Trauma has a negative impact on a child’s developing brain and can trigger stress responses and coping mechanisms that can be different from one child to the next. Not all children are the same and not children respond to trauma the same way. Some children’s responses are impacted by age while others are impacted by character traits or ability to “rebound” quicker – resiliency. There is a myriad of possible symptoms, which can vary widely even among children exposed to the same traumatic event. And some symptoms are immediate while others may take much longer to surface. This all makes the full extent of the traumatic impact all the more complex and challenging to detect and mitigate.

This insightful video, created by Sesame Street in Communities, is a great visual tool to help caregivers better understanding children’s reactions to traumatic experiences at different ages and stages of development, as well as to yet again underscore the critical role of caring adults in helping mitigate the negative impact of trauma on children’s lives.

The video only shows one type of traumatic experience – growing up in a home with domestic violence – Childhood Domestic Violence (CDV). But the impact of all traumatic experiences in childhood is remarkably similar – especially the impact of the 10 major Adverse Childhood Experiences defined by experts in the groundbreaking ACE study, of which CDV was one.

The good news is, a caring adult stepping in with some simple support and messages of hope can help transform the trajectory of children’s lives after trauma.

While the responses may be different, the impact is the same and can be cumulative and extensive with repeated exposure to traumatic events. It can bring about long-term physical health, social, emotional, and behavioral problems.

To view the videos within the context of the full article that accompanies it, please visit the original source, “A Child’s Perspective of a Traumatic Experience,” at: https://sesamestreetincommunities.org/activities/responses-trauma-age-age-video/

The positive impact of the caring adult has been extensively documented in childhood trauma-related research and literature in the field. So to help prepare as many caring adults as possible to become THE ONE for a child experiencing CDV or another major adversity and help change their life, CDV collaborated with the leading expert in the field globally to create a 40-minute simple, free, self-administered online program – CHANGE A LIFE – that is the only one of its kind in the world today. It can teach any caring adult how, through simple steps and messages, to become THE ONE for a child facing adversity and help put them on a different path.