That usually takes the form of intimidation, ignoring students, being overly critical, verbal assaults like sarcasm and name-calling and failing to intervene when kids are teased or bullied by their peers. Child has nightmares or other sleep disturbances. Child is aggressive, hostile or makes threats. Child avoids school, teachers or anything related to the trauma. Child has repeated unwanted thoughts about an event.
Child has health problems like headaches or stomachaches that seem to be stress-related.
Child seems depressed or has lost interest in activities he once enjoyed. Kevin P. Dwyer, president of the National Association of School Psychologists, says Hyman overstates the problem by placing so much blame on teachers. More than three-quarters of students say they're happy in school, Dwyer says, and almost half can easily name a teacher who changed their life for the better. Judging by his conversations with students, he says, students are far more concerned about the emotional abuse kids give each other than what they get from their teachers. However, kids can often tell you about a teacher who humiliated them or made them feel dejected.