FWCS, counselors get ready to help Aliahna's classmates

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - As the whole community mourns the death of 9-year-old Aliahna Lemmon, counselors are paying particularly close attention to her classmates. Students will return to Holland Elementary Thursday and extra counselors will be there to help anyone who needs it.

“You can shield your child from TV all that you want, but when they go back to school, everyone's going to be talking about this,” explained Cindy Maldonado-Schaefer, a program director at Erin's House for Grieving Children. “Then they're going to come home and ask you questions.”

Maldonado-Shaefer said kids Aliahna's age are particularly curious about death. “We call that age group the ‘CSI Age Group’. They are very, very physical about the death. They’re the ones that if they hear these stories or they hear the details, or they may go to the funeral, they're going to ask: Why don't I see the feet in the casket? Why was my person cold? Why did he do what he did?” she said.

Because this case is so graphic and getting national attention , counselors suggest parents and teachers get prepared to answer those tough questions.

“It's not a comforting topic, but it's something they need to address and that's how they (kids) process it and it's ok,” she said. “We don't go into specific details, but it's ok to answer what they ask you.”

Any personality change in a child could be a sign of grief or stress, so counselors say don't ignore anything. “Any reaction to grief and such as complicated grief as this case is, it's all normal,” said Maldonado-Shaefer.

Krista Stockman, the spokesperson for FWCS said counselors from the Bowen Center, some of the middle schools, and Associated Churches will be at Holland for as long as they need to be. She said they want the day to be as normal as possible for students, but will be watching closely for kids or teachers who may be having a hard time.