Tagged With "Adverse Childhood Experiences"
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Reminder: Live Chat with Donna Jackson Nakazawa
"It's really not survival of the fittest - it's survival of the nurtured." Donna Jackson Nakazawa Date: Tuesday, November 14th, 2017 Time: 10 AM PST / 1 PM EST Where: Here / Chats ( featured chat ) Hosted by: @Jane Stevens Topics to be Covered: Parenting with ACEs. What parents need to know. Affordable self-care for stressed and busy parents. Healing from ACEs & family wellness. How to Attend Online Chats: M embers of ACEs Connection : Go to Chats (top of page). Find...
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Research Brief: Frequently Asked Questions about Kindergarten Entry Assessments
The foundation for school success begins early in a child’s life. Children learn from the time they are born, and their early childhood experiences shape their physical and language development, their cognition, and their social and emotional development. Children who enter kindergarten with low levels of these skills and abilities fall behind and struggle to catch up to their peers. Over the past decade, policymakers and other stakeholders have become increasingly interested in...
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Resource: Guide for Early Childhood Development
Healthy development in the early years of life provides the building blocks for lifelong health, educational achievement, and responsible citizenship. What can we do during this incredibly important period to ensure that children have a strong foundation for future development? This guide explains how children develop in their earliest years, why that time period is so important, and the practical ways we can support early childhood development (ECD) and improve outcomes for children and...
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Resource List - Trauma Informed Approaches and Autism Spectrum and Other Developmental Disabilities
Resources for individuals, organizations, and communities moving along trauma and hope-informed pathways in order to: Prevent and mitigate adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Promote resilience and safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. Promote equity and racial justice. Prevent substance abuse and promote mental health. … so that all children, youth, families and communities have equal opportunity for educational success, economic stability, health, and well-being.
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Resource List - Trauma Informed Approaches and Autism Spectrum and Other Developmental Disabilities
Resources for individuals, organizations, and communities moving along trauma and hope-informed pathways in order to: Prevent and mitigate adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Promote resilience and safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. Promote equity and racial justice. Prevent substance abuse and promote mental health. … so that all children, youth, families and communities have equal opportunity for educational success, economic stability, health, and well-being.
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Revisiting a Wonderful Resource
Today I stumbled on an "old" resource and was reminded about what great and accessible information it has. Calmer Classrooms was published in 2007 by the Child Safety Commissioner in Victoria Australia. It is full of excellent and...
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Safety First - Toxic Stress in Education
What is the purpose of having school without power?
I work in a small school in a big state. The local school community had the power shut over the weekend as a preventive action for avoiding fires. This morning I was told that there would be school without power and to plan to provide services and teach children without power.
My instinct was - this is not safe!
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School Discipline Practices: An Issue Brief on a Public Health Crisis and Opportunities for Reform [changelabsolutions.org]
Early childhood education sets the foundation for a student’s future well-being and success. However, the widespread use of exclusionary school discipline (ESD) aggravates pre-existing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and deprives students of essential opportunities for learning and growth. Examples of harmful and counterproductive ESD practices include suspensions, expulsions, referrals to law enforcement, and corporal punishment. These practices can compound feelings of isolation and...
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Sesame Workshop and BTC Team Up to Help with Big Scary Feelings during the COVID-19 Crisis
Caring for Each Other: How to Use Sesame Street in Communities Resources for Health Emergencies with Families Now Wednesday, April 1, 2020 @ 3 PM ET We're all in this together, and that's why we're all coming together. Sesame Workshop and the Brazelton Touchpoints Center are partnering on a webinar series, beginning April 1st, to share online resources that can help us handle the sudden changes in our lives when we face health emergencies like the one that confronts us today. As a result of...
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Since The 1960s, Researchers Track Perry Preschool Project Participants (NPR Interview)
For decades, researchers have followed the participants of a 1960's preschool program. They found a range of social and economic benefits, and not just for the participants in the program. TRANSCRIPT STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Here's a truth about the news - you don't really know the most important stuff on the first day of a big news story. You may have to follow up and follow up, sometimes for years - and in this case, decades. More than 50 years ago, educators enrolled children from poor...
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Social-Emotional Development in the First Three Years [rwjf.org]
The Issue In the first three years of life, children achieve remarkable advances in social and emotional development (SED) that establish a foundation for later competencies. Yet even in the first three years, these achievements can be threatened by exposure to elevated stresses of many kinds. Family poverty, marital conflict, parental emotional problems, experiences of trauma, neglect, or abuse and other adversities cause some infants and toddlers to experience anxious fearfulness,...
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Social Policy Report The Biological Embedding of Child Abuse and Neglect Implications for Policy and Practice
Each year within the US alone over 770,000 children are victimized by abuse and neglect (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2010), and this figure is likely to underestimate the extent of the problem. Researchers have long recognized...
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Child Care Crisis Disproportionately Affects Children with Disabilities
A new report from the Center for American Progress found that parents of young children with disabilities are more likely to face job disruptions due to child care challenges. The report explores how the lack of affordable, high-quality child care options disproportionately affects these families and policy solutions for addressing these barriers. https://www.americanprogress. org/issues/early-childhood/ reports/2020/01/29/479802/ child-care-crisis- disproportionately-affects- ...
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Child’s behavior may be linked to parent’s adverse childhood experiences [contemporarypediatrics.com]
Parents who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as abuse, neglect, or household dysfunction, are more likely than parents without these experiences to have children with behavioral health problems, according to an analysis of data from several large, nationally representative surveys of US households that addressed ACEs and children’s behavioral problems and diagnoses. Of the more than 2500 children for whom researchers had data, one-fifth had a parent who reported...
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Childhood Poverty Series from KQED News
Dear Kidsdata Community, A new series from National Public Radio affiliate, KQED News, examines the role of public policy in addressing poverty among California’s children and their families. Kidsdata, in partnership with the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), took a new look at poverty data and provided them for several articles. The articles delve into poverty among infants under three years old and focus on Merced County, an area of particular concern but also great potential. In...
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Childhood `toxic stress’ leads to parenting challenges later on [Reuters]
Author: Lisa Rapaport Reuters Health - Parents who endured “toxic stress” during childhood may be more likely to have kids with developmental delays and have a harder time coping with their children’s health issues, new research suggests. Adverse childhood experiences, commonly called ACEs, can include witnessing parents fight or go through a divorce, having a parent with a mental illness or substance abuse problem, or suffering from sexual, physical or emotional abuse. Previous research has...
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Children are Better Positioned to Develop Resilience with Strong Family Connections [thesector.com.au]
By Freya Lucas, The Sector, July 1, 2019. The likelihood of flourishing – that is, doing well in life despite adversity – is true for children across all levels of household income, health status and exposure to adverse childhood experiences. The findings, published in the May issue of Health Affairs , suggest that more emphasis should be placed on programs to promote family resilience and parent-child connection, in conjunction with continued efforts to lessen children’s negative childhood...
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'Children Live a Lifetime Before They Come to School' | Teachers Working to Ease Childhood Trauma [wbir.com]
By Gabrielle Hays, WBIR 10 News, February 10, 2020 Melissa Bucks spent 36 years of her life teaching kindergarteners and first graders in Knox County. She just retired in May but is still involved in the classroom and in the community. After almost four decades in education, she can recall how trauma in the classroom changed over time and how it impacts some of our youngest children who are trying to learn. “It was always different but there was always one child, two children or three...
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Connections between early childhood program and teenage outcomes [sciencedaily.com]
A new study published in PLOS ONE by researchers from New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development examined the long-term impacts of an early childhood program called the Chicago School Readiness Project (CSRP) and found evidence suggesting that the program positively affected children's executive function and academic achievement during adolescence. The program targeted children's self-regulation skills while also raising the quality of inner-city...
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Considering Family, Environmental, Cultural and Economic Factors, an opportunity to exclude children from Special Education and Address ACES and become more Trauma Informed.
Unfortunately, by putting the problem on the students we are causing more trauma. We are making “something wrong with them” and trying to fix it. But I don’t think it is working. Because the families and the teachers are not addressing the root cause and children are stressed, suicide rates are up, and teachers are leaving the profession.
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Culturally Responsive Self-Care Practices for Early Childhood Educators
Available for pre-order now! See attached flyer. Release Spring 2020. Early childhood educators have very complex jobs. They work long days on their feet with constant demands on their energy and patience—whether they are holding and rocking infants, reading storybooks to toddlers, engaging in imaginary play with preschoolers or building problem-solving and self-regulation skills with kindergarteners. Despite the intense workplace demands early childhood teachers face on a daily basis, they...
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D.C.'s Universal Preschool Program has been Hugely Beneficial for Moms - and the Economy [psmag.com]
In 2008, the District of Columbia passed the Pre-K Enhancement and Expansion Act , which sought to make free, full-day, high-quality preschool available to all three- and four-year-olds in the district. The preschools run on roughly the same schedule as the city's elementary schools, and teachers are paid salaries on par with the city's elementary teachers. Today, approximately 90 percent of the district's four-year-olds and 70 percent of the district's three-year-olds attend public...
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Data-for-Equity Research Brief [nichq.org]
Child care offers a safe space for children to grow and learn while their families are at work, making it a critical resource to support healthy development. However, child care is unaffordable for the majority of working parents, especially for low-income and black and Hispanic working parents. This research brief provides insight and analysis about the challenges families face in affording childcare, which can exacerbate inequities in early childhood health and development. [For more on...
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Developing Healthy Minds: It’s Never Too Early to Start! [Blog.SAMHSA.gov]
The human mind is one of the most complex structures in the universe. Even in early infancy, it is capable of taking in a wide variety of inputs. Still, in our early years, we’ve only unlocked a small portion of its potential. Our brains actually continue to develop into our twenties . Accordingly, the U.S. Government embraces a definition of youth that continues until we turn 25. Nurturing the development of young minds to stay healthy through adulthood is a primary goal of SAMHSA’s Project...
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Developing Multi-Sector Partnerships in Early Childhood [nichq.org]
A single mom from Alabama with four children lacks the resources needed to correct the cause of lead poisoning in her home. Her 3-year old's lead levels spike, requiring intensive bi-weekly treatments at a hospital that is more than four hours away. Her at-risk 5-year-old goes more than five months before she is tested and diagnosed. A mother in Maine who tries and cannot get treatment for her opioid addiction is separated from her child. That child is placed in a crowded foster-care system,...
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Developing Super Powers: Using Resilience Strategies to Cope with Negative Experiences. Introducing CRI's Newest Book!
“I believe that everyone, especially a child, deserves to know how their brains are shaped by environment, to then understand their capacity for building proactive protective factors. We all deserve to be super heroes as we do the best we can to consciously live life well. ” - Teri Barila The superheroes we learn about in comics, movies, and TV shows swoop in to save the world with their incredible powers, to shield people from harm. But in our world, no matter how much we wish to protect...
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Diverse communities, common needs
From Ben York, Parent Powered, April 16, 2020 Each community is different, but many of our challenges providing ongoing family engagement during school closures are the same. We at Ready4K have learned that early childhood educators have common needs: "Easy to understand and low cost learning activities that parents will complete with their kids when we are not there or even when parents don't answer their phones" (Iowa) "Encouraging families to understand their role as their child's first...
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Do You Have a Story to Tell? Speak at the 2018 Fall Trauma-Informed School Conference
Beyond Consequences is excited to announce that our Call for Proposals for the 2018 Fall Trauma-Informed School Conference has been extended. If you have a great story to share about your experience in working with students who’ve had adverse childhood experiences, we would love to hear from you! Here are some examples of sessions that fit in at our nationally recognized conference: Administrative/School-Wide Track • Mindfulness Instead of Suspension • Special Education Law & Advocacy •...
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Earlier always better? Child development reseachers question old assumption [CenterforHealthJournalism.org]
It’s always worth revisiting what we think we know. In recent years, there’s been a trend among early childhood researchers to keep moving the focus to earlier and earlier in children’s lives. The storyline might go something like this: Sure, grade school matters, but we need to think about high-quality preschools to level the playing field. Actually, preschool is too late — the interactions kids have with their parents in the first years of life are really what’s crucial for development....
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Early-childhood development offers a brighter future to entire nations [The Seattle Times]
By Steve Davis and Peter Laugharn, July 29, 2019 The Seattle Times The World Health Organization just unveiled an initiative that could improve millions of children’s lives and boost the global economy by trillions of dollars. The initiative, known as the Nurturing Care Framework for Early Childhood Development , [ PDF attached ] seeks to change how we raise infants and toddlers. Children’s experiences during their first three years of life heavily influence their well-being as adults,...
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Early Childhood Education Is Not a Profession [PSMag.com]
Early childhood education makes a valuable contribution to society by advancing children’s learning and development, enhancing their path toward success in school and beyond. Because of this, and tied to the belief that tangible contributions, both immediate and long-term, will be forthcoming, public investments in early childhood education are rising at federal, state, and local levels. But these results won’t be achieved if we don’t also invest in the preparation of early childhood...
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Early Childhood Education Matters—Here’s How to Make It Great [PSMag.com]
By the time a low-income child enters kindergarten in America, they’re already woefully lagging their more advantaged peers — 11 months behind in math and 13 months behind in reading, according to a recent report from the Center for American Progress. (Chart: Center for American Progress) The figure at left, from the CAP report—“How Much Can High-Quality Universal Pre-K Reduce Achievement Gaps?”—illustrates the gulf between both low- and high-income children and minority and white children.
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Early Childhood Educator - Top 2 Books on Trauma Informed Care
https://www.optimalbrainintegration.com/books
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Early childhood educators learn new ways to spot trauma triggers, build resilience in preschoolers
A hug may be comforting to many children, but for a child who has experienced trauma it may not feel safe.
That’s an example used by Julie Kurtz, co-director of trauma informed practices in early childhood education at the WestEd Center for Child & Family Studies (CCFS), as she begins a trauma training session. Her audience, preschool teachers and staff of the San Francisco-based Wu Yee Children’s Services at San Francisco’s Women’s Building, listen attentively.
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Early Childhood Is Critical to Health Equity [rwjf.org]
The first few years of life are crucial in establishing a child’s path toward—or away from—health and well-being across the entire lifespan. This report, produced in partnership with the University of California, San Francisco, examines some of the barriers to health equity that begin early in life, and promising strategies for overcoming them. Key Findings Poverty limits childrens’ and families’ options for healthy living conditions. Poverty can limit where children live, and can lead to...
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Early Childhood Providers, Systems Leaders, Communities: Timely! Please Answer Early Relational Health Questionnaire
Early Relational Health (ERH) – is an emerging framework that elevates the primacy of relational experiences as foundational for life-long health, learning and social-emotional wellbeing and has relevance across the child and family-focused fields of pediatrics, public health, infant-child mental health, early learning, child welfare and early childhood community systems. Please take 10 minutes to answer this questionnaire, offered by the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP). CSSP's...
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Early childhood yoga class gives students tools to blossom [Kane County Chronicle]
Don’t let the title fool you. "Childblossom Yoga: Mindful Me" is more than poses and postures. The series of classes offered through the St. Charles Park District teaches young children effective social and emotional tools that will have a lasting affect on their well-being. “There is a real need for incorporating movement and breath into social and emotional learning,” said Erica Filyo, Childblossom Yoga founder and certified yoga instructor. She said in today’s technological world of...
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Early life experiences influence DNA in the adult brain [sciencedaily.com]
In the perennial question of nature versus nurture, a new study suggests an intriguing connection between the two. Salk Institute scientists report in the journal Science that the type of mothering a female mouse provides her pups actually changes their DNA. The work lends support to studies about how childhood environments affect brain development in humans and could provide insights into neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and schizophrenia. "We are taught that our DNA is...
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Effects of Preterm Birth
A baby born prematurely often spends that crucial time for attachment and development of neural pathways in the NICU
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Emotional Violence In Childhood, Adolescence Associated With Suicidal Thoughts (scienceblog.com)
Early exposure to emotional violence “significantly” increases the chances that youths will contemplate suicide, according to new research from three countries conducted by Washington University in St. Louis’ Brown School. “We find the odds of suicide ideation are consistently and significantly greater for adolescents who report overexposure to emotional violence,” said Lindsay Stark , associate professor and co-author of the study “ A Sex-disaggregated Analysis of How Emotional Violence...
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Eradicating the roots of childhood trauma [indianapolisrecorder.com]
On the east side of Indianapolis in late March, a barrage of bullets sprayed through a home, killing 1-year-old Malaysia Robson as she slept on the couch. It was a drive-by shooting in the middle of the night by two men in their late 20s. It’s the kind of violence that can shake a community, leaving its distraught members wondering how much more they can take. Community violence — and other forms of trauma — are especially harmful for children. They’re called adverse childhood experiences...
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Even Infants Need Mental Health Care, so new Chicago Clinic Caters to Those 5 and Under [chicagotribune.com]
By Peter Nickeas, Chicago Tribune, September 20, 2019 In and around Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, long-standing causes of friction like gun violence and poverty have for some families combined with newer fears of immigration crackdowns and deportation of loved ones — and mental health professionals hope to address toxic stress that can have long-term effects on the lives of very young children. Aiming to rectify the shortage of mental health care available to infants and children...
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Family Border Separation Policy Has Long-Term Effects on Child Health [medicalbag.com]
Despite a reversal of the Trump administration family separation policy, as of July 2018, more than 2000 children remain separated from their parents or legal guardians. 1 In an article published in JAMA, Howard A. Zucker, MD, JD, and Danielle Greene, DrPH, of the New York State Department of Health, suggest that child-parent separation during an already tumultuous and emotionally strenuous event may exert greater long-term physical and mental health effects on children than is currently...
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Family-Centered Pre-Kindergarten Provides A Strong Foundation For Children’s Mental Health And School Success [NewsWise.com]
A family-centered, school-based intervention in pre-kindergarten programs developed at NYU Langone Medical Center, known as ParentCorps, has a positive and lasting impact on mental health and academic performance, according to new research published online October 3 in JAMA Pediatrics. A study of close to 800 low-income black and Latino children enrolled in pre-k in New York City public schools found that children who attended programs with ParentCorps had fewer behavioral and emotional...
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Family Resilience And Connection Promote Flourishing Among US Children, Even Amid Adversity (www.healthaffairs.org)
Abstract below and link to open access article written by Christina D. Bethell , Nangerel Gombojav , and Robert C. Whitaker and published in Health Affairs Link to open access article written by Christina D. Bethell , Nangerel Gombojav , and Robert C. Whitaker .
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Five Numbers to Remember about Early Childhood Development [DevelopingChild.Harvard.edu]
The early years matter because, in the first few years of life, more than 1 million new neural connections are formed every second. * Neural connections are formed through the interaction of genes and a baby’s environment and experiences, especially “ serve and return ” interaction with adults, or what developmental researchers call contingent reciprocity. These are the connections that build brain architecture – the foundation upon which all later learning, behavior, and health depend. [For...
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Five Strategies for Engaging Family Partners [nichq.org]
Families have an unmatched impact on their child’s health, especially during the early years of life when children’s rapidly developing brains are laying the groundwork for their future health and wellbeing. To be the best advocates for their children, families need the right supports, whether they be access to public assistance programs like Medicaid and housing, opportunities to build a strong relationship with their child’s health provider, or resources that empower them to support their...
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Five Things You Wish Your Community’s Early Childhood Programs Knew [CitiesSpeak.org]
By NLC Staff on May 10, 2019 Cities, towns, and villages are places of innovation and solution finding. If you want to improve early childhood wellbeing—local leaders are key partners. The Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing (NOW) Learning Community is a program of Boston Medical Center’s Vital Village. The learning community’s goal is to support local early childhood coalitions and build their capacity to work together with the broader community to improve the wellbeing of our...
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For Parents with High ACE Scores
When I lecture at universities, advocacy groups, hospitals, schools, etc., I’m often asked: what advice do you have for parents who have high ACE scores if they are trying to raise children with fewer ACEs? Children with ACEs find “resiliency” because an adult provides a safe environment – in which they feel known, validated. So that means that the most important thing adults can do is to manage their own stuff. Self-regulation by adults is a first step to help kids self-regulate themselves.
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FREE Access to 2 Early Childhood Webinars, Resources and Handouts on COVID-19
FREE Access to 2 Early Childhood Webinars, Resources and Handouts on COVID-19 (details below) Sponsored by Region 9 Head Start Association, Continued and Center for Optimal Brain Integration™ Webinar #1 Being Your Own Emergency First Responder: Leaders Managing the Stress of Working in Response to COVID-19 Facilitators: Julie Kurtz, Julie Nicholson and LaWanda Wesley Description: This webinar provides leaders with useful information to help them manage their own stress response to the...