Infants & Children (IC) Impact of Trauma on Children
This course was created and provided by the Virtual Center of Excellence (VCE), a former project of the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network (DWIHN). Content and format will be updated in the near future to address current accessibility standards. If you are unable to access the content in this section, please contact the imp support team for assistance.
Evidence exists that children with trauma history experience sensory processing disorders across three different typologies, with sensory modulation disorders being most prevalent. Identification of behaviors that reflect sensory processing challenges is the first step in creating supportive responses, which include natural, inexpensive methods. This would be appropriate for NBCC, CMHP, QMHP.
The Three Typologies of Sensory Processing Disorders.
This course will define the three typologies of Sensory Processing Disorders to provide the participants with a working understanding of how trauma will affect your youth clients. This course will also cover examples of behavior that direct care workers may experience in their traumatized youth clients.
Adding the Sensory Integration Approach to Your Practice.
Participants of this course develop an understanding of the Sensory Integration Approach and how it fits into the larger framework of providing treatment to traumatized youth clients. This course will assist direct care workers by adding this approach to their professional toolkits.
Defining Context-Dependent Strategies and Implementation.
Finally, this course will define various Context-Dependent Strategies and will provide evidence-based best practices for implementing these strategies in the larger treatment plans.
- List three examples of behaviors observed in traumatized children within each of the three typologies of Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD).
- Use 2 observation formats to identify the different types of sensory processing disorders.
- Develop a “toolbox” of activities to use, in collaboration with trained practitioners using a Sensory Integration Approach, to facilitate necessary and appropriate sensory supports for those who have SPD.
- Implement context-dependent strategies that infuse a child-centered culture of gentleness to address the sensory challenges experienced by traumatized children.
Ben Atchison
Professor of Occupational Therapy
Dr. Ben Atchison is Professor of Occupational Therapy at Western Michigan University and Co-Founder of the Children's Trauma Assessment Center at WMU where he has worked with a team of social workers, speech pathologists and a physician since 1999. He has taught graduate and undergraduate courses on this topic for many years; published findings on relationship of sensory modulation disorders and child trauma; provided many continuing education sessions (local, state, national and international) for many different professional groups and parent on assessment and intervention of sensory processing disorders. Dr. Atchison is a Fellow of the American Occupational Therapy Association and the Michigan Occupational Therapy Association and Co-Editor of the textbook, Conditions in Occupational Therapy, 3rd edition.
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