"Nearly 1,000 people attended the two-day conference on trauma across the lifespan, offered free by the state Department of Health and Human Services, the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center and the Nebraska Early Development Network....
"Kids who have been maltreated fall behind, until they come to the attention of the mental health system. By fifth- or sixth-grade they become labeled as mentally ill -- attention deficit disorder, conduct disorder, oppositional-defiant disorder, bipolar disorder.
"All those are wrong," he said. "The connection between those disorders and physiological reality is nil."
"Children are treated, nonetheless, through the lens of mental health and many end up on medications and anti-psychotics, he said....
"This conference was the kickoff for changes in Nebraska's child welfare system — prompted in part by advances in brain science — that will make it a priority for workers, foster parents and others to be more informed about childhood trauma, said Vicki Maca, deputy director of HHS' division of children and families...."
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