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CNN Live At Daybreak

America Recovers: For America's Children, Most Psychologists Say it Has Been Difficult Making Sense of September 11th

Aired November 02, 2001 - 08:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: It is very difficult for everyone to make sense of what happened on September 11th, and for America's children, most psychologists say it has been even more difficult.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The crash into the best building in the world. I was really sad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I could imagine how hard it would be for the kids that lost her parents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm afraid they could bomb, Afghani people could try to bomb Washington D.C., and they could miss and maybe hit our town, or city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Even though it has been seven weeks since the terrorists attacks, can you tell whether it's having any lingering affect on your child? We're going to get some help with that this morning from Dr. Steven Shelov, head of pediatrics at Maimonides Medical Center, did I get that right?

STEVEN SHELOV, MAIMONIDES MEDICAL CENTER: Maimonides, that's right.

ZAHN: I've worked on that all night.

I imagine you have gotten tremendous questions from parents if the community and I know you've visited schools. Give us your assessment where kids are today.

SHELOV: Well, it's complicated. First, in the very beginning, there is denial, shock, depending how close they are to the scene. Much of it has dissipated, it's appropriate. Many of can kids are really resilient, and now we are into a different phase, where some kids are really all healed and they have it in perspective, and other kids are not, and they are manifesting anxiety, tensions, sleeplessness, appetite changes.

ZAHN: Those are the most obvious things to look for if your child may not be communicating to you verbally, but maybe having problems.

SHELOV: Exactly, I mean, school-age, 5 to 12-year-old kids, will do it, as we talked about through art, pictures, or other things that will show that there is still very much on their mind. Teenagers, young teenagers, will talk more about it, in terms of what their anxiety is, if they are having it. The key is not over-responding, but being there for them, listening, and identifying those kids are really having still a lot of trouble.

ZAHN: So as a parent, should you initiate conversations, or should you really leave it up to your child to express concern and then talk about it.

SHELOV: I think it's always better to let the child take the lead. We don't want to sort of overinduce a response, but at the same time, we want to be responsible when a child says, you know, I'm still worried about this, or I'm still fearful. You may see, for instance, on occasions, regressions, a disruptive thing, a firecracker goes off or something, and they immediately trigger that kind of response. It's important to be there. Ensure their safety, that's the key.

ZAHN: But you know, doctor, that is so tough, particularly for folks living in New York City.

SHELOV: Right.

ZAHN: Because you want to be honest with your child but not too honest. So you know, we had this latest warning this week. Within the context of that, I'm sure you've heard, I mean, my 12-year-old daughter, asked, when is it going to happen? Where is it going to happen? What is the best way to answer those questions when a parent might be feeling particularly vulnerable?

SHELOV: Well, it's such a complicated issue. Your own, our own anxieties as parents -- I'm a father as well -- are inevitable. Try not to communicate that downwards to child, because they have plenty of their own.

The key is surrounding them with a sense that they will be all right, they will be secure. Being there when they're having their decomposition times, when they're sort of losing it a little bit, realize that this is very different than a one-time disaster thing. That was critically important, and it still is important, but these ongoing anxieties need attention, focus on them, responding to their regressions occasionally, and it's going to continue. That's why this is not a subject that's just going to go away.

ZAHN: It's interesting to me that -- obviously, each child is different, but I was talking to a second grade teacher who say saying that in her classroom, the kids really didn't talk about what happened on September 11th, and yet the post popular building project in the building block area was rebuilding the twin towers, so obviously, kids internalize something very deeply.

SHELOV: Well, when we went to the schools, one of the things we found was different kids if the class responding differently. Some put their head down. Others kids would want to articulate and talk about what they were feeling. Others talk about losses they had, but each served as a help to the other in the class, and encouraging sort of a communal healing, critically important. Family and schools is where the healing processes will be cited.

ZAHN: I can clearly hear in everything you hear your great respect for children. We really do need to honor the resilience of children, don't we? I think sometimes it's kind of easy to forget that. We perceive them as maybe more fragile than they actually are.

SHELOV: They're beautiful, but they need us especially these times. They are resilient, thank God.

ZAHN: We need you in these especially difficult time.

SHELOV: We're doing our best. It's my pleasure to be part of that.

ZAHN: Dr. Steven Shelov, thank you very much for your insights this morning. Appreciate it.

SHELOV: Thank you.

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