NCJ Number
150934
Date Published
1994
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article examines child abuse and its effects on children, along with the ways in which educators and schools can provide safety zones for children.
Abstract
The prevalence of child abuse makes it inevitable that educators will interact with child-abuse victims in their schools. The behaviors and feelings characteristic of abused children will be obvious in a school context. They will tend to have low self-esteem, deficits in intellectual skills, difficulties in relating to adults and peers, problems in forming attachments and trusting others, and a fear of their own and others' anger. Adolescents may escape into drug abuse, run away from home, escape into pregnancy and early marriage, and manifest suicidal thoughts and actions. Children with such symptoms should be referred to the school counselor, where they can express their feelings and develop coping strategies. A significant task of the counselor is to help abused children deal with their anger. Counselors must teach children to use such strategies as expressing their feelings in writing, verbally, and in responsible acting out through such activities as running, throwing a ball, and hitting a pillow or bed. Educators can help children develop self-esteem and appropriate sex-role concepts. Educators must be careful not to contribute to the problems of abused children through autocratic and punitive reactions to them. Discipline is necessary, but educators must respond to the needs in the child that are producing the behavior. 7 references