Rebecca Alper, PhD – Slide of the Week

Purpose: Childhood trauma is pervasive and can have widespread negative influences on language development. Children with disabilities, especially with communication disorders, are at elevated risk for, and have barriers to reporting, neglect and abuse. Protective factors, such as responsive caregivers and trauma-informed services, can buffer against the influence of trauma for individual children. Caregiver coaching is a common delivery method of early language intervention. Although principles of trauma-informed practice exist broadly in the field of mental health, there has been limited direct application to early language intervention. In this clinical tutorial, we aim to (a) describe how childhood trauma can impact language interaction, development, and caregiver coaching and (b) apply trauma-informed practice to caregiver coaching in early language intervention.

Method: We adapt the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration principles of trauma-informed care-realize, recognize, respond, and resist-to the context of early language development and intervention. In the first section, we use the ecobehavioral model of early language development as a framework for realizing the mechanisms by which trauma might impact children’s development and their caregivers. We also describe how to apply an International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health model of assessment to systematically and comprehensively recognize individual child and caregiver strengths and needs. In the second section, we present applied strategies for responding to trauma and resisting retraumatization.

Conclusions: The pervasiveness of childhood trauma and the uniqueness of individual experiences necessitate trauma-informed practices within early language intervention. This tutorial provides background knowledge and applied strategies for clinicians to implement trauma-informed strategies.