Victoria Lynn Hayden, known as Torey L. Hayden (born 21 May 1951 in

Livingston, Montana Livingston is a city and county seat of Park County, Montana, United States. It is in southwestern Montana, on the Yellowstone River, north of Yellowstone National Park. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,040. History T ...

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

), is a

special education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

teacher, university lecturer and writer of non-fiction books based on her real-life experiences with teaching and counseling children with special needs and also of fiction books. Subjects covered in her books include

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

Tourette syndrome Tourette syndrome or Tourette's syndrome (abbreviated as TS or Tourette's) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) ...

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...

, fetal alcohol syndrome, and elective mutism (now called

selective mutism Selective mutism (SM) is an anxiety disorder in which a person who is otherwise capable of speech becomes unable to speak when exposed to specific situations, specific places, or to specific people, one or multiple of which serving as triggers. ...

), her specialty.

Biography

Hayden attended high school in

Billings, Montana Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metr ...

and graduated in 1969. She attended

Whitman College Whitman College is a private liberal arts college in Walla Walla, Washington. The school offers 53 majors and 33 minors in the liberal arts and sciences, and it has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1. Whitman was the first college in the Pacifi ...

Walla Walla, Washington Walla Walla is a city in Walla Walla County, Washington, where it is the largest city and county seat. It had a population of 34,060 at the 2020 census, estimated to have decreased to 33,927 as of 2021. The population of the city and its two ...

. She received a master's degree in special education from

Montana State University Billings Montana State University Billings (or MSU Billings) is a public university in Billings, Montana. It is the state's third largest university. Its campus is located on 110 acres in downtown Billings. Formerly Eastern Montana Normal School at its ...

in 1975 and moved to

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

in Minneapolis for a doctorate in educational psychology. While there, she also worked with the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the university hospitals. Hayden moved to Wales in 1980 and married a Scotsman named Ken in 1982. In 1985 they had a daughter (Sheena). Hayden is divorced. In Wales Hayden has worked primarily with charities associated with

child neglect A form of child abuse, child neglect is an act of caregivers (e.g., parents) that results in depriving a child of their basic needs, such as the failure to provide adequate supervision, health care, clothing, or housing, as well as other physica ...

and

abuse Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of a thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, crimes, or other t ...

, including Childline, the NSPCC, the Samaritans and the Citizens' Advice Bureau. She has written five books of fiction in addition to her non-fiction books (see below).

Works

Non-fiction

* '' One Child'' (1980) * ''Somebody Else’s Kids'' (1981) * ''Murphy’s Boy'' (1983) / ''Silent Boy '' (British title for Murphy's Boy) * '' Just Another Kid'' (1988) * ''Ghost Girl'' (1991) * ''The Tiger’s Child'' (1995) * ''Beautiful Child'' (2002) * ''Twilight Children'' (2005) * ''Lost Child'' (2019) * ''The Invisible Girl'' (2021)

Fiction

* ''The Sunflower Forest'' (1984) * ''The Mechanical Cat'' (1998) / ''Overheard In A Dream'' (English title for The Mechanical Cat) * ''The Very Worst Thing'' (2003) * ''Innocent Foxes'' (2011) (In UK)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayden, Torey 1951 births American expatriates in the United Kingdom Autism activists Child psychologists Living people People from Livingston, Montana University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development alumni Whitman College alumni National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children people es:Ghost Girl