The educational needs of children living with violence

Abstract

VioLit summary: OBJECTIVE: The intent of this article by Craig was to describe the cognitive and social dysfunctions of children who lived with violence. The article also provided techniques for educators to address these dysfunctions. METHODOLOGY: The author employed a non-experimental design and used personal experience to provide educators with suggestions for dealing with children who were exposed to violence. FINDINGS/DISCUSSION: The author argued that 14 out of 100 children between the ages of 3 and 17 experienced family violence. This violence had an impact on the ability of children to encode material and had an impact on the interpretation of new information. Violence influenced children's problem-defining and problem-solving behaviors because they were unable to bring linear order to the chaos of daily life. Prior to the emergence of semantic language in a child, memory captured experiences but lacked a linear sequence. In the absence of consistent, predictable routines, and familiar, reliable caregivers, the transition to sequential semantic memory did not end the episodic encoding of information, if information was encoded at all. The result was a learning style unresponsive to sequential ordering, the style most frequently found in educational settings. In addition, language development was impaired because abused children used language to keep other people at a distance. This resulted in an inability to appreciate another person's point of view, and a difficulty in understanding different academic perspectives. The educational interventions most effective with these children were ones that assisted children in taking control over their experiences. These interventions included a consistent, predictable, safe, and purposeful curriculum, in a learning environment where competency could be discovered and where students and teachers were active participants in the learning process. Successful instructors: 1) began each class with a consistent ritual so that children established their attitudes before content was introduced; 2) identified the objective and purpose of the lesson so that children were focused on the task; 3) actively instructed and modeled to provide a concrete representation; 4) monitored the students for understanding; 5) encouraged children to take control of their interaction with the material; and 6) extended summary experiences to include reflection on what the experience was like. This consistent learning environment, with clear demarcations of time and space, enhanced the students' encoding processes. The cooperative learning model was also a successful approach to children exposed to violence because the group problem solving allowed them to speak spontaneously and safely. AUTHOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS: The most successful approaches to educating children who have been exposed to violence, the author argued, was one that responded to cognitive needs, not to behavioral or psychiatric needs. Instructors should therefore address the special needs of children who are exposed to violence through the methods described above. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado) KW - Child Victim KW - Juvenile Victim KW - Early Childhood KW - Middle Childhood KW - Late Childhood KW - Late Adolescence KW - Early Adolescence KW - School Achievement KW - School Performance KW - Educational Factors KW - Domestic Violence Victim KW - Domestic Violence Effects KW - Witnessing Spouse Abuse KW - Witnessing Violence Effects KW - Child Witness KW - Juvenile Witness KW - Children of Battered Women KW - Child Abuse Effects KW - Child Abuse Victim KW - Cognitive Deficiency KW - Cognitive Processing KW - Cognitive Functioning KW - Violence Against Women KW - Partner Violence