Gemma McCaig

Trauma and Child Development Glossary

Supporting parents, carers and staff in understanding key terms

A–C

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Attachment Disruption

Trauma can make it hard for children to build secure, trusting relationships with caregivers or peers.

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Attunement

When caregivers notice, understand, and respond to a child’s feelings, the child feels safe and supported.

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Behaviour as Communication

Challenging behaviour is often a sign that a child is feeling distressed, scared, or overwhelmed—not just being defiant. It’s their way of showing they need help.

• Aggression or outbursts – May show fear, frustration, or a need to feel in control.

• Withdrawal or silence – Could mean the child feels anxious, ashamed, or shut down.

• Work avoidance – Might be a sign of:

Fear of failing or getting it wrong

Low confidence or feeling helpless

Trouble concentrating or remembering

Feeling unsafe or overwhelmed

Wanting control when things feel uncertain

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Brain Development Impact

Trauma changes how the brain grows and works:

Brainstem – Controls basic things like breathing and heartbeat. Trauma can make it stay on high alert.

Cerebellum – Helps with balance and movement. Stress can make this harder.

Limbic System – Manages feelings and memories. Trauma can make it very sensitive.

Amygdala – Notices danger. Trauma can make it overreact.

Hippocampus – Helps with learning and remembering. Trauma can make it weaker.

Prefrontal Cortex – Controls thinking and self-control. Trauma can slow its growth.

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Co-Regulation
The process of an adult helping a child manage their emotions by staying calm and attuned. This may happen through play, talking, or just being with the child.

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D–F

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Developmental Trauma
Ongoing trauma during childhood that impacts emotions, learning, and relationships across life.

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Dissociation
A coping strategy where children “disconnect” (daydream, space out, or forget things) to escape overwhelming feelings.

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Dysregulation
Difficulty managing emotions, behaviours, or body states—leading to mood swings, impulsivity, or trouble calming down.

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Emotional Regulation Challenges
Children may react with intense emotions or seem shut down and numb.

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Fight–Flight–Freeze–Fawn (FFFF) Response
The body’s survival system, which trauma can keep on “high alert”:
• Fight – Aggression or defiance.
• Flight – Avoiding, running, or hiding.
• Freeze – Shutting down or going silent.
• Fawn – People-pleasing to avoid conflict.

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G–M

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Hypervigilance and Safety Seeking
Children may constantly scan for danger, even in safe places, causing anxiety or sleep problems.

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Memory and Learning Impacts
Trauma can make it harder to focus, remember, and learn.

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Motional – Understanding and Supporting Emotions

Motional is an online tool used in schools to help understand and support children’s emotional wellbeing and mental health. It is based on research from Trauma-Informed Schools and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).

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 Motional focuses on three key emotional systems:

1. Social Engagement (when a child feels safe) Care, Seeking, Play

2. Social Defence (when a child feels unsafe) Rage, Fear, Panic/Grief

3. Executive & Social Functioning (how we manage and connect)

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P–R

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PRRR – Protect, Relate, Regulate, Reflect

A trauma-informed approach that helps adults support children by:
• Protecting – Creating safety.
• Relating – Building connection.
• Regulating – Helping manage emotions.
• Reflecting – Supporting understanding and meaning-making.

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PACE – Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity, Empathy

An attitude and approach that helps adults build safe, trusting relationships with children who have experienced trauma. Developed by Dr. Dan Hughes, PACE supports emotional connection, regulation, and healing.

• Playfulness – Using lightness and warmth in your voice and interactions to reduce tension and build connection.

• Acceptance – Valuing the child without judgment, even when their behaviour is challenging.

• Curiosity – Gently wondering about the child’s internal experience (e.g., “I wonder if you were feeling scared?”), rather than assuming or accusing.

• Empathy – Feeling with the child and showing them they’re not alone in their emotions.

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S–T

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Safe and Predictable Environments
Structured classrooms and routines in ways that feel consistent and secure for pupils.

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Seven Key Areas Affected by Trauma

• Physical Health – Higher risk of illness.

• Emotional Development – Trouble managing feelings.

• Behavioural Regulation – Impulsivity and outbursts.

• Cognitive Development – Problems with memory and learning.

• Attachment – Difficulty forming secure bonds.

• Self-Concept – Low self-esteem, shame, or guilt.

• Spirituality/Meaning – Struggles with trust, hope, and worldview.

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Toxic Stress
Prolonged stress without support that harms brain and body development.

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Trauma-Informed Practice
An approach that recognises the presence and impact of trauma and seeks to create safe, supportive environments.

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Triggers

Triggers are things that remind a child of past trauma, even if the child doesn’t realise it.

They can cause a sudden emotional reaction like fear, anger, or shutdown. Triggers are different for each child and can be:

• A sound (e.g. shouting)

• A smell or touch

• A tone of voice or facial expression

• Certain words, places, or situations

Triggers may seem small or harmless to others, but to a child with trauma, they can feel very real and overwhelming.

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Team Around the Child – Emotionally Available Adult
A network of caring adults, with at least one consistently emotionally available adult, supporting the child’s emotional and developmental needs.

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V–Z

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Vagus Nerve
A key nerve that helps the body calm down. Activities like deep breathing, singing, or being with safe people can strengthen it.

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WINE – Wonder, Imagine, Notice, Empathy
A trauma-informed approach promoting curiosity and empathy to understand and support children’s feelings and behaviours.

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Window of Tolerance

The zone where a child feels calm enough to learn, think, and manage emotions.

When inside this window, they can cope with everyday challenges.
When outside it, they may become:

• Too overwhelmed (angry, anxious, panicked), or

• Shut down (numb, withdrawn, unresponsive).

Support from calm, caring adults can help bring them back into their window.

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Bubbles of Delight

A light hearted and fun activity of which the children blow bubbles, describing how they are feeling and the experience.

Step by step guide

1. Help the children to move into a circle. Encourage, help and enable children to sit together with sensitive adults placing a kind hand around a child that needs reassurance or a sense of containment. Be aware of those children in the group who find touch difficult and help them to feel acknowledged, safe and understood.

2. The adult then shows the children the bubble game – a bowl of water with washing up liquid inside it and encourages one of the children to have a go at blowing into the water with a straw. As the bubbles emerge and swarm, the adult models the delight and matches the delight of the child blowing the bubbles and the other children who are watching the bubbles emerge. The adult shows delight in their facial expressions and matches the noises of delight that the children make, then naming the experience for the children…. “wow… look!
There are lots of bubbles!!” “Bubbling up and out of the bowl”  “They are sparkly and magical”… the adult giggles and laughs and names the sensation… “those bubbles are in my tummy too…. Bubbling my happiness and excitement” “It feels tickly on my nose…”

3. Invite the children to have a go with a partner. Notice the sensations that the children might be feeling, naming the sensations and noticing out loud what it might be like so that the child can hear and feel the adult is alongside them and containing them through the activity but also modelling their delight and joy. It is important that the adults face is open, fun and involved in the adventure of discovery of what the bubbles can do and that this is named and noticed for the children
out loud.

4. As an extension of this activity, children can be encouraged to add food colouring to the bubbles or glitter to experiment with and to see what happens to the bubbles.