Second Step Product Review

After comparing the advantages and disadvantages of all the curriculums that were presented during the poster presentation, I have decided to purchase the Second Step Early Learning curriculum developed by the organization Committee for Children. This curriculum teaches skills that improve students’ ability to understand their own and other’s emotions, show empathy, be able to self-regulate, solve problems, and decrease the frequency of their disruptive behavior, including both verbal and physical aggression. (Second Step Program Review of Research) There are two main reasons and a couple small advantages that make me decided to choose this curriculum:

Many children are victims of violence; this violence may be physical, or emotional, direct or indirect. In certain situations, the child’s experience

The purpose of this literature review is to evaluate the information that has been collected in the area of child sexual abuse prevention. From the research studies critically examined, a decision will be made as to what areas improvements need to be made in, in order to adequately outfit children, teachers and child care workers with the skills and knowledge to help prevent child sexual abuse.

The participants included 1000 kindergarten and 1000 fifth grade (N=2000) students from two elementary schools of Los Angeles Unifies School District (LAUSD). One of the schools was an affluent public school with abundant resources catered to children in need and programs that promote positivity and growth. The other school was also public, but had limited resources due to financial restraints. Of the participants, 50% were female and 50% were from low-income families. All

Children who are physically sexually abused can experience trauma and impediments in the development of the brain. Additionally, Perry (2009) states that the majority of critical structure and functional organization takes place in childhood, and by the age of three the brain has reached 90% of adult size. During this time any experience the child undergoes will last a lifetime. Among the psychological effects of CPSA are intense fear, depression, and anger. Victims also suffer from the long-term effects of

In the typical classroom, a 4-year-old child once said, “If someone wants to have sex with you, you have to do it.” (Rafanello) Child abuse is more prevalent now than ever, and the numbers are only growing. This shows us that child abuse is more relevant now than ever. The amount of damage inflicted on these children mentally range from mild to extreme. This is why it’s important that child abuse gets reported as soon as possible.

Emotional abuse is one of the most common forms of child abuse. When it comes to children emotional abuse includes encouraging children to develop self-destructive behavior, behavior that is threatening or likely to place the child or the child’s loved ones in danger, excessive, aggressive or unreasonable demands in which place expectations on a child that a child cannot meet, and ignoring a child’s attempt to interact. Emotional abuse in a child also includes the failure to provide the proper nurturing necessary for a child’s psychological growth and development. Terrorizing is the most common form of emotional abuse recognized in the case files, with nearly 81.1 percent of emotionally abuse children suffering from it. 63 percent of the emotionally abused children have experienced physical abuse and

When a child is physically beaten or sexually abused, the ideal set of eventsis that doctors treat the injuries, therapists counsel the child, social services works with the family, police arrest the offender, and attorneys prosecute the case. To promote this response, effective community interventioninvolves the formation of a child protection team that includes professionals from medicine, criminal justice, social work, and educationwhounderstandandappreciate the different roles, responsibilities, strengths,

Victimization comes in many different forms such as assault, child physical/sexual abuse, stalking, theft, rape, sexual harassment, and domestic/relationship violence. There are several negative outcomes that have been linked with childhood abuse and neglect such as neurobiological changes, emotional and psychiatric disorders, interpersonal issues and substance abuse problems (Min, Singer, Minnes, Kim, & Short, 2012). According to Reid and Sullivan (2009), children and adolescents are very vulnerable and are the most highly victimized individuals of the population and the kinds of victimization that they experience can come in many forms (Finkelhor et al., 2009). This victimization is known as poly-victimization (Finkelhor et al., 2009).

In addition, The Second Step program is designed to decrease aggressive behaviours and increase empathetic social behaviour. Unique to this program is that it affects all individuals within the school context even those who are not considered as at-risk (Frey, Nolen, Van & Hirchstein, 2004). To this extent, universal implementation can strengthen resilience of at-risk students without stigmatizing them. The intervention introduces three different units presented through situations, which include empathy training, impulse control and problem solving and anger management strategies (Frey, et al., 2004). This prevention program can be used in preschools and care programs in order to reduce aggression among students at an early age. Another resilience

The definition of “child sexual abuse” has come a long way since its origin. Today, it is defined as any sexual act between an adult and a minor, or between two minors, when one exerts power over the other; this includes non-contact acts such as exhibitionism, exposure to pornography, voyeurism, and communicating in a sexual manner by phone or Internet. It is one of the most prevalent health problems children face today because of the serious physiological and physical damage it imposes on the victim. Statistically, if someone to interview

On the other hand, there are many parents who are not at risk for abusing their children. And these parents believe that education is essential to its prevention. Parents can educate their children by teaching them the difference between right and wrong touch and the significance of body ownership. Additionally, and also just as important, parents can teach their children how to say no to a potential abuser. This dramatically decreases the chance that the child will targeted for abuse. Lastly, parents can teach their children about the importance of disclosing abuse to a trusted adult such as a school employee or counselor. (“National Committee to

Although schools, agencies and pediatricians can do much at the community level to mitigate bullying and its effects, the problem is clearly societal in scope. Bullying cannot be stopped with a single intervention or by a single social agency. The use of violence to solve problems is repeatedly illustrated through television and other visual media. Many parents of bullies believe that it is appropriate for their children to learn how to compete in the schoolyard and do not see bullying as an issue (Feldman Hertz, Donato, & Wright, 2013). Too many children in our society are exposed to domestic violence directed towards parents and themselves. Too many children are born into adverse family situations, including low maternal age at the birth

However, all forms of child abuse carry emotional consequences because the child's psychological and emotional development inevitably suffers from all forms of abuse. An intervention model that would focus on emotional abuse could also focus on preventing other forms of abuse because violent behavior towards children often comes from the same underlying causes, and most risk factors for child maltreatment are associated with caregiver, family, and environmental factors (McDonald, 2007). With this in mind, a possible solution would have to include early detection, but the intervention would most likely focus on factors that cause all types of child abuse. Despite the widespread occurrences of all forms of abuse, emotional neglect or maltreatment are practically impossible to detect while they occur and impair the child's normal development and social integration. Emotional abuse includes includes verbal, mental, and psychological maltreatment of children, and it is frequently overlooked by the community and mental health professionals who do not define emotional abuse as a suitable factor for diagnostic purposes (as cited in Schneider, Baumrind, & Kimerling, 2007). In reality, emotional abuse is frequently used in many families, it occurs in several worldwide cultures, and it carries significant consequences that should not be overlooked.

Emotional abuse can cause serious burdens on society. Emotional abuse has a significant cost in educational and societal failures, crime, and health care costs (Hibbard, Barlow, & MacMillan, 2012) Pediatricians need to be alert and trained in recognizing emotional maltreatment of children. This can be a very difficult task for pediatricians. Learning to interview children when they are developmentally ready is an important skill which can be critical in detecting emotional abuse. Children who have been emotionally abused have higher rates of psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and aggression. Providers need to be cognizant of risk factors that may indicate a greater risk for emotional abuse. Some of the risk factors were parental psychiatric illness, depression, and substance