Preventing Youth Violence: A Guide for Parents, Teachers, and Counselors

Rating:
Summary: Preventing Youth Violence
Review: I found Preventing Youth Violence to be a really helpful book. I am neither a teacher, parent, nor counselor, but my work in the service sector brings me in contact with children and teenagers after school and I have been able to use Dr. Flannery's continuum of warning signs to identify troubled kids. I find Dr. Flannery's discussion of the nature and components of caring attachments (pgs. 54-60 in the paperback edition) to be easily understood. I now have a clear understanding of attachments and have been able to put this information to use in reaching out to kids and in reducing the rowdiness and loneliness that some bring to my worksite. I can see why Library Journal highly recommended this book for the general reader like myself.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended for the general reader
Review: I found Preventing Youth Violence to be a really helpful book. I am neither a teacher, parent, nor counselor, but my work in the service sector brings me in contact with children and teenagers after school and I have been able to use Dr. Flannery's continuum of warning signs to identify troubled kids. I find Dr. Flannery's discussion of the nature and components of caring attachments (pgs. 54-60 in the paperback edition) to be easily understood. I now have a clear understanding of attachments and have been able to put this information to use in reaching out to kids and in reducing the rowdiness and loneliness that some bring to my worksite. I can see why Library Journal highly recommended this book for the general reader like myself.

Rating:
Summary: Preventing Youth Violence
Review: I found this book to be extremely helpful and precisely what I was looking for. Like everyone else these days, I have far too little time and too much to do. I needed a book on troubled kids that was clearly written, easy to follow, and to the point. Preventing Youth Violence filled the bill perfectly.

Dr. Flannery has obviously spent a lot of time doing a thorough review of the professional literature about troubled children. But he does not write in jargon. His work is very accessible to a nonprofessional like myself. He writes clearly and summarizes very well the various warning signs that kids give us. He helps me to understand the types of hurts that children experience and how these hurts can result in anger, depression, and sometimes escalate into violence.

The author not only discusses the problems, but goes into solutions, giving concise steps on how to begin helping individual kids. Working within his general outline, I can go at my own pace and think through the complexities of reaching out to these children.

I like this book because it is well researched, with a wealth of medical and scientific information that is presented in a nontechnical way. I also like his use of tables and charts. The text and tables complement each other well and I found them useful. If you are concerned with the violence in kids that is becoming more and more of a problem and are looking for steps you can take, consider taking a look at this book.

Rating:
Summary: It has important information, but needs more substance!
Review: This text, first published 30 days after the Columbine tragedy, appears to have been rushed. It would provide useful information to responsible and concerned parents, but unfortunately those parents are the ones who are least likely to have the children with the warning signs the book discusses: disrupted attachments, disrupted mastery skills, depression, PTSD, substance abuse, and Conduct Disorder. These are problems which are, except in relatively rare cases which are sometimes physiological in nature - even according to the author, rooted in inadequate home situations. Therefore, the book seems to be based in part on a flawed premise. Those who are attempting to help the parents may benefit more (counselors, teachers, etc.)

A major table in the text which is supposed to delineate possible risk factors regarding youth violence is so poorly constructed it cannot be read with any certain understanding (p. 45 of the paperback version). In another passage the text states "residential placement outside of the home for a time may also be needed to provide for the child a structure that contains cognitive and behavioral disorganization." I hope that was a "typo." In many other places, important facts and statistics are not supported by references of any kind.

Many practical items were left out which could have helped naive parents and professionals alike. A list of the type of items children take to school as weapons would be one example. Many parents would not suspect large rings, or know to check for something as small as a box cutter. No mention is made of the many standardized tests available to help objectively determine which children might need help - and objectivity is crucial from the parents viewpoint, as well as to protect our schools and counselors from liability issues. We must be able to objectively justify interventions we propose. The solutions section of the book is also very limited. None of the developed and recognized solutions are discussed - instead, the reader is basically advised again to assess the aforementioned warning signs and "reverse" them somehow. A scant one page is devoted to "Fostering Attachments," which Dr. Flannery has cited as being the root of all the warning signs, the fundamental key to preventing violence.

Finally, this book, which is primarily devoted to illuminating the warning signs of violence potential, is neither specific enough or complete enough given our current level of understanding. The most commonly cited triad of childhood precursors to violence (in the professional literature) are barely noted, and then only in reference to conduct disorder: enuresis, pyromania, and cruelty to animals. One outstanding longitudinal study found aggressive behavior at age 8 as the absolute best single predictor of later adult aggressive behavior, but this was never mentioned. These are the kinds of specific information that could be very helpful - especially to the nonprofessional.

A book which rectifies these shortcomings should be well-received. There is certainly a need for it; as parents and as a society we are facing a desperate problem with youth violence which must be addressed.