Young Scholars Academy: Hidden & Misunderstood Trauma in 2e Students w/ Dr. Sandra Clifton
Highly sensitive students are in every classroom, but few educators know of their presence or the problems that they face in the learning environment. This group of children often struggle in silence as twice-exceptional individuals who have both significant gifts but also encounter particular challenges to navigate a neurotypical school environment. Both teachers and parents, often unaware of this innate biological trait, can increase stress by “coaching” these children to toughen up and develop thicker skin. As a result, some of our brightest children turn to self-medication to numb their emotions or opt out of education entirely.
This presentation will help to illuminate the secret, subtle struggles of a particular population in our society who “hide in plain sight” in order to survive an intense, toxic school environment of competitive achievement that is consistently critical of their insight, intuition, empathy, and artistic expression—often at extreme cost to the individual. One goal of this sharing this research is to highlight how we as a greater society can recognize the unique trait of sensitivity in our students as a strength to celebrate and not a weakness to remediate—and thereby help to prevent both mental illness and suicide.