Q4. As an early childhood professional, I know I am a mandated reporter, but how does abuse, neglect, and trauma impact my day-to-day work supporting interactions?

<Catherine Corr>

In lots of ways! Coming up, I will give two case examples of how we as early childhood/early intervention professionals supporting interactions also need to be sensitive and responsive to the needs of young children with disabilities who have experienced abuse, neglect, and trauma. 

Example 1

Let’s consider Interaction Practice 1: Practitioners promote the child’s social-emotional development by observing, interpreting, and responding contingently to the range of the child’s emotional expressions.

Oscar is a 5-year-old with Down syndrome who was removed from his biological family because of neglect. He was recently placed in a foster home. Oscar’s preschool teacher called his foster home to explain that Oscar is regularly coming to school upset. For the past two weeks, Oscar enters the classroom in the morning crying and doesn’t actively participate in the classroom activities. Oscar’s teacher decided to create a morning routine where she and Oscar have special one-on-one time reading a book in a quiet place to ease him into the morning routine and to make him feel safe and secure. If Oscar’s teacher just wanted to ignore this “needy” or “attention-seeking” behavior, she would not be meeting Oscar’s needs. In this instance Oscar’s teacher not only needed to understand his behavior but she also needed to understand the context of Oscar’s life in order to appropriately support him and his emotions in her classroom. 

Example 2

Let’s consider Interaction Practice 2: Practitioners promote the child’s social development by encouraging the child to initiate or sustain positive interactions with other children and adults during routines and activities through modeling, teaching, feedback, or other types of guided support.

Marina was a typically developing 13-month-old living with her mother. While under the supervision of a babysitter one evening, Marina was scalded in a bathtub. Immediately after the incident, Marina was cared for in the emergency room. Shortly after that, Marina began receiving early intervention services. Marina’s OT not only needed to understand child development and interaction, she also needed to understand the complex relationship Marina and her mother had because of this incident. After the incident, Marina’s mother was extremely depressed and upset. Marina’s mother felt any time Marina cried, it was her fault for “not taking better care of her.”  While Marina’s mother had good intentions, Marina’s OT had to delicately explain why it was a good thing Marina would cry and express emotions (other than happiness). In this instance, supporting interactions required knowledge of child development as well as understanding the emotionally taxing situation the parent was going through. If the OT ignored this, her interactions and approaches could have been, at best, ineffective and, at worst, inappropriate for Marina and her mother. 

No two cases of child abuse and neglect are alike. Every child and family will require flexibility, responsiveness, and astuteness.