Chaos and Violence

I chose and violence because it is the one example that is the freshest on my mind.  Last year I had a student whose life was always in turmoil.  His mother was very young and her son was the youngest of 6 siblings.  He had very low confidence in his abilities and at first was very withdrawn and afraid to try new things.  His attendance was sporadic and he rarely had a lunch.  As the year progressed I watched him become angry and take some of that aggression out on the other students.  I had several conferences with the mother.  She shared with me that she was overwhelmed working full time and trying to take care of the kids.  She said when she gets home she just collapses and has no energy to help them with their homework.  On top of that she was caring for her ageing mother who had schizophrenia and would be known to have outburst at any given moment.  I found out that she was also sharing a room the boy in my class.  On into the school year I was told that he was not allowed to go with her father because he had beat up the mother and they had put a restraining order against him.  The effect on the child was horrendous.  He had difficulty learning, became very obstinate, and violent toward other students.  I suggested some community resources for the mother but I don’t know if she ever took the advice.  With the child I learned that the more I could do to make him feel “normal” the better his day would go.  For example I would pack him a lunch and put it in his cubby so that when it was time to eat he didn’t feel like he was the only one getting a special lunch from the teacher.  I also found that creating special rituals with him for communicating love was helpful.  The more routine and calm the better things went.  I can’t say that I had complete success and it was one of those situations you always wonder what more you could have done.

 

South African Violence

Several studies have shown that many South African children are suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome from exposure to violence.  According to Suliman, Kaminer,  Seeda, & Stein a recent study showd that 86% of those studied were exposed to a least one traumatic event. (2005)  More test are needed to really determine how deeply these children are affected.   The Sonke Gender Justice Network is a group of young people who are committed to stopping the violence in South Africa by teaching other young men how to embrace new behavior.  Their web site is here if you would like to learn more about them.  http://www.genderjustice.org.za/

Suliman s., Kaminer D., Seedat S.,  Stein DJ. (2005). Assessing post-traumatic stress disorder in  South

 African adolescents: using the child and adolescent trauma survey (CATS) as a screening tool

Annals of General Psychiatry April 2005, 4:2