Grief & Loss: A Child's Perspective

It is important for teachers to know how to relate to and deal with a child in class who loses a family member or classmate to illness or traumatic death. This program provides an overview of the grieving process as experienced by children ranging in age from four to 12. Interspersed with information for adults are conversations with children about the grieving process and how they were affected by the death of their parent, sibling, or another family member. Among the concepts discussed are significant life changes that occur as a result of the death, the concept of death, and having a choice to decide whether or not to attend the funeral. The creators of the program talk about the importance of listening to the child and giving him or her opportunities to share both good and bad memories. Also discussed is the need to provide distractions and constructive coping activities. Production values of the video are generally good and, where the child's words are not easily understood, captioning is provided.—Ann Brownson, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston