1. Working with a child with PTSD
By: Victoria Olsen

2. What is PTSD?
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental health disease that can develop after a person experiences a traumatic event
Symptoms must last more than a month and interfere with life and relationships to be considered PTSD
Childhood trauma such as physical, emotional, sexual abuse, etc. are very common causes of a child developing PTSD

3. The symptoms
Children tend to show symptoms of having PTSD differently than adults and usually not as severe
Wetting the bed (long after being potty trained)
Forgetting how to, or being unable to speak
Acting out the scary event during play time
Being unusually clingy with a parent or another adult

4. Events Causing PTSD
Child protective services gets about 3 million reports each year, 30% of which are related to abuse…..
65% neglect
18% physical abuse
10% sexual abuse
7% psychological (mental) abuse
Disasters such as school shootings, suicide or fires (

5. Prevalence
Studies show that about 15% to 43% of girls go through trauma
14% to 43% of boys go through at least one trauma
Of those children who have experienced a trauma, 3% to 15% of girls and 1% to 6% of boys develop PTSD
Rates of PTSD are higher for certain types of trauma survivors (

6. How is it treated?
PTSD in children often fixes itself after a few months if the child has the proper support, however there are ways to treat the disease if it persists
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the most effective treatment, the object is to talk about the event and memories of the event
CBT focuses on changing thoughts and beliefs about the trauma that may not necessarily be correct, for example after a traumatic event a child may believe every person they meet is putting them in danger
CBT also offers training for parents, it is very important for caregivers to understand their child’s PTSD (

7. How is it treated? (continued)
Psychological First Aid is also used with school-aged children that have been through physical violence
PFA provides comfort and support for children who have experienced or witnessed violence, this is to ensure them that their emotions are normal
Play therapy is another technique to treat children with PTSD
This is more commonly used with younger children who aren’t
necessarily able to explain their feelings
A therapist may use games or drawings to help the child process
their memories and emotions about the traumatic event (

8. My experience
At my internship, I have been meeting with 4 children each week, one of which has PTSD
Play therapy is something that I have been practicing to assess any changes in the boy’s behaviors or emotions
I have been assigned different activities each week such as drawing, exercise, stretches, music, dance and many more
Personally, I have noticed that the child with PTSD plays differently than the other boy’s, such as showing higher signs of aggression and physical activity, he tends to be more hyperactive
When assigned art tasks, he tends to draw pictures of his foster brothers which I find to be who he feels protected around

9. Conclusion There isn’t one way to handle or treat a child with PTSD
Even after conducting my own research on PTSD throughout my internship, I have found that tips provided on some sites didn’t quite work when I tried it
Play therapy can be extremely effective when used properly and can really help the child sort out their emotions in a way that they can explain to you
Working with a child with PTSD can be very difficult and strenuous work so it is important to think if this path or profession could be right for you
Practicing skills that you learn and researching effective methods and language to use with such a sensitive child can be very helpful