It’s to help kids like that that Brannan and her volunteers put together an informational packet on secondary trauma for parents to give to teachers, explaining their battle-worthy idiosyncrasies and sensory-processing sensitivities.
This sentence is a Factual claim because what is being stated in this sentence is a fact. The fact is that Brannan and her volunteers put together an informational packet. This sentence is also a proposal claim because it is saying that if these packets are informing teachers about secondary trauma.
They’re common enough problems that the Department of Health and Human Services got in touch with Brannan about distributing the packet more widely.
This is casual and factual because part of the sentence is a fact when it talks about the department of health and human services. This is a casual claim because part of the sentence is like an ordinary sentence.
Brannan gave the packet to Katie’s kindergarten teacher, but thinks the teacher just saw it as an excuse for bad behavior. Last fall, she switched Katie to a different school, where she hopes more understanding will lead to less anxiety.
This part of the paragraph is an analogy claim because Brannan had switched her daughter to a different school where they are more understanding. This will make Brannan less anxious. This is also a factual claim because they tell us that Brannan gave the packet to the kindergarten teacher.
Though Brannan hopes Katie will come out of childhood healthy, she still says, “She’s not a normal kid. She does things, and says things. She’s a grown-up in a six-year-old’s body in a lot of ways.”
This quote is a numerical claim because they are comparing her age to the way she acts. They are using a specific number to make this claim of how the age that she is six years old and she acts older. This claim is also a Factual claim because they state that she is not a normal kid meaning that she doesn’t act like the average kid.
She certainly looks like a normal kid when she comes down from her room dressed for tap class. In a black leotard, pink tights, and shiny black tap shoes, she looks sweet as pie.
This quote is a categorical claim because they are talking about the way she dresses reflects her age. The category is the clothing that she wears to go to her tap classes and this is something girls her age would wear for dance class. This is also a casual claim because they are saying that she looks like a normal kid.
Brannan is stern but impeccably patient.
This is a factual claim because the author is telling the reader a fact about Brannan’s personality. This is also a comparative claim because the author is comparing her being stern to her also being patient.
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Counterintuitive Fall 2022 
Hi professor, would you be able to take a look and see if I have interpreted the claims correctly.
You’ve done good work here, Devils, but let’s look at your first entry in closer detail.
You’re certainly correct that the paragraph makes a causal claim. Does it contain any internal claims that together contribute to the overall claim?
It’s to help kids
—Causal Claim. It describes the reason for putting together a packet. Anything that describes the intention for an action explains WHY something was done, which is a causal claim.
Brannan and her volunteers put together an informational packet on secondary trauma
—Factual Claim. One of the few in your section. It describes a set of actions about which there is no dispute. It contains tiny incidental Qualitative or Descriptive claims that the packets were informational and that the traumas described were secondary. Both are disputable. The packets might contain very little actual information. The traumas the children suffer are, to those children, primary traumas.
kids like that
—An obvious Comparative Claim that purports to find significant similarities between Katie and other kids.
for parents to give to teachers
—Another Causal Claim that describes why the packets were given to parents.
explaining their battle-worthy idiosyncrasies
—A bit of a Descriptive claim asserting that the packets in fact explained something plus a Qualitative Claim asserting that the children’s idiosyncrasies are severe enough to be compared to those suffered by soldiers in battle.
and sensory-processing sensitivities
—A fairly audacious Qualitative claim that asserts not only that the kids have sensitivities to sensory stimuli but also that their ability to process them is somehow idiosyncratic.
They’re common enough problems
—A Comparative claim combined with a Causal Claim that the “problems” reach the threshold needed to be taken seriously.
that the Department of Health and Human Services got in touch
—A Factual Claim not disputed by anyone that we know of.
with Brannan about distributing the packet
—A rather vague Factual Claim combined with a rather vague Causal Claim. Did they contact Brannan to request THAT she distribute the packet, or did they request that she NOT distribute the packet?
more widely.
—An obviously Comparative Claim comparing degrees of wideness.
That may appear to be slightly overboard, Devils, but the point of the exercise is to heighten your awareness of the persuasive functionality of virtually everything a writer says in a persuasive essay.
Does that make sense?
Yes this makes a lot more sense now. Thank you.
Hi professor I have changed up the claims would you be able to take a look at them. I have looked deeper into the sentences and found more claims which at first was difficult but I have learned from it.
[ This is casual and factual because part of the sentence is a fact when it talks about the department of health and human services. This is a casual claim because part of the sentence is like an ordinary sentence. ]
—There’s no such thing as a casual claim, Devils (unless you’re inventing one, like an informal claim). The word we’ve been using, similar in spelling, is causal, as in cause and effect, used to identify causation when one thing causes another.
[This part of the paragraph is an analogy claim because Brannan had switched her daughter to a different school where they are more understanding. This will make Brannan less anxious. This is also a factual claim because they tell us that Brannan gave the packet to the kindergarten teacher.]
—You seem to be missing many facets of these two sentences, Devils. There’s no analogy that I can see, but there is a lot of evaluation going on. Brannan sees the teacher’s reaction as dismissive of her concerns. She believes Brannan is trying to manipulate the situation to get her daughter lighter treatment. That’s Brannan evaluating what she thinks is the teacher’s evaluation. It’s also comparative in the way Brannan ranks the two schools on the understanding scale. And both causal and proposal because she makes the prediction that a more understanding will CAUSE less anxiety.
I know I’m a pain in the ass, Devils, but claims are everywhere in persuasive essays. That’s the point of the exercise. Recognize them in other people’s essays so you’ll recognize them in your own.