Impacts on Early Emotional Development

    

Children of Syria 

Syria is the area I chose to explore not only because of all I hear and see in/on the news but because my area is inviting refugees to come and live among us. One father whose son has joined the Head Start program has even shown his bullet wounds to the staff to show the terror they lived in. His son cries every day when left at school. I copied and pasted the statement below because I cannot say it any better.

THE WAR ON CHILDREN IN SYRIA

Reports of mass casualties among children in Eastern Ghouta and Damascus

From Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa

AMMAN, 20 February 2018- “No words will do justice to the children killed, their mothers, their fathers and their loved ones”[1].

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[1] UNICEF is issuing this blank statement. We no longer have the words to describe children’s suffering and our outrage. Do those inflicting the suffering still have words to justify their barbaric acts? (UNICEF/childrenofsyria, 2018).

Of all the 5.4 million refugees of Syria, 48% are children! Due to the lack of resources and high-living costs many families are opting for early marriage and child labor just to survive. Also, children’s exclusion from formal education is a huge issue in this country.

The affects these types of living conditions have on families and children are immense at best. Children live in a constant state of ‘flight or fight” which causes behavioral issues as well as physical and developmental issues. There is a lack of trust and/or hope for, well anything or anyone.

Exposure to chronic, prolonged traumatic experiences has the potential to alter children’s brains, which may cause longer-term effects in areas such as:

• Attachment: Trouble with relationships, boundaries, empathy, and social isolation
• Physical Health: Impaired sensorimotor development, coordination problems, increased medical problems, and somatic symptoms
• Emotional Regulation: Difficulty identifying or labeling feelings and communicating needs
• Dissociation: Altered states of consciousness, amnesia, impaired memory
• Cognitive Ability: Problems with focus, learning, processing new information, language development, planning and orientation to time and space
• Self-Concept: Lack of consistent sense of self, body image issues, low self-esteem, shame and guilt
• Behavioral Control: Difficulty controlling impulses, oppositional behavior, aggression, disrupted sleep and eating patterns, trauma re-enactment

Source: Cook, et al, 2005 (practicenotes, 2005). I cannot put it any plainer than this.

I have worked many years with Head Start and as the years go on, more and more immigrant families, some for the parents’ educational reasons but far too many for political and safety reasons, who are moving to this country. To read and learn about suffering of anyone, but mostly the children, breaks my heart and makes me angry beyond words. I am frustrated because there is nothing I can do to save them all. I can, however, teach the students I have here tolerance and empathy as well as any adult who will listen. One small stone thrown into the pool of anti-bias will certainly have a ripple effect. I will learn more about the experiences of my immigrant families and work to ensure a safe and accepting environment within my classroom. There is a “stirring” in me that I cannot explain but it seems to be focused on the immigrant families who come here to protect their children and to survive. This ugliness has go to stop!

Reference

UNIICEF Website (2018). Children of Syria. Retrieved from http://childrenofsyria.info/features/

Practice Notes (2005). How trauma affects the brain. Retrieved from http://www.practicenotes.org/v17n2/brain.htm