Reaching and Teaching Children Who Hurt: Strategies for Your Classroom

Each year hundreds of thousands of children in the United States experience trauma—such as abuse, neglect, or community violence—that creates tough obstacles to academic achievement and social success. Now there's a practical, strategy-filled book that shows educators how to reach and teach students exposed to trauma.Through clear and readable explanations of current research and enlightening vignettes, educators will understand how violence and other forms of trauma affect the key elements of a child's school and social success, including behavior, attention, memory, and language. Then they'll find dozens of simple, creative ideas—easy to use in any classroom, on any budget—that show them how toadapt instruction to address the learning characteristics of children exposed to traumahelp students develop the most important skills they need to succeed in schooluse positive behavior supports so children can stay calm and focused on learningbuild meaningful, appropriate, and supportive teacher-student relationshipsencourage positive peer relationships through cooperative games, group projects, and buddy systemsprovide predictable routines that instill a sense of safety and controlavoid burnout and reduce the effects of "compassion fatigue"integrate a trauma-sensitive perspective across an entire schoolThroughout the book, realistic sample scenarios demonstrate how teachers can make the strategies work in their classroom, and challenging What Would You Do? quizzes sharpen educators' instincts so they can respond skillfully in difficult situations. With this timely, much-needed guidebook, education professionals will create supportive classrooms and schools that meet the complex learning needs of children who hurt—and help the most vulnerable students build resilience and hope. Read more