How a negative school experience can have a traumatic impact in a highly sensitive person’s life.
For several years now I have been doing research internationally about high sensitivity in education. I am doing live interviews with participants or via virtual connection. They share their experiences from their own perspective as a sensitive child, as a parent of a highly sensitive child, or as a (highly sensitive) teacher in education. I immensely applaud the participants who are sharing their deepest feelings, views, and experiences from different countries. Some experiences are immensely traumatic and hearing them confirms each time that my mission is very necessary. Luckily, I also get to share with them the positive experiences and then provide hope for an optimistic educational future for hsp’s.
I discovered that there is a connection between highly sensitive children and their parents, and what the sensitive children are mirroring back to their teachers and how that can impact their adult life. It once again confirms the interconnection that we all have.
That’s why it is essential to have cooperation at top level so that a child may bloom in education. Of course, that can also be in home schooling or other types of educational environments.
Do whatever fits your child’s needs best and let’s help them stay eager to learn! When I guide sensitive adults, ‘school’ is often a reoccurring theme.
Therefore sometimes it’s at the foundation of their current life decisions.
It’s also interesting the international differences in how schools react to the needs of highly sensitive children. Unfortunately, though, I can say sometimes ‘how schools don’t react at all’. Sometimes it’s because of a lack of knowledge about high sensitivity, already being overwhelmed in a classroom with 28 other children with their needs, no substantial budget or a non innovative school mindset, etc. Which is quite understandable in certain situations. On the other hand, the 20% of the children in the classrooms who are highly sensitive and just like autistic, ADHD, and highly gifted children they depend just as much on their teacher to ‘see’ their needs.
Unfortunately, nowadays many highly sensitive children have developed a trauma because of school, or are as we say ‘school tired’. Depression in students is also not that rare anymore, and the social pressure creates much unnecessary stress for them. Highly sensitive children can easily be misdiagnosed under a disorder and walk a different path in life than intended for them.
What frustrates me personally is that many sensitive children from the conservative countries are redirected to a speech therapist by their schools. There they are forced to work on their cognitive and social emotional problems and stay there out of fear for the school’s reaction. Don’t get me wrong, I cooperate with amazing speech therapists and therefore I do understand their specific professional niche. But that is not what a speech therapist is for and it causes parents to spend a lot of time, finances, energy, and effort in something that is definitely not the solution for them.
When your child or student has issues in school, visit a care provider who ALSO has PROFOUND experience as a professional teacher in a school.
Don’t waste any time! Prevention is key!
If you also want to participate in the research and join forces for the next sensitive generations in education, write an email to Susanne at internationalhspcenter@gmail.com and I will get back to you.
