Crisis Intervention for Children Flashcards

Which behavior in a child is MOST consistent with a hypoarousal (freeze/shutdown) trauma response during crisis?

Answer: Flat affect, unresponsiveness, and emotional numbing

Hypoarousal is characterized by the nervous system's dorsal vagal shutdown response: flat affect, dissociation, and emotional numbing rather than activation.

A foster parent calls in crisis because their 8-year-old placed child is threatening to run away after a visit with the biological parent. The consultant's FIRST step should be:

Answer: Assess current safety and de-escalate both the child and caregiver

Immediate safety assessment and de-escalation of both the child and the dysregulated caregiver stabilizes the environment before any system-level actions.

The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study is relevant to crisis intervention because it demonstrates that:

Answer: Cumulative childhood adversity is strongly linked to adult health and mental health outcomes

The ACE Study established a dose-response relationship between cumulative adversity and long-term physical and mental health outcomes, underscoring the urgency of early intervention.

When working with a child who has an intellectual disability during a crisis, the consultant should PRIMARILY adapt by:

Answer: Using concrete, simple language and visual supports appropriate to the child's functioning level

Adapting communication to the child's developmental and cognitive level — using simple language and concrete visual tools — makes crisis support accessible and effective.

A child's caregiver is also visibly in crisis during a home visit. The CTC consultant should:

Answer: Address caregiver stabilization as part of the child's intervention, since caregiver regulation supports child regulation

A dysregulated caregiver cannot co-regulate a child; stabilizing the caregiver is therefore a direct investment in the child's crisis resolution.

Which of the following is a key principle of trauma-informed crisis intervention that distinguishes it from traditional crisis models?

Answer: Shifting from 'What is wrong with you?' to 'What happened to you?'

Trauma-informed practice reframes behavior as an adaptive response to adversity rather than pathology, asking what happened rather than what is wrong with the child.

After a natural disaster, a 9-year-old child begins regressing to bedwetting and thumb-sucking. The MOST accurate clinical interpretation is:

Answer: Regression is a common, temporary trauma stress response in children and does not require immediate clinical escalation

Temporary regression to earlier developmental behaviors is a well-recognized stress response in children following traumatic events and typically resolves with consistent, supportive caregiving.