Customer Reviews

Somebody Else's Kids

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is yet another outstanding account of Ms. Hayden's work with children. The children assigned to her resource room featured in this book are a 12-year-old girl who is pregnant; an 11-year-old boy who witnessed the murder of his father; a 7-year-old girl whose father battered her during her infancy causing severe brain damage and a 7-year-old boy whose behavior is described as autistic.

In the interest of fairness, there is really no way for readers to "know" or declare how "pretty" any of the pupils are; this is not the place to proclaim "favorite pupils." Responding to the individual gifts each pupil had to offer is the underlying theme of this book. "Somebody Else's Kids" chronicles the lives of real people that most readers don't even know. In the interest of fairness, without personally knowing the teacher assigned to Lori, the 7-year-old, it is very easy to make a strong case against her based on her response to this child's academic needs. Early in the book, Lori's teacher, identified as "Edna Thorsen," is described as being an excellent teacher with a long standing in conventional teaching methods. Although her treatment and response to Lori is indeed shocking, again, in the interest of fairness, it is simply the way the events are portrayed in this book. This is not to overlook her long established career.

Tomaso, the boy who witnessed his father's death and Lori form a strong bond in that class that is indeed heartwarming. They appear to be mutually good influences and accounts of the progress they make are truly inspiring. Claudia, the 12-year-old girl and Boo, the youngest child make incredible strides as well. Indeed this group is proof positive of human resilience and the sterling examples of kindness that were extended to them. Their story is one about fairness.

Torey Hayden, author of "One Child," charts a year in the life of a special education classroom with some unusual and unforgettable students. They include Claudia, an academically gifted, pregnant twelve-year-old; Tomaso, who witnessed the death of his father; Lori, a girl whose abuse left her unable to read and write; and Boo, an autistic boy with a fondness for giving weather reports. How they bond, become a class, and deal with the largely unsympathetic outside world makes for a remarkable story. Even more gratifying is the epilogue, in which we learn that all four made gains after they graduated from Hayden's class, all quite remarkably.

Somebody Else's Kids was the first book I read of Torey Hayden's. Since then, I have read her statement that this is the one book of hers that she cannot bear to reread as it was penned quickly and she doesn't like the writing.
Maybe it was this perceived lack of "attention" to the writing dynamics that makes this book a little different than her others, and to me, a little more memorable.
When looking into Ms. Hayden's works, the one most often cited is One Child. I have read this, as well as others such as The Tiger's Child and Ghost Girl, but Somebody Else's Kids just has a different feel to me - less forced, less heroic, just her work with very different children put together in the same classroom. The cases she refers to in this book are also quite different from the others she writes about (ie. elective mutism, autism), this time dealing with pre-teen pregnancy and illiteracy brought on by brain damage.
It's a refreshing change from her other works and just as powerful, in its own way, as her other novels. I have enjoyed everything Ms. Hayden has written, but this one just stands out to me as an understated account. A worthwhile read.

Special ed teacher Torey Hayden tells the story of a year within her classroom, when she struggled to help four students -- 12-year-old Claudia, a shy, bright parochial school student who is pregnant; Tomaso, a Mexican 10-year-old who became wild and unreachable after his stepmother murdered his father; seven-year-old Lori, unable to learn after physical abuse at the hands of her biological parents resulted in brain damage; and Boo, also seven, and severely autistic.

Most days, Heyden admits, she was full of frustration, as these four kids aren't exactly easy to work with. In addition, having the four -- with widely different needs -- *together* was also a challenge. But still, something within her refused to give up. Although many others before her had dismissed each of the children as lost, Heyden wanted to believe that wasn't true.

Although it crosses into the realm of potential sap, preachiness or self-admiration, the book never goes there. While Heyden's quest to help the children -- and resulting success with them -- puts her well ahead of others, she never takes on the air of patting herself on the back for it. Rather, she is a mere human; one who often becomes frustrated, as anyone else might be; and far from perfect. Often, as she becomes fixated on the children, Heyden forgets to balance the other areas of her life, which become problematic as a result.

This is a fascinating look at a year in the lives of four different special needs children, and what one caring individual does to try to help them.

Torey Hayden's book is very interesting. Her book is written much like a journal, and contains many of her reactions to situations at work and the effect that they have on her personal life. The children with whom she works are of very different backgrounds and have a wide range of problems. She doesn't seem to have any magic answers for those who deal with troubled children.She does seem to stress acceptance of individual differences, and uses a loving yet firm approach with all of the children.She admits to not having any answers when it comes to dealing with some of the children who are so seriosly emotionally involved that they are unable to relate to those around them.Her classroom has a daily routine, she encourages thoughtfulness and kindness toward others, and she uses lots of cooperative learning techniques, while also individualizing instruction.Although her main focus in the classroom is educational, her conversations with the children are frequently very therapeutic because of the open relationship which she has with all of her students>P<Ms. Hayden's total involvement in the children's lives and the level of support which she offers their parents are truly amazing.Her teaching methods seem almost intuitive.As she tells one of her visiting supervisors, "I change what I surmise I have a chance at changing.The rest I accept, at least until I can figure out what to do about it."As I read her book, it seemed to me that Ms. Hayden was able to help those students who had been emotionally harmed by their past experiences precisely because they knew that she was accepting of them as people of worth.She offered the unconditional love of which they had been deprived, and which is vital to the emotional well-being of every individual.All educators could benefit from reading her book.Fortunately most of us don't have to deal with children for whom life is so difficult, but we all deal with children who are a product of their past experiences, both good and bad, and who need to know that we truly care.Shirley Branham

This is my second book of Torey Hayden's that I have read. While reading her books you can actually feel your emotions going out to all these children. Torey is an exceptional teacher. I only hope that I can be just that good in my work with children. The more I read her books the more I tend to want to work with Special Kids. My desire is to be a Middle Grades teacher, but I feel for Torey's kids and the desire to follow in her footsteps is really overpowering. All these children need is someone to give them a little special attention. I feel the same way Torey does, "that no child is a lost cause." No matter what problems a child has there is always a way of handling them. Too many people want to shut these Special Children out of society. You know the old saying, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind." I feel that we need more people like Torey to see that all these children need is our time, patience, support and understanding. We can make a big difference in all our children's lives if we only take the opportunity to do so. All children are "Special" in their own way.

Somebody Else's Kids by Torey L. Hayden shows the challenge of teaching four troubled children. Torey's class is known as "the class that created itself." Although Torey has taught special education classes before, she has never had a class like this. Torey really takes these four children to heart and can't stop trying to help them, even after she fails. I think this effort makes Torey an excellent teacher. Torey cared more about her four students, Boo (who is autistic), Lori (who cannot learn how to read), Tomaso (who is violently angry), and Claudia (who was put out by her Catholic school when she became pregnant) then their own parents did. I give Torey a lot of credit; most people wouldn't be up for this type of challenge. I would recommend this book to anyone, whether they have an interest in special education or whether they just have to read it for a college English class. This is truly a wonderful and inspiring book.

I really enjoyed the book. However, I did not like Edna, nor was I to pleased with Dan. Edna felt that Special Education children were not like normal children, and that she knew everything that there was to know about all children. There are some teachers that feel the way that Edna does,an I think that is wrong. And, Dan seemed to be afraid of Edna. He needed a mind of his own. I felt that he was afraid because Edna had tenture and all teachers with tenture do not know everything and most of them are set in their ways and are not going to change, whether they are wrong or right. The book was very interesting to me, and I could relate to it because of my experience of being a paraprofessional. I would like to add that I feel that special children behave better than normal children and should not be considered special

I am a student at Macon College majoring in education. I read this book for a class and I think it was a great book to read. I enjoyed knowing that there's someone out there who is concerned about the welfare of our children. A good teacher goes past the limit making sure the students memorize information for a test. Tory, the teacher in this story was aware of the different diversities she had in her class,and she was able to accomadate each one according to their needs. I was overjoyed by the patience she showed to each of her students. She put her own life on hold to make sure her students got the attention they needed and deserved from a teacher.It's great to know that there's someone out there who loves somebody else's kids!

Somebody Else's Kids
Author: Torey Hayden
Genre: Narrative Nonfiction

This book is another outstanding book by Torey Hayden. Torey Hayden recounts her story of one year working with 'troubled children.' Four problem children are placed into her resource room because nobody knew what else to do with them. They were a miscellaneous group of children in great pain: a 12-year-old girl that has been cast out of a Catholic school, an 11-year-old violent and angry boy who witnessed the murder of his father, a 7-year-old girl whose father beat her during infancy causing severe brain damage, and a 7-year-old boy whose behavior is described as autistic. One thing they all had in common was a remarkable teacher who would never stop caring as they all became a family.

I really enjoyed this book! Torey Hayden's compassionate writing portrays the power of love. I would recommend this book to anyone that will listen. I am an education major so it taught me the importance of patience and the rewards you can get from it. But I feel that this is a universal concept that everyone would enjoy and learn from!