Bibliography

Books

Gordon, Mary. Roots of Empathy: Changing the World Child by Child. Thomas Allen, Toronto. 2005.

Through Roots of Empathy, her highly successful organization, Mary Gordon creates a rich, rewarding classroom experience that fosters empathy within children. Bringing babies and children together creates a symbiotic loving environment that reduces aggression in children while increasing tolerance and emotional literacy. An interactive experience for parents, teachers, and children, the Roots of Empathy program aims to solve current and future problems in our society by teaching emotional literacy now. In "Roots of Empathy", the innovative, inspired book based on her groundbreaking research and success in actual classroom situations, Mary Gordon shares her vision of a nation of compassionate and caring children who will pass on their legacy of empathy to their own children.      

Online Articles

Gordon, Mary. 'Empathic Civilization': Building A New World One Child At A Time. The Huffington Post, February 18, 2010.

Excerpt:  "Empathy is correctly thought of as the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes to feel what they feel. There is both a cognitive and an emotional aspect to empathy. We need the cognitive side to take the perspective of another, and emotional knowledge to understand how that person would feel given their perspective. Once you feel empathy for someone else, it changes you, and often it changes your behavior. Empathy is the basis for all prosocial behavior -- traits such as sharing, caring, cooperating, standing up to injustice, and being inclusive."

Journal Articles

Gordon, Mary and Letchford, DonnaProgram Integrity, Controlled Growth Spell Success for Roots of Empathy. Education Canada, Vol. 49, No. 5, Fall 2009: pages 52-56.

Excerpt:  "When decisions are made to cut evidence-based universal prevention programs such as Roots of Empathy, there may (or may not) be short term savings. Depending on what targeted or clinical programs for children are needed to compensate. But long term, the cost to society is tremendous."

Gordon, Mary. Roots of Empathy: responsive parenting, caring societies.  The Keio Journal of Medicine 2003, Vol 52, No. 4 pages 236-243.

Excerpt: "Recent brain research indicates that since the brain is an experience-dependent organ, negative experiences such as child abuse contribute to the sculpting of the brain. The brain of an abused child looks substantially different from the brain of a non-abused child. The brain is the pathway to learning, behaviour, and even health, casting a long shadow."