Understanding Grieving Children at Different Ages

One of the many duties that we undertake as School Psychologists is supporting our schools in times of crisis.  While we always dread getting THAT phone call, informing us that one of our schools has experienced a death, we do have supports in place to assist students, teachers and families at these difficult times.  Unfortunately, members of our crisis teams - consisting of psychologists, counselors and social workers - have already been busy this year.

When you work with students from Kindergarten through 12th grade, as many of us do, it's important to have an understanding of how children grieve at various developmental stages, so that we can respond appropriately in times of crisis.  We wanted to share with you this chart from the website of The Sharing Place, a grief support group in Utah.  Not only does this chart provide information on how children at different ages may respond to grief, it also provides "Signs of Distress" and "Possible Interventions" for each of those age groups.

If you have a child who is struggling with grief, our local Hospice organization provided this guest blog last school year.  They offer a variety of services to help children and adults, including individual and group counseling services, as well as their annual summer camp for children.