Reaching and Teaching Children Who Hurt: Strategies for Your Classroom

by Susan E. Craig

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 to Throughout 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.

Genres: Education, Teaching

240 pages, Paperback

First published August 4, 2008

About the author

Susan E. Craig, PhD, completed her doctorate in sociology at the University of New Hampshire and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Miami. She is a lifelong student of early trauma and its effects on children’s learning. Her teaching experience, as well as years of on-site training and technical assistance to school districts throughout the country, provides the context for her advocacy for trauma-sensitive educational reform.

Dr. Craig began her writing career in 1992 with an article in Phi Delta Kappan describing the educational needs of children living with violence. This work received special notice in the now famous “purple book” Helping Traumatized Children Learn (2005) published by Massachusetts Advocates for Children: Trauma and Policy Initiative. Her book Reaching and Teaching Children Who Hurt: Strategies for Your Classroom (2008) is a bestseller among teachers and administrators, who use it to guide their efforts to make schools more accessible to children with challenging behaviors. In 2013, Dr. Craig was among those interviewed in the Safe Start National Resource Center series profiling women who have made an impact on the issue of children’s exposure to violence.

Dr. Craig is an avid blogger and sought-after public speaker. Her blog, www.meltdownstomastery.wordpress.com, covers topics of interest to educators working with traumatized children.

Reviews

[Lindsey Boyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a must read for any teacher or person working in education! It not only gives helpful insight to the effects of childhood trauma, but it gives practical and useful insight into how we can adapt the learning environment to better support all children. I know I will be returning to this book often for ideas and reminders throughout the school year.

[Lisa Greene · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book study for work. The subject matter was very relevant to me, and the book includes important applications I can use, but the writing was not well paced or interesting, so it was something of a chore to read.

[Nickie Myerholtz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great resource! I’ve been teaching for twenty years and the amount of kids who have been though major trauma continues to grow. This book helped me with ideas on how to reach those poor kiddos. I like the sequence of the book. It makes it easy to find suggestions for what you’re dealing with. It is, however, a slow read, for me at least. I had to read and process for a bit before I picked it up again.

[Lorena Sanchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book when I was asked to give a workshop for teachers whose classrooms had burned down during the fires in the Sonoma area. Now, I am rereading it to prepare for dealing with kids after this terrible pandemic as well as preparing for conversations about systemic racism in our schools.

[Rich Farrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a useful text for any teacher. I appreciated that it was teacher-focused with some tips for how to set-up a classroom so that it's trauma sensitive and advice for how a school can be set-up to best support traumatized students.

[Jose Hidalgo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good book to learn a little bit about trauma in children and its effects in education. Well written, it combines academic style, narrative style, tips to implement in the classrooms and questions to apply what you have just read

[Lawrence J · Rating 4 out of 5]

many good ideas.
Would have liked several summary tables up front and/or at the end of each chapter

[Dank_daddy_james · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's pretty generic in my opinion and is clearly outdated in today's age. It definitely makes you question how abused you were as a child lol

[Marci · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overly broad and superficial information (often) with unrealistic expectations--as a school psychologist who has time to once a week for 45 minutes with a teacher about ONE child? While I appreciate that she is illustrating lots of ways that school psychologists can support the needs of children in school, it's presented in such a laissez faire manner that it can undermine the work that we already do in a more narrowly defined role that is common across the United States. It leaves the reader with the impression that "My school psych doesn't do those things. He/she must..."(fill in the blank with an impression that comes from not understanding what we do).

Susan's other book, which has a greater depth of knowledge, is by far superior to this book.

[Kelly Gontar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a quick, easy read and a nice summary of relevant research-based strategies to use with children who have been through trauma. If you live in an area in which the educational psychologist and counsellor have little time to work with students at school, you will find some of the suggestions will not work for you. However, I have read a few books on attachment disorder and behavior, and found new strategies in this book I will be trying with my students. While most of the multiple-choice answers were pretty obvious, they kept the reader engaged. I especially enjoyed the snippets of actual experiences with specific children.

[Kat O · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book and would recommend it to elementary teachers, but not secondary. it didn't apply to me as a high school teacher. I felt it was a little repetitive as well.

most importantly, the scenarios of how the teachers and school psychs. worked in the classrooms seemed unrealistic to me. superwoman status! some strategies were practical, especially the literacy tactics. those seemed feasible. overall it's worth it k-6.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very informational and up to date with the current generation in our schools. I also liked how the author would compare and contrast a children with needs and a children without needs. She then would list suggestions that could be done in the classroom, which would not take much time to implement.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author makes a good case for how prevalent early childhood trauma is and how vital it is to address the issue. This is a good read for a teacher new to the profession. However, the "What Do You Think" segments,which pose scenarios for teachers, are incredibly obvious for anyone who has spent any time in a classroom.

[Regina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read book, packed with excellent suggestions and recommended for any teacher.

[Stefanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This info is more for someone who has not had any ACE/trauma informed care training before. Information is valuable just info that I have heard and worked with before.

[Cindy Matthews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book for teachers. I can use these ideas tomorrow. I have developed a greater sense of empathy for the kids in my care.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Difficult subject but there are many examples of how we might help these students. Very useful to those who teach students from difficult backgrounds.