Recognizing Posttraumatic Stress in Children

The Impact of Hurricane Floyd on Eastern North Carolina's School-Aged Children

“…This lack of recall ability corresponds to what Richards and Bates (1997) theorized were the cognitive effects of a traumatic event. Depending upon the severity of the trauma, some children may display a "cognitive inability to recall the detail of the traumatic event" (p. 442).…”

“…This age group was selected because most survey-based researchers have studied school-age children in the third to fifth grades Richards and Bates, 1997;Shannon et al, 1994;Vernberg et al, 1996). In addition, children in the third grade and above (ages 7 through 12) were found to have increased cognitive ability to complete surveys compared to children 6 and under (Crain, 2000).…”

“…Anecdotal evidences confirming Richards and Bates' (1997) four symptoms of childhood trauma are displayed throughout the literature focusing on the impact of hurricanes on children. For instance, LaGreca et al (1998) reported a decrease in children's cognitive abilities (i.e., inability to concentrate) following their experience with Hurricane Andrew.…”

“…The majority of available literature on children's experiences with natural disasters, such as hurricanes, is based on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) criteria (e.g., LaGreca, LaGreca, Silverman, & Wasserstein, 1998;McCormick, 1993;Richards & Bates, 1997;Sauter & Franklin, 1998;Saylor, Swenson, & Powell, 1992;Sullivan, Saylor, & Foster, 1991;. According to the fourth revised edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) (American Psychiatric Association, 2000), the main feature of PTSD is the "development of characteristic symptoms following exposure to an extreme traumatic stressor" (p. 463).…”

“…According to Richards and Bates (1997), the effects of traumatic stress on children can be categorized through different cognitive, affective, behavioral, and somatic-physiological symptoms. For instance, children after a hurricane event have been found to display cognitive symptoms that include "distortion of time, a decrease in performance, and ability to concentrate on schoolwork Lonigan, Shannon, Finch, Daugherty, & Taylor, 1991;Lonigan, Shannon, Taylor, Finch, & Sallee, 1994;Shannon et al, 1994), an inability to recall the detail of the traumatic event, a hypervigilance (Garrison, Weinrich, Hardin et al, 1993), and a lack of expression of goals or altered goals" (Richard & Bates, 1997, p. 442).…”