One year ago on February 8, a bus was deliberately driven into a daycare in Laval, killing two toddlers. As this sad anniversary approaches, while we still know nothing about the suspect’s motivations, parents and caregivers have agreed to share their memories of this day as chaotic as it is tragic.
Completely traumatized by the event, a 3-year-old girl had to undergo sound desensitization therapy after the tragedy to stop her panic attacks.
The first time she was able to return to daycare, as part of a reintegration activity, little Chloé was unable to put her feet on the ground. She screamed and refused to leave her mother’s arms.
Despite management’s efforts, including erecting real walls and painting them bright colors to hide the work in progress in the room smashed by the bus, the sounds of the tools were difficult for the children and staff to ignore.
“My daughter was having major panic attacks, she was unable to stay in the room,” confides her mother, Geneviève Berthiaume Gagnon. No one predicted that construction noise would affect children as much as it did.”
In a ball on the ground
The noises in the house also really affected little Chloé, especially those emitted by household appliances.
“She curled up in a little ball on the ground, she cried and screamed, it was really very sad to see,” said her mother.
Mme Berthiaume Gagnon therefore decided to take his daughter for a consultation. We then began sound desensitization therapy with Chloé. She is not the only child in the daycare to have had to follow such a program.
A year later, the therapy seems to have paid off. The little one has a much better tolerance to noise and no longer has panic attacks.
“Sometimes she gets scared by the sound of the wind hitting the house when we’re inside, but it’s much better. She also has shells that she can put on when she needs them,” explains her mother.
Need to escape
Furthermore, in the weeks following the tragedy, the little girl refused to sleep in her bed and preferred to lie on the ground.
“The hypothesis put forward by the psychologist is that she perhaps felt trapped in her bed and that by being on the ground, nothing prevented her from escaping if necessary,” says Mme Berthiaume Gagnon.
But the trauma experienced that day remains present for little Chloé. Just recently, she hid behind her mother’s legs when she saw a bus arriving in the daycare parking lot.
“No mom, not a bus, not a bus!” did she say.