One Child

Published in 1980, One Child: The True Story of a Tormented Six-Year-Old and the Brilliant Teacher Who Reached Out is a memoir by child psychologist Torey Hayden. Set in the early 1970s, the book follows Hayden's experiences working with Shelia, a severely disturbed yet incredibly gifted little girl who is placed in Hayden's special education class to await institutionalization. In addition to her work as a child psychologist and special education teacher, Hayden is the author of several fiction and non-fiction books. In 1994, One Child was adapted into a Lifetime television movie titled Untamed Love.

Special education teacher Torey Hayden always tries to do the best she can with what she has. Her classroom is a long, secluded room with a single window at the end. Her assistants are a high school dropout named Anton and a teenage volunteer named Whitney. Her students are the most severely handicapped children in the system, the ones everyone else has given up on. According to state regulations, classrooms such as Torey's may hold no more than eight students, and she currently has a full roster of kids aged six to nine. Each of them struggles with severe challenges, such as schizophrenia, suicidal thoughts, seizures, and OCD. They are the "garbage class."

When a new student named Shelia is suddenly added to Torey's class just after Christmas vacation, bringing her total to a regulation-breaking nine kids, she knows the circumstances must be special. Indeed they are: at only six years old, the girl has already had three encounters with the police. But most recently, she tied a three-year-old to a tree and then proceeded to burn him. The authorities have decided that she is to be institutionalized; however, there is no room. Sheila now finds herself a member of Torey's class simply because the state needs somewhere to put her until facilities at the institution become available.



Two years prior to this, Shelia's 18-year-old mother abandons her on the side of the freeway. Now the girl lives in a single-room shack with her abusive, alcoholic father. There is no water to bathe, and she only has one pair of clothing; understandably, she smells bad. On the first day of class, she refuses to speak or even move from her chair at all, and the other students react negatively to her presence. During lunch, she finally leaves her chair and gouges out the eyes of the classroom goldfish with the tip of a pencil. When she is caught, she flees to the gym, and Torey has to gently coax her back to the classroom.

As time passes, Torey remains calm and patient with Sheila regardless of how she misbehaves, and gradually, the girl begins to trust her teacher. Torey bathes her every morning, taking extra time to brush and style Sheila's hair with colorful clips--something Sheila especially enjoys. Torey teaches the neglected girl about hygiene and slowly expands her lessons into how to behave around other people.

Eventually Sheila starts participating with the rest of the class and even makes a few friends. It soon becomes apparent that she is extremely gifted. Although she refuses to work with paper, in all other tasks, she demonstrates abilities far beyond the first-grade level. When she is given an IQ test, she scores 182, which Torey says is a one in 10,000 capability for a six-year-old.



Challenges still abound, however. Sheila proves obsessive, especially over her fear of abandonment. She never, ever cries. When another teacher scolds her in the lunch room, she sneaks into the teacher's office and causes $700 worth of damage. When Torey leaves for a few days to attend a conference, Sheila is nearly uncontrollable despite having been told many times prior that Torey would be back and was not, in fact, abandoning her. Regardless of the difficulties, her improvement is remarkable.

About halfway through the semester, Torey receives word that the institution has room for Sheila. Terrified for the girl's future, Torey takes the case to court with the help of her lawyer boyfriend, Chad. Their efforts are successful, and the couple takes Sheila out for pizza afterwards.

Sheila comes to class one day obviously unwell. She sits on Torey's lap, and Torey discovers that the girl is bleeding profusely. Sheila tells a horrifying story: the night before, her uncle cut her genitals with a knife while attempting to rape her. Torey rushes the girl to the hospital, where she undergoes emergency surgery. Afterwards she heals well, but Torey remains concerned about her emotional state. Sheila is sadly used to being abused, however, and seems to take the event in stride with the rest of her home life issues.



As the school year comes to a close, Torey begins preparing Sheila to move ahead to the third-grade class, where she can be better challenged academically. Torey, on the other hand, has been inspired by her students and is leaving the school to pursue further education in the field of child psychology. She introduces Sheila to the third-grade teacher and helps them forge a relationship. There will be ups and downs to come, but Torey is confident that Sheila will be able to adapt and overcome them.