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How do lockdown drills affect children?

2022-05-27T20:36:46.174Z


Lockdown drills are helpful in preparing children for threats, but not all drills are the same. It is wrong to generalize about shootings and mental illness 2:50 (CNN) -- When Dr. David Schonfeld's daughter came home and told the story that they had had a lockdown drill at school, she talked about pranking other students while her class hid in a closet during 30 minutes. Schonfeld, a pediatrician and director of the National Center for School Grief and Crisis at Children's Hospital Los An


It is wrong to generalize about shootings and mental illness 2:50

(CNN) --

When Dr. David Schonfeld's daughter came home and told the story that they had had a lockdown drill at school, she talked about pranking other students while her class hid in a closet during 30 minutes.


Schonfeld, a pediatrician and director of the National Center for School Grief and Crisis at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, was surprised to hear the flippancy.

It was just after 9/11, and he reminded his daughter, then in high school, that those drills were serious and should be treated as such.

"Dad, I know it's serious. That's why I was kidding," she remembers him saying.

He then spoke of the fear in the closet and the growing sense of panic.

The students knew it was a drill, but the worst case scenario and the reality of why they were all there overwhelmed them.

The massacre that killed 19 students and two teachers at a school in Uvalde, Texas this week shocked the nation, but such shootings are becoming more frequent, Schonfeld said.

In addition to the loss and stress related to COVID-19, children today are growing up with news of students being murdered in schools and drills to prepare them for the possibility that such violence may occur on their campus.

"Even if they weren't in Texas, I think kids have more anxieties and worries related to school shootings," said clinical psychologist Robin Gurwitch.

"How can we best support students before, during and after?"

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Children are often aware at some level of the violence going on across the country, said Gurwitch, a professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical Center and senior adviser to the terrorism and disasters program at the Network of the National Center for Childhood Traumatic Stress.

And even the best lockdown drills can stoke fear and anxiety in them, Schonfeld added.

They face a threat to their assumed world, or an event that changes the assumptions they make about the world from a young age, he said.

They may also be subject to secondary stress, which can occur when the trauma they observe affects them, said Charles Figley, director of the Tulane University Trauma Institute.

Lockdown drills are not always a preparation for dealing with an assailant;

they can be for any threat of danger, but they are not necessarily done the same way across the country and can have a negative impact on students when done incorrectly, said Jaclyn Schildkraut, an associate professor in the department of criminal justice at the State University of New York at Oswego, whose research focuses on school and mass shootings.

Students participate in an armed attacker response training exercise at a high school in Fountain, Colo., in 2017.

Not all drills are created equal

Preparing for a possible catastrophe has some benefits, Schonfeld said.

We want to know that there is some level of protocol in place to stay calm and as safe as possible if there is a shutdown, just like if there is a fire, earthquake or tornado, he said.

But there are ways to carry them out that are better for students' mental well-being, Schildkraut said.

  • Children can present symptoms of anxiety from very early stages: how to identify them?

Drills should not be a surprise.

Ideally, parents should be informed and students should know that this is a drill and that no danger is present, Gurwitch said.

"There can be some comfort in knowing that this is what I'm supposed to do," he added.

"I don't think my school is going to burn down because we have a fire drill, but I know what to do if that happens."

The drills also shouldn't be sensational, with fake blood and gunshots or people representing the assailants, Schonfeld said.

Those exercises, called high-intensity or armed assailant drills, show no benefit to students and can be unnecessarily overwhelming, she said.

"We don't turn up the heat or put smoke in the hallway to simulate a real fire," he said.


Schildkraut trains schools on the drills and collects data on the impact they have on students.

And the preparation that teaches them to look for safety can relieve some level of anxiety, he said.

However, training can be taken too far, Schonfeld said.

Preparation that tells children they must intervene in a violent situation can put them in an impossible situation and then leave them with feelings of guilt and shame after an actual attack, he added.

How can we help children?

Helping kids overcome their fears about possible violence at school isn't easy, but putting in the effort can start simple, Gurwitch said.

First, the adults must start the conversation.

It can be hard to bring up scary topics, but avoiding them can make kids feel like they don't have a place to go to ask questions, which is key to making them feel safer.

Children of different ages likely have different levels of awareness, and it's important to consider their stage of development when discussing violence and lockdown drills, Gurwitch said.

You can start by asking what they already know.

As caregivers, we want to reassure children that nothing bad will ever happen to them, but it's best to avoid it or minimize their fears, Schonfeld said.

  • How to process anxiety and fear after mass shootings, according to experts

We can assure them that the adults in their lives are doing everything they can to keep them safe and show them the steps their family, school and community could take, Gurwitch added.

It is also important to share and model the coping skills that are used, such as breathing, distraction, meditation, and conversations with loved ones.

Make sure your children know that not everything works the same for people, but that you are there to help them find what works best for them.

Reports of violence and preparations for its possibility in a place where students flock almost daily can be stressful, and it's not surprising that they fuel feelings of fear, sadness, or anxiety.

The way those feelings manifest may not be the same for every child, headaches, behavior changes or school absences may occur, so make sure to keep the conversation open and don't be afraid to seek help from a health professional. mental health, said Figley, of the Tulane Institute.

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Source: cnnespanol

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