

these young children. These adjustments, over time, slowly reduced and even dismantled maadjustments, over time, slowly reduced and even dismantled manyny

of the neurological, physiological and psychological defenses these children developed during

their traumatic experience.

Although these and many traumat

Although these and many traumatized children liized children like them have ke them have developed developed traumtrauma behaviora behavior

patterns, they need not be debilitating and damaging to their lives. The sensitive and nely

tuned trauma traits and behaviors once understood and integrated into the personality can be

used in creative ways to encourage the unique development of these children.

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In document FOMENTO A LA INVERSIÓN PRIVADA EN OBRAS DE RIEGO Y DRENAJE LEY Nº (página 30-33)