Many English learners come to schools having faced traumatic experiences that affect their ability to be academically, socially, and emotionally successful. Trauma is the result of a stressor, a stimulus that impacts student learning, one time or chronically. The type of trauma can be physical, emotional, or both. Acute trauma happens one time or is a short-lived event. Chronic trauma is caused by a situation or series of situations that occur over a long period of time and can have long-term emotional and physical effects on the learner. It is this type of trauma that is experienced by many immigrant and refugee children and their families.

A few types of typical trauma experiences for immigrant and refugee children include: trauma experienced in the home country, which is often the reason for emigrating; war and/or political unrest; extreme poverty; and drug and gang violence. Additionally, there is trauma faced by families during the journey from their home country to a new and safer country. Finally, there is trauma after arrival. This type of trauma can include fear of deportation for some or all family members, as well as living in an area where the family members are experiencing a toxic anti-immigrant political atmosphere, while also struggling with poverty.

Fight, flight, or freeze are common student reactions in the classroom to trauma. Fight behavior includes being belligerent, argumentative, or verbally and/or physically aggressive. Flight includes physically fleeing the classroom or skipping class, as well as disengaging by sleeping at one’s desk, daydreaming, or zoning out (mentally disengaging). Freezing in class includes refusing to answer when asked a question, with a blank look and mutism. Freezing can either be unable to move or act, or acting numb and totally disengaged when moving around the classroom or school.

Thinking about these three responses to trauma tells us that trauma holds learners “hostage” (Craig, 2017) to fear, causing hyperarousal, limiting their ability to focus and use higher-order thinking skills and, of course, keeping the learner from achieving academically.

For the newcomer, trauma affects the learner’s ability to focus on language development; can limit concentration for reading content text, especially in extensive reading passages; and impacts the learner’s ability not only to respond to writing prompts and create written passages, but also to edit written assignments.

Common manifestations of trauma in children include anxiety, fear, and worry about safety for themselves and family members, especially those who could be subject to deportation. The newcomer could demonstrate hyperarousal or overreaction to noise, physical contact, and sudden movements. Other hyperarousal reactions could include nightmares or disturbing memories and/or reexperiencing past traumas, or increased somatic complaints, such as headaches or stomachaches. Avoidance behaviors can include refusing to go or avoiding going to places that have had traumatic reminders of past events. Some learners demonstrate a sense of emotional numbing, seeming to have no feeling about events.