TPC-Journal-V5-Issue2

The Professional Counselor /Volume 5, Issue 2 227 emotions and experiences (Cohen, 2010). When conducting assessments, mental health professionals rely on parental feedback, inventories and reports from multiple sources, thus increasing the accuracy of the assessment (Carter, Briggs-Gowan, Jones, & Little, 2003). There is a lack of psychometrically sound diagnostic tools for directly assessing trauma symptoms in children (Strand, Pasquale, & Sarmiento, 2011). Those tools currently available do not appropriately consider the developmental levels of young children (Carter et al., 2004; Egger & Angold, 2006; Strand et al., 2011). However, there are well-designed instruments for early childhood that utilize indirect assessments such as clinician observations and parent/teacher reports (Yates et al., 2008). Diagnostic tools and assessments developed for children over age 5 are not suitable for assessing young children. For example, young children may not fully understand the directions or the vocabulary used in certain assessment tools. Furthermore, the diagnostic criteria for specific mental health issues (e.g., PTSD) are not developmentally appropriate for children younger than 5 (Scheeringa & Haslett, 2010). The APA Presidential Task Force on PTSD and Trauma in Children and Adolescents (2008) argues that children are not being appropriately identified or diagnosed as having trauma histories and do not receive adequate help. From a historical perspective, mental health counselors as well as society as a whole have hesitated to acknowledge the plight that young children face in terms of trauma exposure. Several historical factors have contributed to counselors’ general lack of knowledge and expertise regarding this population. However, recent advances in research and in the counseling profession, such as the new American Counseling Association division, the Association for Child and Adolescent Counseling, have begun to broaden counselor knowledge in this area. Symptoms of Trauma in Early Childhood Trauma reactions can manifest in many different ways in young children with variance from child to child. Furthermore, children often reexperience traumas. Triggers may remind children of the traumatic event and a preoccupation may develop (Lieberman & Knorr, 2007). For example, a child may continuously reenact themes from a traumatic event through play. Nightmares, flashbacks and dissociative episodes also are symptoms of trauma in young children (De Young et al., 2011; Scheeringa, Zeanah, Myers, & Putnam, 2003). Furthermore, young children exposed to traumatic events may avoid conversations, people, objects, places or situations that remind them of the trauma (Coates & Gaensbauer, 2009). They frequently have diminished interest in play or other activities, essentially withdrawing from relationships. Other common symptoms include hyperarousal (e.g., temper tantrums), increased irritability, disturbed sleep, a constant state of alertness, difficulty concentrating, exaggerated startle responses, increased physical aggression and increased activity levels (De Young et al., 2011). Traumatized young children may exhibit changes in eating and sleeping patterns, become easily frustrated, experience increased separation anxiety, or develop enuresis or encopresis, thus losing acquired developmental skills (Zindler, Hogan, & Graham, 2010). There is evidence that traumas can prevent children from reaching developmental milestones and lead to poor academic performance (Lieberman & Knorr, 2007). If sexual trauma is experienced, a child may exhibit sexualized behaviors inappropriate for his or her age (Goodman, Miller, & West-Olatunji, 2012; Pynoos et al., 2009; Scheeringa et al., 2003; Zero to Three, 2005). The symptoms that young children experience as a result of exposure to a traumatic event are common to many other childhood issues. Many symptoms of trauma exposure can be attributed to depression, separation