This course examines the impact of adverse backgrounds on children’s behavior, relationships, learning, and future success in the classroom. The presentation will encourage understanding, nurture empathy, and assist early educators in supporting children who are struggling with life circumstances such as foster care, parental incarceration, and poverty.

Participants will increase their empathy and understanding of the life experiences of: children in foster care, those who struggle with economic and residential instability, and children with parents who are incarcerated. They will gain a better understanding of the behaviors students from adverse backgrounds may exhibit in the school setting and increase the repertoire of ways to respond and support these students in order to bolster self-esteem for students from adverse backgrounds.