By Steve Jansen, Youth Today, March 8, 2020
With some time to kill the day before the 2018 Thanksgiving break, William Soules, a math and social studies teacher at Oñate High School in Las Cruces, N.M., taught a group of about 30 advanced placement psychology students about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). The landmark national research study, published in 1998, was the largest investigation into how child abuse and neglect manifests into adult health and well-being.
“I thought it would be a good discussion,” New Mexico state Sen. Soules, a Democrat, recalled. “These are AP kids so they must be doing well.”
He gave them the 10-question ACEs survey and showed a video about the long-term health consequences of early childhood trauma. As he tallied the anonymous results, he was shocked to discover that about 60% had two or more ACEs. According to a 2018 Child Trends report, an average of 11% of children, from birth to age 17, experienced two ACEs nationally.
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