The symptoms of ADHD, autism and other common child diagnoses often match those of childhood trauma and adverse childhood experiences. Dr Margot Sunderland explains why schools must become trauma-informed

Many diagnoses given to children are accurate – and for some conditions, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), there’s indisputable neurological evidence.

That being said, we must remain aware of misdiagnosis, which is often preventable if we are trauma-informed.

Underlying causes of painful life experiences, particularly trauma and loss, can fuel challenging or disturbing behaviour and awkward ways of relating to others. These painful life experiences can result in symptomatology very similar to some of the most common child diagnoses.

My worry is that after a diagnosis, people assume that this is the answer, so the painful events in the child’s life that may be triggering his or her behaviour remain unheard. In contrast, in trauma-informed schools, communities and child professional practices, we ask two questions: Why is the child behaving like this? What has happened to the child?

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