Early Education Guidelines in Emergency and Crisis Settings: Effective Strategies, Curriculum and Education Support Resources for Children*

Compiled/Edited by: International Child Resource Institute
Contact: Lisa Ruth Shulman, Associate Executive Director
lisaruth@icrichild.org; 510-644-1000

(*adapted from: Guidelines for Education in Situations of Emergency and Crisis: Division of Policies and Strategies of Education Support to Countries in Crisis and Reconstruction, editor Kacem Bensalah, EFA Strategic Planning, UNESCO. 2002. UNICEF School-in-a-Box and Recreation Curriculum; Safe and Healthy Kid Information Pages, International Child Resource Institute ©2005)

Introduction

After experiencing a disaster children can react in ways that are difficult to understand. Even if not physically injured, the emotional response of children can be strong. They may act clingy, irritable or distant, and although they are very young and do not seem to understand what is going on, they are affected as much as adults are.

Education helps meet the psychosocial needs of children and adolescents affected by conflict or disasters that have disrupted their lives, studies and social networks. That is why it is important to reestablish some level of daily school and child care settings which will provide a stabilizing and reassuring environment for these children.

School Program Response to Natural Disasters

In the aftermath of a natural disaster, the school program should be adjusted to meet the psychosocial needs of children and young people whose lives have been disrupted; this includes children who have not been exposed to the primary disaster trauma, but have become host communities to children that have become displaced.

Meeting Psychosocial Needs

Teachers working with emergency-affected children should be trained to understand the effects of trauma on children, how to cope with their needs in the classroom, and how to recognize children who should be referred for more specialized help.

Assessing Transitional School and Child Care Setting Environments

• What shelter is available for existing classes and is it safe and healthy?
• What supplies and educational materials are on hand?
• What infrastructure, supplies and educational materials are needed for these classes to meet minimal standards of provision (classroom construction or repairs, tents, plastic sheeting, porto-sans, basic furniture, equipment, stationery, educational materials?
• Are there sufficient resources for education in the transitional housing for children and families?
• Are administrative mechanisms adjusted to meet the transitional school and child care setting needs, including distribution of supplies, teacher deployment, payment and training, administration of national examinations?
• Are there administrative barriers to school and child care access for displaced citizens?
• Are there financial or language barriers that directly or indirectly exclude children from school or child care settings, and how can these barriers be overcome?

Transitional School and Child Care Setting Supplies and Materials

UNICEF created a "School-in-a-Box" kit to ease the continuation of children's education in the first 72 hours of an emergency. This kit includes basic materials and supplies for a teacher and up to 80 students. You can contact UNICEF at www.unicef.org, (http://www.unicef.org/supply/index_cpe_education.html) or create your own kits with contributions from neighborhood businesses and other donors.

In addition to the basic school supplies, such as exercise books, pencils, erasers and scissors, the kit also includes a wooden teaching clock, plastic cubes for counting and a set of three laminated posters (alphabet, multiplication and number tables). The kit is supplied in a locked aluminum box, the lid of which can double as a blackboard when coated with the special paint included in the kit. Another version of the kit, without the lockable box, the School-in-a-Carton, is also available, as is a replenishment kit.

Using a locally developed teaching guide and curriculum, teachers can establish makeshift classrooms almost anywhere. The contents of the kit are not culturally specific and should be supplemented by locally purchased products, such as books in local languages, toys, games and musical instruments. Components of the School-in-a-Box kit have been adapted so that they can be used anywhere in the world. Exercise books for example are printed without margins, so that children who write from left to right or from right to left can use them. The poster set was created to meet UNICEF's special requirement of adaptability. The three posters are printed with spaces, in which the teacher can either draw, or write the numbers and letters in the local language. Feedback from teachers and children enables Supply Division and partners to review the kit contents and update it as appropriate.

Importance of Recreation for Children

Sport is an effective trauma therapy for children displaced by war and natural disasters. Help create recreational opportunities for children. UNICEF has developed a kit of materials for children who can participate in team sports and games under the guidance of a teacher. It includes balls for several types of games, colored tunics for different teams, chalk and a measuring tape for marking play areas and a whistle and scoring slate. Contact www.unicef.org, (http://www.unicef.org/supply/index_cpe_education.html) or create your own kits with contributions from neighborhood businesses and other donors.

CURRICULUM RESOURCES

Mourning Child Grief Support Group Curriculum: Early Childhood Edition, Kindergarten-Grade 2. 2001. 137 pp. Brunner-Routledge 2000.
Mourning Child Grief Support Group Curriculum: Preschool Edition. Denny the Duck Stories. Brunner-Routledge 2001. 179 pp. Linda Lehmann, Shane R. Jimerson, & Ann Gaasch. Each of these Mourning Child grief support curriculum editions is intended to help children who have experienced the death of someone special, and is designed for professionals who work in settings that serve bereaved children. Each curriculum contains 10-session lesson plans that include age-appropriate activities to ease the way for discussion of painful topics. Each session contains instructions and learning objectives that guide the user through the curriculum. The introduction to each book discusses how the entire family must work through the grief process, and presents instructions on how group facilitators should handle the sessions.

Play Therapy With Children In Crisis: Individual, Group, and Family Treatment. Second Edition. Nancy Boyd Webb, Ed. 1999. 506 pp. Guilford Press, 72 Spring St., New York, NY 10012. This casebook focuses on treatment of children who have experienced or witnessed violent or terrorist acts. Managed care counselors are more frequently called on to provide short-term, intermittent, and group therapy to help these children. Although traditional one-on-one interventions continue to be appropriate for some children, many children can benefit from these briefer methods. The book presents case studies that give readers a glimpse into the content of therapy sessions, along with the clinician's accompanying rationale for intervention. A variety of play therapy methods are demonstrated.

Helping Children And Adolescents Cope With Violence And Disasters. Fact Sheet. National Institute of Mental Health. 1999. 9pp. This fact sheet shares information about the impact of violence and disasters on children and suggests steps to minimize long-term emotional harm. It notes that even secondhand exposure to violence can be traumatic; therefore, all children exposed to violence or disaster, even if only through media, should be watched for signs of distress. Many children who have been exposed to traumatic events exhibit loss of trust and fear of the event's recurrence. After violence or a disaster occurs, the family is the first-line resource for helping. Among the things that parents can do are explain the episode, encourage children to express their feelings, let children know that it is normal to feel upset, and allow time for the youngsters to talk about their feelings. The fact sheet concludes with a discussion of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Working With Traumatized Children: A Handbook for Healing. Kathryn Brohl. 1996. 112 pp. Child Welfare League of America, 440 First St., N.W., Suite 310, Washington, DC 20001-2085. Practical suggestions for professionals or others who work with traumatized children are offered in this handbook. It also explains such treatment methods as panic attack intervention and metaphorical storytelling, and describes the stages from trauma to recovery. Some resilience traits exhibited by children also are discussed. Other topics addressed include the impact of trauma on society, ways to recognize symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and healing interventions. One chapter offers suggestions for the self-care of child advocates, as well.

When Nothing Makes Sense: Disaster, Crisis, and Their Effects on Children. Gerald Deskin & Greg Steckler. 1996. 224 pp. Fairview Press, 2450 Riverside Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55454. This book helps adults prepare for children's reactions to a disaster, natural or otherwise. The introductory chapter examines the nature of disasters, and defines and details the symptoms of stress. Factors that influence how a person handles a disaster are explored. The remaining chapters address children's reactions to a crisis, what to do before and after a disaster, family problems after a disaster, cultural differences in handling stress, the impact of the media, and the aftereffects of a disaster years later.

When Disaster Strikes: Helping Young Children Cope. Jane M. Farish. 1995. 11 pp. National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1509 16th St., N. W., Washington, DC 20036-1426. This brochure presents a number of strategies for teachers to use in helping children cope with stress from natural and other disasters. These strategies include: 1) providing reassurance and physical comfort; 2) being aware of separation anxiety; 3) maintaining familiar daily patterns; 4) encouraging children to discuss, write, draw, or act out their feelings; 5) reading aloud from books with characters who cope with stress; 6) using play therapy; 7) helping children to learn conflict resolution; and 8) creating emergency plans. Family programs and personal coping strategies for teachers are discussed. Typical symptoms of stress in young children are delineated.

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Childhood Trauma. Tony Falasca &Thomas J. Caulfield. Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education and Development, Vol. 37, No. 4 (June 1999): 212-223. This article describes classic causes and symptoms of trauma, factors that relate to how a child is affected by trauma, and considerations for providing treatment to traumatized children. It also categorizes a range of disaster victim behaviors into three groups: affect, memories, and behaviors.

Treating Post-traumatic Stress Disorder In Children And Families: Basic Principles and Clinical Applications. Lawrence Miller. American Journal of Family Therapy, Vol. 27, No. 1 (January-March 1999): 21-34. This article details the Posttraumatic Child Therapy Program's approach for working with children exposed to catastrophic violence. The program's phases are: pre-therapy, stabilization of response, returning to the psychogeographic scene, and moving toward integration.

How A School Coped With The Oklahoma City Bombing. David N. Aspy & Cheryl B. Aspy. Educational Leadership, Vol. 54, No. 2 (October 1996): 82-84. Following the Oklahoma City bombing, the 5th-graders at a nearby school coped with the ensuing uncertainty by writing letters to rescue workers, sharing personal stories with classmates, compiling an anthology of stories, attending an assembly to honor parents who participated in rescue efforts, and planting trees in memory of the victims.

We Can Help Children Grieve: A Child-Oriented Model for Memorializing. Linda Ellen Goldman. Young Children, Vol. 51, No. 6 (September 1996): 69-73. This article presents grief counseling guidelines for the school, community, and parents. Memorializing the deceased helps children understand death and creates a foundation for the grief process. Age-oriented concepts of death, ideas for memorializing victims, and resources are listed.

Children Of The Heartland. Kathryn Castle, Lori Beasley, & Linda Skinner. Childhood Education, Vol. 72, No. 4 (Summer 1996): 226-231. This article describes the reaction of a 2nd-grade class in Oklahoma to the Oklahoma City bombing. The children found ways to ask questions and express their feelings during class discussions. Tips are provided for teachers to help children who are going through trauma.

The Resolution Scrapbook As An Aid In The Treatment Of Traumatized Children. Liana B. Lowenstein. Child Welfare, Vol. 74, No. 4 (July-August 1995): 889-904. This therapeutic technique encourages traumatized children to complete treatment activities and compile them in a "resolution scrapbook." Scrapbook activities have been found to facilitate children's resolution of trauma, and their progress through the phases of treatment becomes a lasting record.

Overview Of Diagnosis And Treatment Of Psychological Trauma In Children. Carlton E. Munson. Early Child Development and Care, Vol. 106 (February 1995): 149-166. This article defines psychological trauma and offers guidance to practitioners who are increasingly needed to treat traumatized children. Key therapy considerations are organized around the role of dissociation and repetition compulsion. Treatment addresses the feeling of solitude that can overwhelm those who are traumatized, the use of therapeutic animals, and parent-child interventions.