California school districts are making strides to improve school climate yet there is still “significant room for improvement” according to an analysis by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, an anti-crime advocacy organization comprised of nearly...
New research shows that mothers who support their children’s need for autonomy tend to be viewed more positively by their children. “When mothers are highly controlling of small children’s play, those children are less likely...
Babies aren’t born with a set of instructions, they note, which is why several people in Lake County are gearing up to establish a home where new moms can learn how to be good moms. These people have the passion to do it, a role model in...
Almost two decades ago, researchers and policy makers convened at the White House to explore whether neuroscience could hold policy implications for child development initiatives. Since then, research in experimental psychology and cognitive...
Texas has more prisoners than any other state and one of the highest incarceration rates in the world — but when it comes to juvenile justice, the state has become an unlikely exemplar of meaningful reform. After examining a wide range of...
Social workers, law enforcement officers and two School Board members were among those who filled the room for the inaugural public meeting of Peace4Gainesville, a new initiative aimed at tackling childhood trauma and the many social problems that...
This is the third toddler shooting that I've written about recently. A three year old Albuquerque NM boy shot and wounded both his parents with his pregnant mothers loaded hand gun last Saturday. His two year old...
It started with a profound connection to the words of one wise Dutchman addressing a room full of therapists. The ah-ha moment when Bessel van der Kolk linked childhood trauma to attachment. Exciting, because at Echo Parenting & Education we train parents and professionals how to create the kind of safe, stable relationships that allow a child to flourish. Instinctively, we had always known that the lack of such attachment was traumatic to a child - after all, if your survival depends...
Last week, Dave Davies, sitting in for Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air, interviewed journalist David Morris who, while embedded with troops in Iraq, witnessed horrific violence, injury and death and was nearly killed when a vehicle he was riding...
At Children Can Thrive , the first California ACEs summit, in November 2014, students from Leadership High School profoundly moved the audience with their views and experiences of ACEs and toxic stress.
I was delighted to learn a concept from a reader of my post on Kaizen vs. Kaikaku. Dr. Hahn coined the phrase Pink Ocean—apparently a reference to making progress. I do see plenty of movement towards a greater understanding of the role...
Children born into dysfunctional families without access to crisis nurseries, quality daycare, or other early childhood programs rarely do well in school, learn how to read at grade level, or graduate. Limited vocabulary skills, high incidence...
My thinking about ACEs is informed by a systems approach I learned while adopting and implementing a management concept called “ Lean Thinking .” There are two essential elements to Lean Thinking: respect for people and continuous...
Upon receipt of an email from a MN state legislator directing my attention to the cost of Governor Dayton’s trying to improve conditions for Minnesota's at-risk youth, I penned this response and would ask you to write something like it and send...
Dinner is served in the West Philadelphia neighborhood of Mantua. "You look like you're ready to have a great Dornsife neighborhood partnership meal! Am I right about it?" Rose Samuel-Evans asks the crowd at a free community dinner of chicken...