Initiating earthquake talk with young children: Children's social competence and the use of resources

The importance of children receiving timely support to talk about past traumatic events is well-known in psychological research, where the process is intended to prevent the possibility of post-traumatic stress developing (National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE), 2005). In relation to the natural earthquake disaster in Christchurch New Zealand (February 2011), one such recovery strategy is ‘Respond, Renew Recover’, where the ‘Recover’ phase involves talking and recalling experiences in order to come to terms with the event (Brown, 2012). This chapter aims to reveal how talk about the traumatic experiences of being involved in the Christchurch earthquake is initiated and managed in one early childhood centre through the everyday interactions between the teachers and children. The use of supporting educational resources is discussed here, that respect the children’s social competence in attending to their use and the social context to initiate conversations about the earthquake. The resources include Learning Story books, outdoor excursions to broken environments, and play equipment such as traffic cones, hard hats and tape to section off chosen areas. The usefulness of these resources to initiate conversations that support recovery talk is demonstrated in transcriptions of unfolding talk about aspects of the earthquake event. The chapter includes a reflection by the teachers who were involved in the research. Their discussion reflects on the inclusion of these resources and their usefulness for initiating earthquake talk. Together, this chapter and the subsequent teacher reflection aim to prompt other teachers to include such resources to help support children’s recovery from traumatic experiences