Nine Practical Ways to Make Assessments More Trauma-Sensitive

Trauma-informed practices continue to gain traction among health and education professionals as we collectively move through pandemic recovery. With so many of us coping with traumas like fallout from the opioid addiction crisis, intensifying climate-related natural disasters, ongoing racialized conflict, and ubiquitous episodes of school violence, a trauma-informed approach not only makes sense, it can be a necessity.

Yet for many practitioners, knowing that care should be trauma-informed and knowing how to provide it are two different things. That’s especially true when it comes to specialized tasks like assessments and evaluations.

Rachel Archambault, MA, CCC-SLP is the Speech-Language Pathology Program Specialist for Broward County Public Schools in south Florida. Her experience with trauma-informed care began as she, her colleagues, and their students coped and adapted following a shooting in their school—Marjory Stoneman Douglas Highschool in Parkland.

Since that time, she has used a highly rated podcast, Speech Science, and her website, The PTSD SLP, to advocate for the use of trauma adaptations in education. Archambault was recently named an Innovator by the American Speech Language Hearing Association for her work in the field.

Here are a few of her recommendations for making assessment experiences better for those who are recovering from trauma. 

1. Be straightforward about what to expect in the assessment process.   

To recover, people who have experienced trauma need to be able to build trust in others—especially authority figures. They also need processes to be transparent. Practically speaking, that means evaluators need to be clear about what students and patients can expect to happen during an assessment.  

“Standardized tests are often very lengthy,” Archambault explains. “We know what the research says about the timespan for concentration in students of different ages. When tests are very long, it’s daunting.” 

It can be tempting to say something like, “Just one more subtest to get through” when there are more. “You might be thinking, ‘Oh, we can just power through.’ But that’s not transparent and doesn’t foster trust. What ends up happening is that the child thinks, ‘Okay, I can do it for another few minutes,’ but when the subtest ends and you’re flipping over and there’s another test, you have lost trust.”  

2. Offer choices during the assessment process where possible.

Another core principle of trauma-informed care is offering choices, which can help create a sense of autonomy. That’s important for people who may have experienced traumatizing events where they felt they had no power or control.

“When we’re testing ESE [Exceptional Student Education] students to determine their eligibility for services, there may be multiple diagnoses involved,” Archambault says. “It’s fair to say to the person you’re testing, ‘Would you like me to pull you again in two hours or would you like to do another subtest now?’”

In some places, choices around scheduling standardized tests aren’t always possible. There simply isn’t time. “In schools, we don’t always have that kind of flexibility. In places where there are no caseload caps…we can’t always offer those kinds of choices because the systems above us aren’t as trauma-informed as we would like,” she says. 

Some practitioners offer a choice of which subtest to perform first, or which writing implement to use, or when to take breaks.  

3. Consider movement breaks, especially if students are fading or dysregulated. 

Multiple studies have shown that physical movement helps children and teens regulate their own emotions (Vasilopoulos et al., 2021). Some studies even link a brisk ten-minute walk to improvement in fatigue-related mood problems (Edwards et al., 2018). When walks take place outdoors in natural environments, they help reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression (Grassini, 2022). 

“A lap around my garden area can help with emotional regulation,” Archambault confirms. “Movement is regulating. Moving around and jumping around are helpful for regaining focus.” 

4. Foster a sense of safety with private, appropriately furnished spaces. 

“When I’m thinking about safety, I think about how my room looks,” she notes. “I make sure my room is as private as possible, especially in a high school, where it can be embarrassing to be in speech. Middle schoolers have also told me they didn’t want to be seen in the speech room. It’s sometimes seen as a baby room because of the way it’s decorated.”

To avoid causing embarrassment or reluctance, it’s a good idea to be sure other students cannot see inside the speech room, for example, through a window.

“I ask my students what would make them feel better and safer in the room,” she says.  “For some kids, that’s the ability to charge their phone and keep it in eyesight.” Zero-tolerance phone policies aren’t aligned with trauma-informed practice, she notes.

She also makes it a habit to eliminate language and imagery linked to violence. Sentences like, “Shoot me a text” can be upsetting to students who have experienced domestic violence or terrorism. 

“We’re not going to know all the things that could upset the student in front of us because we’re not trauma detectives. But we can change our language in advance, just in case,” she says. “I am direct and I avoid figurative language during an evaluation.” 

5. Validate students’ feelings during the process. 

When a student does express frustration with the process or reluctance to participate, it’s important not to take those comments personally. “Be honest and open rather than being dismissive,” encourages Archambault. 

Another way to validate feelings is to pay attention to signals from the student. “We need to notice students who are fading during a test,” she says. “They’re starting to get things wrong, or they may begin giving very quick answers because they want to get out of there. The test is too long for them.”

When you see fatigue creeping in, validate that student’s experience by checking in with them.  

6. Model self-advocacy skills to increase empowerment. 

Not every person who experiences trauma will be equipped or supported in recovering from it (Delker et al., 2020). One way to help students build resilience is to encourage self-advocacy during the testing process. 

“Instead of expecting a student to know that they can ask for a break, I can model that by saying, ‘Do you think you might need to take a break between these test sections? Do you want water? Do you need to use the bathroom?’ They may not know that they can ask an authority figure for a break,” she says, “but that’s a life skill they’re going to need.”  

7. Look for places where test items and other features could be problematic. 

Being familiar with the assessments you plan to give can help you ensure that the tests themselves don’t re-traumatize or upset students. It’s also important to know as much as possible about your student’s culture, gender, and other identities. Some tests, for example, offer just two gender options. Knowing that in advance gives you an opportunity to prepare.

“In one test I use, there’s a test question about hurricanes. Well, I’m from Florida. I know that, chances are, someone has been affected by a hurricane,” Archambault explains. “Also, some tests expect answers that don’t take into consideration the use of African American English. When the test isn’t modeled after the answers I could receive, I have to report the test with a narrative to explain the situation.”  

8. Expand narratives to document what you observe. 

One place where you can account for individual differences, including the possible effects of trauma, is in your report-writing. If you think a test score may not accurately capture all the factors involved, you can document what you think is noteworthy. Those notes can inform your collaboration with others who work with the student in question.  

“My narrative sections are usually huge, because I am taking care to describe the behaviors I’m seeing. I may notice that someone’s eyes are continuously looking around the room. Or that this student was dysregulated or appeared hypervigilant,” Archambault says. “I may discuss that at an IEP meeting, where I can collaborate with the social worker. She can look into the record to see if trauma might be a good explanation, or whether it could be ADHD or PTSD. It’s asking, ‘What else could this be?’ It’s changing our mindset from ‘What’s wrong with you?’ to ‘What happened to you?’” 

9. Know how to tell if you’re dysregulated—and what works for you to cope with it. 

Finally, it’s important to recognize your own stress and trauma history.  Educators and clinicians are as likely as students to experience adverse events. When you factor in job pressures and second-hand stress from working with traumatized students, it’s possible you could benefit from implementing trauma-informed practices as much as your students can.

“A dysregulated adult cannot regulate a dysregulated child,” Archambault says. “You can’t. We all need to work on being able to identify when we’re triggered, because learning is not going to happen when you’re on edge. We need to know what happens when we’re dysregulated or stressed.”

You may also want to plan some interventions for yourself when you do feel overwhelmed during an evaluation. You might try one or some of the following actions:

• Ask a colleague to cover for you while you step outside for a moment 
• Find a quiet ‘fidget’ that distracts or calms you (Archambault presses her rounded fingernails firmly into her palms to give herself “tactile feedback”) 
• Practice breathing exercises 
• Drink water or wash your hands

“I have learned, through years of therapy, to advocate for myself. If I need a second, if a loud noise bothers me, I will tag a coworker and ask for time to go to the restroom,” she says.  

Key Messages

Professional caseloads and productivity pressures can make it feel as though there isn’t enough time to provide trauma-informed care, especially in tightly scheduled standardized test situations. “You go in, you test, and you leave. You might even lose pay because of your productivity,” says Archambault.

Still, many professional associations view trauma-sensitive care as best practice and an ethical obligation. While these 9 strategies aren’t comprehensive, they’re a good starting place. And they may inspire you to seek extra training in this increasingly important approach—for your own benefit, as well as your students’.