The issue of family violence transcends the four walls of the household. Recent studies suggest that it is now impinging on the classroom by influencing the learning process. This is especially true for young girls and adolescent women. This paper will present an extensive review of the literature concerning the impact of early abuse on learning. It will also discuss a series of case studies that investigated the learning styles, attributional patterns, and levels of post traumatic stress disorder in 10 women who had experienced physical, sexual, and verbal violence as children or adolescents. Extensive interviews elicited specific examples of the effects of childhood trauma on learning processes. Implications for child and youth care workers in educational contexts are discussed.