Repairing Invisible Trauma: Using Drawing to Restore Preschoolers’ Well-being in a Native American Community

• In Event: Just(ice) Beginnings: Researchers’ Life Stories of Caring and Just Practices in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

From birth-to-six children’s brains undergo rapid development. Traumatic events during this time may detrimentally impact brain architecture and function, compromising several domains of development and interfering with children’s schooling experience. Left unaddressed, traumatized children may experience the world as an unsafe place triggering maladaptive behaviors during interactions with others. When assessing the effect of the global pandemic, research supports the significant impact of COVID-19 in minoritized communities (Van Dorn et al., 2020; Yellow Horse et al., 2021). Thus, it was important to think of ways to repair invisible trauma and to care for children in these communities, already at-risk because of poverty and drug abuse. The DRAWING CLUB was a caring space that affirmed children’s experiences and afforded them agency.

Author

• Mila Costa, Bank Street College of Education