Radio Smart Talk: How to talk to kids about Newtown shooting

Radio Smart Talk for Monday, December 17:

On Friday, December 14th, a gunman forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut around 9:30am and shot 26 people before killing himself. He'd also shot and killed his mother earlier that day.

Twenty children and six adults were killed at the school, all having been shot multiple times. The Newtown shooting is among the deadliest school massacres in United States history.

In a time when adults are trying to make sense of what's happened, how do we talk to children about it? On Monday's Radio Smart Talk at 9am, we'll hear from Leslie Delp, a bereavement specialist and founder of Olivia's House, a grief and loss center for children in York, about how to broach the subject with young children.

Jackie George, a registered play therapist and licensed clinical social worker at Leg Up Farm in Mt. Wolf, and Dr. Christopher Petersen, a child psychiatrist at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital, will join us as well.

Listen to the program:

Below is a link to "I am Adam Lanza's Mother," a blog post written by Liza Long, whose son suffers from mental illness:

http://thebluereview.org/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother/

Leslie Delp, founder of Olivia's House and child bereavement specialist, discusses how to answer children when they ask why the Newtown shooting happened.