Music educators routinely encounter challenging behaviors in their classrooms. Due to the ubiquity of trauma in our society and the multiple intersections between trauma-related disorders and emotional/behavioral disorder diagnoses, it is possible that challenging behaviors are influenced by trauma and, therefore, require specialized responses. In this study, I investigated the identification of and response to trauma sequelae, the changes to biological and psychological function occurring post-trauma, within an elementary general music classroom for students with severe emotional/behavioral disorders. The questions (a) What were the perceptions of the general music teacher in this study regarding their ability to identify students’ potential trauma triggers?; (b) What were the perceptions of the general music teacher in this study regarding their ability to accurately identify typical trauma reactions including hyperarousal, intrusion, constriction, doublethink, dissociation, and disempowerment?; (c) In what ways did the general music teacher in this study respond to student trauma reactions including hyperarousal, intrusion, constriction, doublethink, dissociation, and disempowerment?; and (d) What barriers, if any, impeded the elementary general music teacher’s appropriate responses to trauma reactions including hyperarousal, intrusion, constriction, doublethink, dissociation, and disempowerment? guided this study. Taking a qualitative approach, the bounded system for this instrumental case study was defined as one music class section, including the students, their music teacher, the classroom assistants, and the paraprofessional staff assigned to that section in a special education setting. The study was conducted in two phases. In Phase One, or the archiving phase, I sought to better qualify the trauma history of the student participants. Through documentation review and interviews with the school’s admissions director, I was able to identify the traumatic experiences that might have influenced behaviors observed in the music classroom. Phase Two of the study included in-person observations in the music room, within the context of the larger school community, and in an online class session, including field notes, sketches of the environment, and videotaping of the class, teacher and researcher free journaling, guided journaling, and adult participant interviews. As the data were analyzed, moments of convergence and divergence surrounding issues of connection, disconnection, and attunement emerged. These moments occurred in multiple ways between all participants within the case. Trauma responses including hyperarousal, intrusion, constriction, doublethink, dissociation, and disempowerment were observed during the class meeting times. The music teacher in the study maintained an accurate perception of her ability to identify trauma responses and acknowledged that externalized behaviors were more likely to identify and respond to than those that were internalized. Although she agreed that the behaviors warranted intervention, she struggled to connect them to the underlying trauma influencing the behaviors. When responding in an attuned manner, leveraging principles of trauma-informed care, she was routinely able to meet the needs of the students and de-escalate trauma-related behaviors. Barriers to the music teacher’s response included lack of attunement to the needs of the students, inadequate pre- in-service instruction specific to music pedagogy for students with advanced behavioral health needs, scheduling and collaboration conflicts, lack of access to educational and biopsychosocial documentation, and the experiencing of secondary traumatic stress symptoms. In refining trauma theory in the context of elementary general music teacher experiences of trauma sequelae, I documented an additional facet of the crucial adult response to children with trauma. The case was consistent with patterns outlined in existing trauma research. Music was a mediator and catalyst for emotional response. By utilizing a trauma-informed approach, music teachers might be able to meet extensive behavioral needs with compassion, strengthen relationships, create more avenues for access in general music, and avoid re-traumatization in the classroom.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/45993 |
| Date | 03 April 2023 |
| Creators | Price, Erin E. |
| Contributors | Smith, Tawnya D. |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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