Children and Trauma, A Parent’s Guide to Helping Children Heal, Cynthia Monahon. (Lexington Books, NY, 1995)

This book written for parents, but also very usable for educators, suggests many low-stress ways to help children through the tough times of psychological trauma.

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Creating Schools that Heal, Real-Life Solutions, Lesley Koplow.
(Teachers College, Columbia University, NY, 2002)

In a world where children are beset by violence and stress, the author provides educators with clear, level-headed advice on how to construct therapeutic learning environments for all children (preschool through grade 5). As a psychotherapist, and educator Koplow integrates, for teachers, administrators, and school-based clinicians, a preventive mental health practice into public schools.

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Ghosts from the Nursery, Tracing the Roots of Violence,
Robin Karr-Morse and Meredith S. Wiley. (The Atlantic Monthly Press, NY, 1997)

This eye-opening book gives startling evidence that violent behavior is fundamentally linked to abuse and neglect in the first two years of life. The authors show how infancy is the stage during which the foundations for trust, empathy, conscience and lifelong learning are laid down-or the predisposition to violent behavior is “hardwired” into the brain. It makes a convincing case for the revolution in our beliefs about the care of babies.

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Helping Children Cope with the Stresses of War: A Manual for Parents and Teachers, Mona Macksoud. (UNICEF, NY, 2000)

An essential tool for parents and teachers in helping children cope with the stresses of war and other forms of systematic violence. Based on methods and approaches that have been tested extensively in war-torn Lebanon, this book gives descriptions of nine wartime experiences that cause stress in children. General guidelines on handling the ‘problem behaviors’ with which children of various ages respond to stress are also discussed. Ten specific problem behaviors ranging from bed-wetting to risk-taking are described, followed by practical advice on how parents and teachers can deal with those behaviors.

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Making It Better, Activities for Children Living in a Stressful World, Barbara Oehlberg. (Redleaf Press, St. Paul, MN, 1996)

This wonderful book gives information about the physical and emotional effects of today’s stresses, trauma and violence on children. Includes over seventy (70) excellent and practical classroom activities that reach children and help them survive, thrive and heal.

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Teaching Young Children in Violent Times, Building a Peaceable Classroom, Diane E. Levin, Ph.D. (Educators for Social Responsibility, 2003)

“…an excellent resource for teachers to prepare young students to feel safe. Children cannot be entirely sheltered from the realities of violence witnessed in the community or through the media. However, if teachers follow the guidelines in this timely book, our children will grow up with less anxiety, as they create a more peaceful world.” These are the comments from Alvin F. Poussaint, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and Judge Baker Children’s Center, Boston, MA, regarding Levin’s latest book.

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The Scared Child, Helping Kids Overcome Traumatic Events, Barbara Brooks, Ph.D., and Paula Siegel. (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., NY, 1996)

This book describes how to help children who have experienced all types of traumatic situations and how to put them on the path back to a full and happy life. Particularly helpful is a section on debriefing with children.

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Trauma in the Lives of Children, Kendall Johnson, Ph.D. (Hunter House, Alameda, CA, 1998)

This is one of the few books that describe crisis and stress management techniques for counselors, teachers and other professionals all working together on behalf of young children in a school setting.

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“When Disaster Strikes, Helping Young Children Cope”, Jane M. Farish. (National Association for the Education for Young Children, 2003)

This is an excellent brochure packed with information on how to work with children who have survived disaster. It also covers suggested adaptations to the curriculum, activities to use with children, information on staff taking care of themselves, and more. Farish also includes some excellent print resources for both children and teachers. Available through the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Go to the site, click on “online store,” click on “search,” select “violence” in Select Subject box, click on search.www.naeyc.org

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Working with Traumatized Children, A Handbook for Healing, Kathryn Brohl. (CWLA Press, Washington D.C., 1996)

This may be the first of its kind handbook that discusses the mind-body connection between a terrifying experience and a child’s adaptive coping mechanisms. It details the trauma recovery process and offers specific intervention techniques. Among many interesting parts of this book is the section on story telling and its value in children’s recovery.

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What Happened to My World? Helping Children Cope, Jim Greenman (2001)

Here is a heartfelt book for anyone working with children and families trying to make sense of a world where airplanes crash, thousands die, war is proclaimed, and people's sense of safety and security can be made to disappear in a single day. Help to understand and support children of all ages as they cope with fear, grief, and other feelings brought on by catastrophic events in the midst of these turbulent times. The above information is from Bright Horizons.

You can purchase What Happened to My World through the National Association for the Education of Young Children. www.naeyc.org Or you may go to Bright Horizon’s web site www.brighthorizons.com. Under “News/Events,” click on one of the news articles, scroll down to the article, “Helping Children Cope with Terrorism, War and Natural Disaster.” Follow the link you’ll find at the end of the article and you’ll find several very good resources for working with young children. You can download these for free.

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Unsmiling Faces, How Preschools Can Heal, Lesley Koplow, Editor. (Teachers College, Columbia University, NY, 1996).

Koplow has compiled many articles by various authors, all of whom are experts in working with young children. The book describes the importance of making room for emotional life in preschools, structure and relationships in preschools, and the meaning and development of curriculum that supports emotional life. She also includes discussions on working with special populations of children. Throughout the book Koplow includes innumerable practical ways to accomplish the goal of supporting emotional life in preschools

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Ambiguous Loss, Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief, Pauline Boss (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2000)

Frozen sadness: this is what we have when we cannot really know what we have lost. When our loved ones are lost in war or violence (we hope, but don’t know if they will return), our loved ones return home but are so badly wounded that they are not the same person, family members who have debilitating diseases when their body is still with us but their minds are gone, immigration of loved ones, adoption. These are all ambiguous losses and bring very strong emotions. Boss discusses the emotions stirred up by these losses and suggests strategies that can cushion the pain. She offers heartening stories of those who cope with ambiguous loss and manage to move on. The children with whom we work may be living with similar experiences. If you read this moving book you will be able to understand the sufferings of your children and possibly be able to work with them with even more compassion and caring.

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Hope and Healing, A Caregiver’s Guide to Helping Young Children Affected by Trauma, Kathleen Fitzgerald Rice and Betsy McAlister Groves. (Zero to Three Press, Washington DC, 2005).

Hope and Healing is an information and resource guide designed for early childhood professionals who care for children in a variety of early care and education settings. It was developed by the Child Witness to Violence Project at Boson Medical Center in collaboration with the Early Trauma Treatment Network. It was written in response to questions received from early childhood professionals from both urban and rural communities about children and trauma and is a very readable, very useable resource.

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School-Based Multisystemic Interventions for Mass Trauma, Avigdor Klingman and Esther Cohen (Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, NY, 2004)

This book can be used is a reference tool and a toolkit. The suggestions the authors give for working with children affected by violence range from preventive to therapeutic and from classroom-based and teacher led to professional mental health personnel. It was written after Sept. 11. 2001 and uses that tragedy, mass tragedies in Israel as well as continual violence throughout the world to explain and support the suggestions in the book. This volume provides an understanding of mass trauma, its impact on school systems, and presents a plan for school systems to put in place in preparation for other such events that affect large numbers of people.

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Picking up the Pieces: Responding to School Crises, Mary Schoenfeldt.

This book is designed for schools that serve older as well as younger children – and could well be adapted for preschool or child care settings. It offers specific step-by-step examples of what to do immediately after a crisis- whether that crisis is a natural disaster, accident, death or violent situation. The first section is for secondary school workers and students; the second section is for elementary school staff and students. You can order this book at the following web site: www.safer-schools.com

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School Crisis Response Teams: Lessening the Aftermath, Mary Schoenfledt.

This book is designed for schools but could be adapted for use with preschool or child care programs to use as a model to develop their own crisis response teams. Learn about crisis and then follow the manual step-by-step to set up a crisis response team. The book walks the reader through stages of prevention, intervention and postvention in an easy to understand way that is easy to implement. You can order this book at the following web site: www.safer-schools.com

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