How To Help Children And Youth Affected By Educational Abuse Or Educational Wounding
Lack Of Help For Child Or Youth’s Uncorrected Learning Challenges; Lack Of Support For Child Or Youth’s Unique Ways Of Learning; Inappropriate Curriculum For Child Or Youth’s Age, Ability And Learning Style; Not Enough Success To Build Confidence; Punitive Teachers Who Shame And Who Do Not Acknowledge Feelings, Thoughts And Actions; Teachers Lacking Knowledge Of The Child’s Or Youth’s Birth Cultures
Uncorrected, educational abuse can profoundly slow learning, damage self-esteem and can create an unwillingness to try to be successful. This is incredibly frustrating for children & youth. Educational abuse often causes behavior challenges and poor attitudes towards learning. It creates damaged learners. Children & youth can become very anxious, frightened learners. They can begin to think they are the problem. Educational abuse is often caused by and complicated by a combination of: learning disabilities; ADHD, OCD; budget cutbacks resulting in insufficient time with the teacher; outmoded educational practices; outmoded educational material; inappropriate curriculums; excessive work load for teachers; lack of political will to address these challenges.
A Lack Of Help For Child Or Youth’s Uncorrected Learning Challenges:
Can cause children & youth to fall further and further behind when a missing skill is not learned or taught. Missing school for even a few days can have a powerful effect because essential skill learning is missed. The same is true if the child or youth is preoccupied with worries or confusing emotions. Nutritional imbalances can distort the child or youth’s ability to focus and pay attention–thus creating a learning gap that gets wider and wider. Remedial help is needed to catch up–sometimes on a daily basis.
Lack Of Support For Child Or Youth’s Unique Ways Of Learning; Inappropriate Curriculum For Child Or Youth’s Age, Ability And Learning Style:
Programs that revolve around text books do not usually take into account the uniqueness of each child’s or youth’s learning styles. Much talent and confidence is lost when the child is expected to fit the program and not having the program fit the child. Old-fashioned education based on obedience creates low or phony self-esteem–both of which create future challenges.
Not Enough Opportunities To Succeed To Build Confidence:
Children & youth soon get bored learning and succeeding at tasks that appear to have no use to them or to society. It takes skill to learn things that are boring. These skills are often not taught. When the curriculum and the instruction methods do not fit the child or youth, little success will happen, thus eroding self-confidence even further.
Punitive Teachers Who Shame And Who Do Not Acknowledge Feelings, Thoughts And Actions:
These tactics are signs of insecure teachers who themselves have had this treatment. These bullying tactics are used by ineffective teachers who blame the children or youth for the learning challenges, rather than learning new methods to be more effective. Everyone ends up being more and more frustrated, with lower and lower self-confidence.
Teachers Lacking Knowledge Of The Child’s Or Youth’s Birth Cultures, Community Cultures And Cultural Developmental Milestones:
Without this knowledge, the teacher cannot fit the curriculum and teaching styles to the child or youth.
Low Expectations Based On Race, Gender And Economic Status:
Negative stereotypes reduce success because the real child or youth is not seen. The teacher’s eye is not truly present. The teacher is treating the pupil not as a real person, but as the teacher’s idea of who the pupil should be.
Inability To See The Child Or Youth’s Strengths And To Use Them For Learning:
Stressed, insecure, overworked adults often are too burned out to see the child or youth through positive eyes. The lack of acknowledgement of skill and strength is hard on children or youth, creating worry, hesitation, lack of confidence and negative focus on what is not right.
Teachers Lacking Knowledge And Appreciation Of The Child Or Youth’s Birth Cultures:
Such teachers cannot use what the child or youth already knows as a source of meaningful learning. Ignorance is often seen as disapproving of the culture and thus the child or youth.
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First, We Would Investigate |
Second, We Would Investigate |
For Long Term Support |
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On Our Own We Would Try: • Less or No TV • Long Walks/Hikes • Bedtime Stories and Chats • Replace sodas, juices, sugars, fats, fast foods with water, veggies, whole grains, nuts, protein, fruit, slow food • Wholesome Pleasures • Back Rubs and Foot Massages • Nature • Pets |
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For Parents: • Listen and acknowledge your child’s or youth’s frustration. • Get involved in your child’s or youth’s school or daycare center. • To model how to be a learner become one yourself, take a course in something that interests you. • Get support from other parents of children or youth with the same challenge. • Stay calm. • Engage the child or youth in regular, fun, physical activity. • Investigate responsible Independent Study. • Find and express faith that everything will work out well. |
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Check out: www.drsimonelli.com; www.traumasoma.com/index.shtml (very technical); www.acestudy.org; www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/tows_2002/tows_past_20020327_b.jhtml. |