Newswise — As you cover today's school shooting in Pennsylvania, please feel free to contact Dr. Scott Poland, professor of psychology at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. and a national expert on school violence.
He has counseled teachers and students after nearly a dozen school shootings. He calls it "psychologial triage," and uses the "60-20-20 rule."
"Sixty percent of students will recover and do well with existing support systems," he says. "Twenty percent will have minor problems. And 20 percent will have major problems. The challenge is to identify which group a student belongs to."
Factors include physical proximity to the violence, social proximity to the victim(s) and individual crisis history.
He advises parents to limit children's exposure to the story, when possible, and also talking about the fear often triggered by school shootings. "You don't have to have the answers," he says, "You just need to ask the questions."
Poland is the author of four books on school crisis and has over 25 years of experience. He has served on national crisis teams after numerous school shootings including those in Littleton, CO, and Red Lake, MN.
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