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More photos from the author variety show (contributed by and used with permission of the school):

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Part 1.

After six weeks of planning an unprecedented 17-author variety show for Sandy Hook Elementary School, and while en route from Maryland to Connecticut the day before the event, I learned that school had been canceled for the following day.

One thing we had not arranged: a raindate. (Well, snowdate.)

With heavy heart, at 5:31 p.m., I emailed the authors. As the understanding responses came in, I tried to figure out how to proceed. I arrived at only one viable option. At 6:42 p.m., after clearing it with Yvonne, I went back to the group to ask who could do Tuesday, 2/13.

Originally, eleven of the seventeen could. (On Monday afternoon, one dropped out, and Tuesday morning another did, both due to illness.) That was plenty good enough for me; I worried that if I tried to find yet another new date, even fewer would be free. I felt it was Tuesday or never.

So I seized Tuesday.

However, we’d worked out a schedule for seventeen so I scrambled to round up as many A-list pinch-hitters as I could. As before, just about everyone I asked would have liked to participate, but they got all “I’m super busy and generally speaking 24 hours is not enough notice to prepare multiple acts and arrange to travel two hours away.” I kid. They were extremely gracious, supportive, regretful. Most said to keep them in mind if I’m ever involved in another event like it. (I hope I am, just not under such circumstances.)

Sunday night yielded no one. But Monday morning, alas—three signed on: Daniel Kirk, Bruce Degen (who lives in Newtown), and Vincent X. Kirsch. Bless them.

Tuesday morning. Two days shy of two months since the tragedy. I drove the hour from where I was staying to Newtown, arriving at Chalk Hill School (where Sandy Hook is currently housed) at 8:30. 

I was already looking forward to hugging Yvonne and Isabel.

One of my biggest concerns was punctuality, but I needn’t have worried; all eleven cast members arrived on time. 




I owe each thanks for so many other things and here are one or two per person:

• Katie Davis—For stepping up and going first when the original opening act (Phil Bildner) could not make the rescheduled date, and for podcasting the day.
• Bruce Degen—For stepping in at the last minute and for being the hometown representative. (When I emailed him the schedule the day before—a schedule most of the rest had been familiar with for two weeks—he wrote back “The schedule is complicated.” He was right.)
• Tracy Dockray—For being a trooper when we determined (just before the show started) that I had not gotten the PowerPoint slides she emailed, and for recommending Vincent.
• Alan Katz—For reassuring me several days before that this was a worthwhile effort and for making it back in time from a conference Denver despite Nemo.
• Daniel Kirk—For stepping in at the last minute even though his drive would be one of the longest and for being the only one of us to play guitar, which I wish I could do.
• Vincent X. Kirsch—For adding one of the most diverse elements to the show—a toy theater—and for jumping on board less than a day before.
• Tad Hills—For being one of my partners at the second school and for being the first author to hug me goodbye. I needed that.
• Susan Hood—For being a cheerleader from the start, flexible and generous, and for being my partner in what was likely to be the most challenging aspect of the day: presenting to the first graders, the group most affected (in terms of proximity but probably psychologically, too) by the tragedy.
• Meghan McCarthy—For rearranging her work schedule more than once, for committing even though she’d be getting back from vacation the day before, and for providing one of the biggest laughs of the show: a YouTube clip of a (fake) flying car.
• Mike Rex—For being a class act through and through, from agreeing to stay an extra night in a hotel when Monday school was canceled to buying me a drink after.
• Bob Shea—For being true to his values, willing to make sacrifices to give a good show, and for closing us out with a wonderful sense of humor.

The eight authors who were in the 2/11 lineup but could not do the next day:

• Phil Bildner
• Sophie Blackall
• Peter Brown
• Brian Floca
• Ross MacDonald
• John Bemelmans Marciano
• Julia Sarcone-Roach
• Lauren Tarshis

We missed you all so very much, as did the kids. The school had made signs for each of us, which (along with our books) were displayed behind the performance space, so you were there in spirit in more ways than one.






First some of the authors visited with the kindergartners and first graders in their classrooms; we were told that these little ones were the most fragile, and not just because of their age. But if you walked in any of the rooms, you’d never know it. They reacted as kids that age do—they laughed, they called out, they got off subject, they were bursting with enthusiasm. They were, simply, precious.

At 10 a.m., we kicked off Sandy Hook’s first assembly since the tragedy—and possibly the first-ever author variety show. It was divided into two parts. Each 45-minute half featured six authors with back-to-back acts of approximately five minutes apiece, with a brief intermission so the audience could swap out (the room could not hold the entire 2nd through 4th grade at once). We kept it moving on schedule…mostly. When the second half ran long, everyone went right along with us.

It was my first time as emcee. I introduced the show by saying the 12 authors and illustrators on hand had, combined, produced close to 500 books…but not all at the same time. I said we’d come in from four states bringing characters including the Magic School Bus, Batman, Ramona Quimby, Fangbone, Balto the hero dog, and Rocket the reading dog. (One of reasons I was bummed Peter Brown had to bow out at the last minute due to illness: I could’ve then included Chowder the Bouncing Dog. Rule of threes, baby.) I meant to joke that neither snow nor rain would have kept us from coming, but we are apparently not as powerful as postal workers and weather did sabotage Plan A.

I said the kids would see a side of us they might not expect. I suggested they think of it as Authors Got Talent.

I thanked the administration, staff, parents, and kids, and made special mention of my two pillars throughout this endeavor, Isabel and Yvonne. This was a significant group effort. Without their tireless help, it would have remained merely a vision.


I announced our little gift: a bookmark for each student in Newtown.


When I was up, I told the kids that it would be AWK-ward if I introduced myself, so I asked for a volunteer. Thank you again, brave young man who did so!





The variety show went gangbusters. The first time the kids erupted with laughter, I felt that attempting this had been a [sic] right thing to do. Even more so because that was not the only time they erupted with laughter.

After the show, we (and staff) enjoyed lunch generously donated by the PTA, signed books, posed for photos, and listened to Principal Donna Page’s touching thank you. She said she chose authors as the first assembly because she wanted the return to some form of normalcy to involve teaching, learning, and reading. 

She gifted each of us a bracelet with an angel on it; a kind donor had sent many of these and Donna asked this donor if she could “pay it forward.” The donor agreed.



When Donna teared up, so did many of us, and it was time. I, for one, wanted a moment to let down any sign of a professional façade and be a lump-in-throat human being.




Then we split into three groups of four, bookmarks in hand, and from 2 to 3 p.m., did hourlong assemblies at the other three elementaries in Newtown. After, we regrouped at the lovely Inn at Newtown for a chance to sit, sip, and reflect as a group. Yvonne and several other Sandy Hook staff joined us.

People began to depart around 5 p.m. I was one of them, or so I thought. But then Yvonne, Mike Rex, Meghan McCarthy and I ended up staying. Yvonne opened up to us about what it was like on December 14. It was hard to hear, but that doesn’t even come close to the edge of how hard it was for her to live through. We were in awe at her composure.

At 7 p.m., everyone left…but me.

I stayed behind to call my kids and tell them I love them.


Thank you to Rocco Staino, who sensitively covered the show for School Library Journal.

And thank you to the Newtown Bee.

I will never be done singing the praises of Isabel and Yvonne. Both of them had to deliver dispiriting news to me multiple times, but each did it with candor and kindness (not to mention sorrow). Yet it didn’t take long for them to regroup and try to salvage whatever it was that had just (seemingly) fallen apart. Their patience with my persistence was inspiring. 

It is to their great credit, and the credit of the superintendent and principal, that this event happened at all. Even I suspect I would have declined the offer. Too big. Too soon. We have too many other priorities.

The bookmark says “Authors Love Sandy Hook Elementary,” but who doesn’t?

En route home, I stopped at a Newtown restaurant for dinner and was still wearing the green/white ribbon the school gave each of us. The owner of the restaurant (who had no idea who I was, of course, or why I was there) came over, pointed to the ribbon, and said "Sandy Hook?" I said yes (without elaborating).

He shook my hand and simply said “Thank you.”


The day was precisely what I pitched it as: upbeat, funny, escapist. Yet for this one moment, I will depart from that tone. I heard the following song the week after the tragedy, and although it is about a romance, it amplified my tears. Listening to the lyrics now (particularly the first verse and the chorus), it seems even more fitting. You’ll hear what I mean.



Sandy Hook, we’d call again anytime, no matter how much planning. No matter how much snow.


No matter anything.

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Following the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, on 12/14/12, I was a by-the-numbers part of the stunned collective: I cried, I mourned, I signed online petitions, I emailed senators and representatives, I lost focus, I held my own kids close wishing I never had to let go.

But I was also desperate for a way to do more than these things. I wanted to do something that might, in some small way, directly and immediately help the Sandy Hook community.

So the next day, hesitantly, I emailed a bunch of kidlit author/illustrator friends who live within two hours of Newtown to ask if they’d be interested in proposing to the school what I called a variety show. An excerpt:

I envision a group of us going on the same day [to put on] a kidlit author/illustrator variety show and to play games inspired by our books or just games in general (kids vs. authors soccer/volleyball/tug of war/three-legged race). I have ideas. Sure you would, too. We'd figure it out. Whatever we do, we'd keep it low maintenance. They provide the microphone, we do the rest.

It was clear that Sandy Hook’s focus for the foreseeable future would be healing. I thought a group of people with considerable experience speaking to young people could bring a bit of that, secretly wrapped up in what the kids would see as pure entertainment.

Just about everyone I asked said yes. Some, bearing out my hesitancy, worried about the delicate and overwhelming nature of the situation, as did I. When—if ever—would be the appropriate time to offer such a thing? To offer anything? The only way to find out would be to ask.

On Monday 12/17, I emailed the United Way (coordinating relief efforts) and the public library to ask if they had a sense of whether or not I should pursue the idea. That week, the children’s librarian at the town library, Alana Bennison, said she thought this would be just the kind of event that could be therapeutic. A short while later, she got back to me to say that it was okay for me to contact the Sandy Hook librarian, Yvonne Cech. I left Yvonne a message.

Understandably, I did not hear back.

However, on 12/28, Isabel Almeida of the United Way called. She said of all the offers they’d received (including some from pro sports teams), the group the superintendent wanted first was the authors. She asked if it would be possible to pull it together for the second day back to school—meaning one week from then.

I said we were all prepared to be flexible…but given how many were involved, we would all be better off with a little more time to organize, if possible. On New Year’s Eve, after polling the authors, I suggested 1/14/13. Approximately twenty authors were on board. Two days later, that date was approved.

Two hours later, I was asked if we could move the date to February…now known as Hurdle #1.

I said that it would be ideal if there was any way to keep 1/14, but in the meantime I proposed 2/11…to them only. I did not tell the authors that the 1/14 date was subject to change, holding out hope for as long as possible that it would not.

On 1/8, figuring I could wait no longer, I told the authors that 1/14 was being reconsidered. I asked them to please hold 2/11 as a backup. Astoundingly and luckily, seventeen of them still had that day available, too.

On 1/13, Isabel confirmed 2/11. I immediately notified the authors.

On 1/17, hoping that I would not be “too terribly upset,” Isabel reported that the superintendent asked if we could push back to later than 2/25. This was Hurdle #2.

As before, I held off on telling the authors—partly to keep group emails to a minimum, partly due to a weird mix of disappointment and hope.

And as before, I told Isabel that we would accommodate whatever works for the school, but pointed out that I feared that if we changed the date again, we would almost certainly lose participants who had already committed. It seemed statistically impossible that everyone would have a third proposed date free.

More to the point, in inferring understandable concerns, I sent Isabel an impassioned appeal revolving around this: “Our mission is to come and reinforce the challenging and critical work you are all doing every day and late into the night; we don't want to disrupt momentum but rather support it. We want to be part of the healing.”

For me, that night was fitful. On 1/18, Isabel called to say she had forwarded my email to the superintendent…who had then said we can keep the 2/11 date.

Phew.

Until…

On 1/25, Isabel emailed me leading with the words “don’t panic.” She said that though the superintendent had approved the 2/11 assembly, word did not immediately reach the school…which had another event already scheduled for 2/11. Hurdle #3.

Of course I understood. What this community was going through is unfathomable to the rest of us. Still, I asked if the other event was smaller in scope and therefore possibly easier to shift. Thus began another tense period for me, but a relatively short one: by day’s end, I was relieved to hear that the other event could indeed be rescheduled and we could keep 2/11.

Rehearsals? Hah! Who needs them? Well, it would’ve been great, but it was hard enough getting everyone together for the actual show.

However, we were briefed on trauma guidelines. No loud or sudden noises. No flashes of light. No all-black outfits. And no mention of “healing.” We were already planning to leave that to the experts.

On 1/29, thanks to the logistical efforts of (my friend since fourth grade) Christian Campagnuolo and Jen Campbell, the design work of Tim Connor, and the production/printing by Balmar (all donated), we would have 1,700 bookmarks to distribute to every elementary student in Newtown.


On 2/2, I spoke with Yvonne for the first time. She did not remember my message from 12/22; I did not expect her to. She was in the middle of an unenviable flurry of far more pressing issues.

It was so lovely to discover that Yvonne was as enthusiastic and easy to work with as Isabel. The three of us conferenced and refined the schedule I had proposed.

Then came Hurdle #4.

And this hurdle had a name.

On 2/8 into 2/9, the monster storm Nemo blanketed Connecticut.


Yet 2/8 was a Friday, and Yvonne had the foresight to set up the assembly the day before in case school was canceled—which, of course, it was. No matter, that meant that everything would be ready to go Monday morning.

Except we didn’t expect Hurdle #5.

On 2/10, as I was en route by bus from Maryland to New York (and literally a minute after I realized I had forgotten the flash drive with the master PowerPoint presentation on it), Yvonne emailed to warn me about the potential for a Monday school delay or even cancellation due to predicted icy conditions. Compounding the risk: Nemo was so big that, two days after, some streets were still unplowed (including the street of at least one participating author).

At about 5 p.m., as I was en route by train from New York to Connecticut—so close—Yvonne called with The News: school was indeed canceled.

I felt like the train had evaporated from under me.

Part 2 (with many photos).

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Last week I found myself reading through The Community Review, which is the Jewish newspaper for Greater Harrisburg. Rabbi Akiva Males of Kesher Israel Congregation wrote a tribute to teacher Victoria Soto who… Read More →

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Floricantos On-Line for the Fallen Souls of Newton

La Bloga Festival of Lights 1

Somber exhilaration is in the air this week, with La Bloga's continuing exploration of poetry as equipment for living. Christmas changed forever when twenty-six souls disappeared from earth. They were gone, we mystified. It happened in our name, our nation, under our laws. Again. Naturally, we should sing. What more?

Ho Logos stepped out on space, looked around, and said "poor earth, so far from Peace, so close to the United States."

La Bloga this week elegizes the murdered children and their teachers, in two observances. Sunday, Amelia ML Montes teamed with California's Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera, and Guest Editor, Marisa Urrutia Gedney, to present UNITY of Poets for the Children and Families of Newtown, Connecticut—End the Violence. 10 Poems: December 15-December 21, 2012

Navigate to La Bloga-Sunday via this link to read the ten thoughts in entirety, and learn about Herrera's UNITY poem:
When you hustled your baby onto the bus
that morning, it was Friday, the last day
These 26 acts of kindness seem to spark the holiday season,
I think there is a flicker back in my flame.
“Oh, this little light of mine…”
20 little snowflakes
Fell to a red-covered ground
Waiting for a bell to ring
They fell without a sound.

La Bloga Festival of Lights 2

Christmas Mourning Floricanto
Today, the Moderators of Poets Responding to SB 1070 share poems, outpourings of grief and love, about the loss of these children. Moderator Elena Bjorkquist writes, "we feel that these poems honor the memory of the innocent children and will help all of us with healing."

Children Fallen: Rise On New Wings, by Frank De Jesus Acosta
The Rosebuds Of Winter by Hedy Garcia Treviño
In The Afetrmath by Kathy Goldenladyhawk Risingdove Robinson
Twenty Angels by Raul Sanchez
When Words Are Just Vibrations, by John Martinez

La Bloga Festival of Lights 3

CHILDREN FALLEN: RISE ON NEW WINGS
by Frank de Jesus Acosta

Children fallen: to violence, depravity, & war
Newtown, old towns, the world over, far too often
We betray your innocent trust failing to protect
Brutally torn from the flesh by monsters in our midst
Denied the journey of pain & healing from love
Laughter & songs turned screams of terror & tears
I feel you hiding in that place between light & shadow
Afraid, confused, & wandering between worlds
Shrouded heart; words that commune escape us
As we too wander, in suffocating sadness & confusion
Forgive our failure & betrayal, we bare the thorns
Little ones hear our prayers of peace now
Follow the ancestor songs to a new paradise
An eternal circle of love will embrace you from here
There is no more pain & wholeness in the spirit
Walk in beauty; dwell in new joy in a place of peace
A home in the heart of the Creator awaits you


The Rosebuds of Winter
by Hedy Garcia Treviño

There is a special place in the gardens of winter
For young tender rosebuds that fall off the vine
In that empty space we call sorrow
We gather to nurture the rosebuds of time
With showers of tears
And hopeful prayers
We await the abundance of blooms
Returning in springtime
Kissed by the sun
The blossom returns to the ground
To bring life once again to the gardens of time


IN THE AFETRMATH
by Kathy Goldenladyhawk RisingDove Robinson

it is late
and i can not sleep
as my head spins
on the axis
of all evils in
this world.

it is late
and i try to think,
how can i
help to fix
that, which is
so broken.

so, i do now declare,
that in love,
i will love deeper,
in faith,
i will pray harder,
in honor of,
i will seek out the light
and laugh out the dark.
i will sleep less,
and live more,
i will dance, wildly
as the rain
washes away
the sorrows,
of life's brief moments
and stolen memories
and l will listen
with my heart,
and not skip a beat.

oh evils of this world,
oh darkness,
on you i do descend.
i will erase you with kindness,
compassion
and love...
i will challenge
your place
in this world.

twenty new angels
born
to join in the fight
to shine their bright light
and expose all
that is bad
in this world...
as i open my
heart,
and close my eyes
to see.

twenty new angels
to join in the fight
light the spark
to ignite
all the love
that there is
in this world.


TWENTY ANGELS
by Raul Sanchez

In memory of the kids from Sandy Hook Elementary School

Twenty Angels swept away
removed from this earth
senseless violence directed
at children shot point blank

the parents grief unimaginable
what pain to lose a child to violence
Twenty Angels gone, vanished
Twenty future builders of America

Twenty souls gone
Twenty beautiful faces disappeared
Twenty empty beds
Twenty dreams evaporated

no laughter, no Christmas presents
we mourn their death across
the nation, the world
we feel their loss as if they were our own


WHEN WORDS ARE JUST VIBRATIONS
by John Martinez

Nothing makes sense
When a molecule bends
To cough,
Shirking its duty
To life,
When a book falls
To the ground,
Folding into itself,
Leaving only
A blank sadness

Nothing suggests
That we will survive
This terror,
Opening its black
Mouth again
In the classrooms,
Where our children grow
With little root feet

But out of this,
Heroes shielded
Their young,
Gave their lives
To save the very seed-
That is our future,
But some of it
Was lost

When words
Are just vibrations,
Because the wound
Is too deep,
We close our eyes,
Push our hearts
Into the heavens

Today the clouds
Mother the 20 children,
Fixing eternity
In white and blue pajamas,
Their innocence,
Soft as their feet,
Their fear being
Plucked from their hair
Like ash

La Bloga Festival of Lights 4

BIOS


Frank de Jesus Acosta is the principal of Acosta & Associates, a California-based consultant group that specializes in providing professional support related to public and private social change ventures in the areas of children, youth, and family services, violence prevention, community development, cultural fluency initiatives across the country. Acosta is a graduate of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Acosta’s professional experience includes serving as a Program Director with The California Wellness Foundation, as well as executive leadership tenures with the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), Downtown Immigrant Advocates (DIA), Center for Community Change, and the UCLA Community Programs Office. In 2007, Acosta was published by the Arte Publico Press, University of Houston, “The History of the Santa Cruz Barrios Unidos, Cultura Es Cura, Community Peace Movement.”

Hedy M. Treviño’s poetry has been published in numerous journals and other publications. She has performed her poetry at numerous cultural events. She continues to write poetry, and inspires others to use the written word as a form of self discovery and personal healing. She is one of the Moderators for the Facebook page, Poets Responding to SB 1070

Kathy GoldenLadyHawk RisingDove Robinson is half-Cherokee, from North Bridgton, Maine, a small rural town in the foothills of the White Mountains. She is an aspiring poet/writer...she lives quietly, in harmony with the natural world all around her; here she finds all the inspiration a soul could ask for. One day, she hopes to have a book of poems and writings published.

Raúl Sánchez, conducts workshops on The Day of the Dead. His most recent work is the translation of John Burgess’ Punk Poems in his book Graffito by Ravenna Press. His work appeared on-line in The Sylvan Echo, Flurry, Gazoobitales, Pirene’s Fountain many times in La Bloga and several journals. An avid collector of poetry books proclaimed himself a “thrift store junkie” who occasionally volunteers as a DJ for KBCS 91.3 FM, a community radio station. He has been a board member of the Washington Poets Association. His inaugural collection "All Our Brown-Skinned Angels" by MoonPath Press, is filled with poems of cultural identity, familial, a civil protest, personal celebration, completely impassioned and personal.

La Bloga Festival of Lights 5

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On 14 December 2012, Adam Lanza shot and killed his mother before driving from his home to Sandy Hook Elementary School and opening fire on students and staff. Twenty children and six adults were murdered before the gunman committed suicide. Many Oxford University Press authors felt compelled to share their expertise to offer comfort, explanations, and understanding. Here’s a round-up of their recent articles on the tragedy.

UCLA Professor Emeritus Rochelle Caplan on the significant reduction in public mental health care in the United States.

Pediatric psychologist Brenda Bursch offers helpful approaches for parents to explain the tragedy to their children.

Clinical Professor of Psychiatry J. Reid Meloy on warning behaviors that precede mass violence.

Professor of Criminology Kathleen M. Heide on the parricide element of Adam Lanza’s actions.

Associate Professor of Government Elvin Lim on the different political perspectives on the massacre, essential to understanding across party lines and taking non-partisan action on the issue of gun control.

School psychologist Eric Rossen advocates for stronger mental health services in schools.

Professor of Psychiatry Donald W. Black on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of antisocial behavior.

School psychologist Robert Hull offers some advice and resources to help traumatized children.

The post Oxford authors on Sandy Hook appeared first on OUPblog.

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By Robert Hull

As parents, children, and communities struggle to come to terms with the events in Newtown last week, it is important for educators and parents to be aware of just how deeply children can be affected by violence.

Community violence is very different from other sources of trauma that children witness or experience. Most trauma impacts individual students or small groups, whereas the violence that was experienced in Newtown affected the local community and the entire nation. The lack of warning and the unexpected nature of these kinds of events, combined with the seemingly random nature of the attack, contribute to a change in individuals’ personal views of the world, and their ideas about how safe they and their loved ones actually are. The world comes to seem more dangerous, people less trustworthy.

Exposure to trauma can impact several areas of children’s functioning. Teachers may notice that students who have experienced trauma appear to be shut down, bored, and/or hyperactive and impulsive. Interpersonal skills might be impacted, which can lead to social withdrawal, isolation, or overly aggressive behavior. Students might appear confused or easily frustrated. In addition they might have difficulty understanding and following directions, making decisions, and generating ideas or solving problems.

Family members and educators are often at a loss in how to support students following an event such as what happened in Newtown. The following are guidelines on helping students exposed to community violence:

• Teachers and family members should attempt to maintain the routines and high expectations of students. This directly communicates to children that they can succeed in the face of traumatic events.
• Reinforcing safety is essential following unpredictable violence. Remind children that the school is a safe place and that adults are available to provide assistance.
• Do not force children to talk. This can lead to withdrawal and downplaying the impact. A neutral conversation opening can be stated in this way: “You haven’t seemed yourself today. Would you like to share how you are feeling?”
• Teachers can model coping mechanisms such as deep breathing, relaxation and demonstrating empathy.
• Being flexible is a must following traumatic events. Teachers should allow students to turn in work late or to postpone testing.
• Educators should increase communication with parents in order to provide support that recognizes a specific child’s vulnerabilities.

There are several websites that can provide additional information on supporting students who have been exposed to violence. These include:

• The National Child Traumatic Stress Network
• The National Association of School Psychologists
• The National Center for Children Exposed to Violence

Robert Hull is an award-winning school psychologist with over 25 years of experience working in some of the most challenging of educational settings, and was for many years the facilitator of school psychology for the Maryland State Department of Education. Currently he teaches at the University of Missouri. He is the co-editor, with Eric Rossen, of Supporting and Educating Traumatized Students: A Guide for School-Based Professionals.

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The post Resources to help traumatized children appeared first on OUPblog.

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By Donald W. Black

For many years I have pondered the mental state and motivations of mass shooters. The tragic events in Newtown, CT this past week have brought this to the fore. Mass shootings have become everyday occurrences in the United States, and for that reason tend not to attract much attention unless the circumstances are especially heinous, such as this instance in which the victims were young children. We are all left wondering what can be done. While the attention span of the general public and the media is usually a matter of nanoseconds, this mass shooting seems different, and I hope will lead to positive policy changes. This tragedy presents an opportunity for our leaders to step up to the plate and lead and, one hopes, implement rational gun control legislation most of us agree is necessary.

But back to the shooters. As a psychiatrist with an intense interest in bad behavior, I expect that discussions will center on mental health issues which many believe motivate the shooters. I am intensely interested in these “issues” because, to me, the main issue that keeps coming up is that of psychiatric diagnosis. Everyone seems interested in the possibility of a psychiatric diagnosis, because it suggests that we might “understand” the shooter, and this may lead to better identification of future shooters, and both improved treatment and prevention.

But will the presence of a psychiatric diagnosis improve our understanding? Probably not, because — at least in the cases we know about — the apparent psychiatric diagnosis runs the gamut. Some shooters appear to have schizophrenia, others a depressive disorder, and still others a personality disorder, as has been alleged in the case of Adam Lanza. While we seem able to understand that a “crazy” person out of touch with reality might carry out an otherwise senseless act, the thought that someone who is not psychotic carrying out such an act is very unsettling. How could a person who is not psychotic behave this way? For example, depressed persons are by and large not psychotic, yet some will — in the context of being hopeless and suicidal — want to take others with them: spouses, children, etc. More typically, while planning to harm themselves, most depressed persons have no desire to hurt anyone else.

What about the non-psychotic people with a personality disorder? The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders — a compendium of psychiatry’s officially recognized disorders (about to come out in its 5th edition) — lists ten personality disorders; the most relevant to our discussion is antisocial personality disorder. This disorder is quite common (up to 4.5% of the population) and causes all manner of problems because the antisocial person always seems to be in trouble with the law, their spouses and families, or their employers.

The term antisocial is almost always misunderstood and is often construed to mean ”shy” or “inhibited,” yet in a psychiatric sense the term suggests rebellion against society. My profession has done a poor job in educating the general public about the disorder and for that reason it remains under the radar screen. (An older term that seems more entrenched is sociopathy.) In the DSM, the diagnosis rests on the person having three or more of seven symptoms (such as deceitfulness, impulsivity, irritability and aggressiveness, etc). Perhaps the most important is “lack of remorse,” which occurs in about half of those diagnosed antisocial. This is what allows the antisocial person to hurt, to mistreat, or even to kill others. These are the “psychopaths” we read about and fear. (Psychopathy is at the extreme end of the antisocial spectrum of behavior.) Few antisocials are killers, but many of today’s mass shooters would fit the description of antisocial personality disorder. I don’t know if Adam Lanza would, but as we peel back the layers of his personal history, we might find that he does.

We don’t know what causes antisocial personality disorder, but like many disorders it probably results from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. I have argued for many years that the federal government needs to direct more funds to investigating its causes and developing effective treatments. Despite its high prevalence and the fact that it contributes to so much of society’s ills, the government has shown little interest in funding research on the disorder. The National Institutes of Health RePORTER website lists only two projects in which the term “antisocial” appears in the title and only five in which the terms “psychopathy” or “psychopathy” are used. Considering that NIH funds literally thousands of projects, this can only be considered hopelessly inadequate. Overcoming this resistance to research on antisocial personality disorder and related conditions must be a priority.

We need wide-ranging projects to explore the origins of antisocial behavior and search for methods to change its course. Geneticists should investigate the mechanisms underlying antisocial behavior, locating genes that might predispose individuals to antisocial behavior and determining how these genes function. Neuroscientists should pinpoint brain regions or networks linked to antisocial behavior and identify biochemical and physiological pathways that influence its expression. A range of treatments — both drugs and therapy — need to be developed, tested, and refined.

Will these steps help us understand the conundrum of the mass shooter? Will they allow us to treat antisocial persons and prevent youth with antisocial tendencies from developing a full-blown disorder? We can certainly hope.

Donald W. Black, MD is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine in Iowa City. He is the author of Bad Boys, Bad Men: Confronting Antisocial Personality Disorder (Sociopathy), Revised and Updated (Oxford University Press, 2013).

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By Kathleen M. Heide, Ph.D.

The mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut is a tragic event that is particularly painful as it comes at a time when people across the world are trying to focus on the upcoming holidays as the season of peace bringing good tidings of great joy.

Three factors about the Newtown school shooting are noteworthy. First, it was a mass murder. Second, it appears to have been precipitated by the killing of a parent (parricide). Third, it was committed by a 20-year old man. All of these factors are relevant in making sense of what appears to be inexplicable violence.

What drives a person to take an assault rifle into an elementary school and open fire on very young children and the teachers, some of whom died protecting them? Individuals in these cases are typically suicidally depressed, alienated, and isolated. They have often suffered a series of losses and are filled with a sense of rage. All too frequently they see themselves as having been wronged and want to play out their pain on a stage. The fact that mass shootings are routinely covered in depth by the media is not lost on them. They are typically aware that their name will go down in history for their destructive acts. Their murderous rampage is an act of power by an individual who feels powerless. Unable to make an impact on society in a positive way, the killer knows that he can impact the world through an act of death and destruction.

The fact that the first victim was reportedly the victim’s mother is significant. The first victims in other adolescent school shootings have also involved parents in some cases. My research and clinical practice has indicated that there are four types of parricide offenders.

• The first type is the severely abused parricide offender who kills out of desperation or terror; his or her motive is to stop the abuse. These individuals are often diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or depression.
• The second type is the severely mentally ill parricide offender who kills because of an underlying serious mental illness. These individuals typically have a longstanding history of severe mental illness, often along the schizophrenia spectrum disorder or might be diagnosed as having depression or bi-polar disorder with psychotic features.
• The third type is the dangerously antisocial parricide offender who kills his or her parent to serve a selfish, instrumental reason. Reasons include killing to get their parents’ money, to date the boy or girl of their choice, and freedom to do what they want. These individuals are often diagnosed as having conduct disorder if under age 18 and antisocial personality disorder if over age 18. Some meet the diagnostic criteria of psychopathy. Psychopaths have interpersonal and affective deficits in additional to antisocial and other behavioral problems. They lack a connection to others and do not feel empathy. They do not feel guilty for their wrongdoing because they do not have a conscience.
• The fourth type is a parricide offender who appears to have a great deal of suppressed anger. If the anger erupts to a boiling point, the offspring may kill in an explosive rage often fueled by alcohol and/or drugs.

Interestingly, most parents are slain by their offspring in single victim-single offender incidents. Multiple victims incidents are rare. In an analysis of FBI data on thousands of parricide cases reported over a 32 year period, I found that on the average there were only 12 cases per year when a mother was killed along with other victims by a biological child. In more than 85% of these cases, the matricide offender was a son.

The actual number of victims involved in multiple victim parricide situations was small, usually two or three. Murders of the magnitude as seen in Newtown, CT that involved a parent as a first victim are exceedingly rare.

Assessment of the dynamics involved in the killing of parents is also important in terms of prognosis and risk assessment. The first victims of some serial murderers were family members, including parents. Serial murderers are defined as individuals who kill three or more victims in separate incidents with a cooling off period between them. If the parricide offender intended to kill his parent and derived satisfaction from doing so, he represents a great risk to society. (This type of killer is known as the Nihilistic Killer.)

The gunman’s age (in Newtown’s case, he was 20 years old) is also an important factor in understanding how an individual could engage in such horrific violence. Research has established that the brain is not fully developed until an individual reaches the age of 23 to 25 years old. The last area of the brain to develop is the pre-frontal cortex. This area of the brain is associated with thinking, judgment, and decision making. A 20-year-old man filled with rage would have great difficulty stopping, thinking, deliberating, and altering his course of action during his violent rampage. He is likely to be operating from the limbic system, the part of the brain associated with feelings. Adam Lanza was likely driven by raw feeling and out of control when he sprayed little children with rounds of gunfire. Simply put, it would be very difficult for him to put the brakes on and desist from his violent behavior.

Events like the shooting in Newtown leave society once again asking what can be done to stop the tide of senseless violence. Clearly Adam Lanza and other mass killers have been able to kill dozens of people in a matter of a few moments because of high powered weaponry. It is time to ask whether our nation can continue to allow assault weapons appropriate for our military to be easily available to citizens in our society. It is time for us to ask what can be done to increase access to mental health services to those who desperately need them. My prediction is, when the facts are more clearly known, risk factors will be identified in the case of Adam Lanza and missed opportunities to intervene to help Adam will be uncovered, contributing to the profound sadness that we are experiencing in the United States and across the world.

Kathleen M. Heide, Ph.D., is Professor of Criminology at the University of South Florida. Her lastest book, Understanding Parricide: When Sons and Daughters Kill Parents, was published in December 2012 by Oxford University Press.

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I don’t want to imagine receiving an automated phone call from my child’s school telling me there has been a shooting there.  That’s what happened today in Newtown, CT after a gunman entered… Read More →

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