Early childhood educators are increasingly being called upon to deal with emotionally charged topics, which include natural and manmade disasters, war, terror, death, and other traumatic events. At our teachers college, we prepare students to deal with a challenging issue, memory of the Holocaust, through a series of activities and workshops…

Voucher programs and their supporters have had a tough last few years. The Florida Supreme Court declared vouchers in that state unconstitutional in 2006. Three years later, the Arizona Supreme Court did the same. In 2007, voters in Utah handed a resounding defeat to a voucher program there. In 2009, the U.S. Congress refused to continue funding…

This guide offers best practices for disaster management at child welfare agencies. Its recommendations are firmly rooted in published disaster-related research and the advice of human service and preparedness experts. It is not a reinvention of disaster management--much quality work has been done in this field--but a synthesis of experts'…

Natural disasters are among the numerous events known to have a significant probability of producing trauma in school-age children, given the critical mental, physical, social, and emotional development that occurs during childhood. Studies involving children who have experienced natural disasters point to a significant increase in psychological…

As the school year begins, staff at the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) would like to offer all school personnel (including educators, administrators, counselors and support staff) the opportunity to use their many resources for schools! Their resources were created to highlight issues related to trauma, to explain how trauma can…

In this article, Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness describes disasters in relation to five phases that may serve as a helpful framework for planning disaster response: (1) before the disaster (pre-disaster); (2) during the disaster (intra-disaster); (3) immediately after the disaster (immediate…

Children around the world are being exposed to traumatic events at a troubling rate. In large, nationally representative studies of children in the United States, researchers have reported that 71% of children have been exposed to at least one potentially traumatic event in the past year, and almost 70% of children have experienced multiple…

Children who have been traumatized tug at the souls of early childhood teachers who have big hearts and open arms. Whether children have been witnesses to a disaster, such as Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, or have experienced trauma through direct assault, such as abuse, they need people who are willing and able to take extra care and…

This article introduces the special section on child and adolescent mental health research in the context of Hurricane Katrina. We outline the purpose and intent of the special section and present an integrative perspective based on broad contextual theories of human development with which to think about the impact of disasters like Katrina. The…

Seven months after Hurricane Katrina, 183 five- to eight-year-old children were surveyed about their own intrusive thoughts and tested on their level of cognitive functioning (knowledge about the mind and the mind's operations). Basic developmental research suggests that children who lack sufficient knowledge about the mind should have…

This book contains selected contributions from the international workshop Learning, "Adjustment and Stress Disorders--with special reference to Tsunami affected Regions" organised by Evelin Witruk and the team of Educational and Rehabilitative Psychology at the University of Leipzig in January 2006. The book contains new results and the…

"Research on Schools, Neighborhoods, and Communities: Toward Civic Responsibility" focuses on research and theoretical developments related to the role of geography in education, human development, and health. William F. Tate IV, the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in…

A graduate student in early childhood education discusses observations of his children during and after Hurricanes Rita and Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. He relates his use of responsive parenting and provides examples of his children's learning and play that emerged after the storms. He reflects upon how aspects of developmentally appropriate…

The effects of Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, and other natural disasters will be felt by young children in the affected areas for a long time to come. This article offers tips on how to talk with children about natural disasters in order to clear up any confusion they might have, how to answer their questions with sensitivity, and how to…

The Gulf Coast region suffered an unusually severe hurricane season in 2005: Hurricane Katrina (August 28-29, 2005) devastated much of southern Mississippi and Louisiana. Approximately 2,700 licensed early care and education facilities in those states and in Alabama were affected by Katrina, in addition to an unknown number of family child care…