Teachers and school administrators are learning how to identify childhood trauma to better address student mental health and behavioral issues.
The Adverse Childhood Experience, or ACE, Questionnaire is designed to determine a child’s risk due to childhood trauma. Things like divorce, neglect, violence, drug or alcohol abuse and physical or sexual abuse can cause an ACE score to go up. The higher the score, the more at-risk the child is considered.
Cathy Grewe, coordinator of assessment and student services for Wood County Schools, said the ACE questionnaire is not given to students except in specific counseling situations with parental permission, but Wood County Schools is using ACE as a training tool to help identify areas of trauma among students.
“Right now it is an educational tool for principals, counselors and teachers to build awareness of how students struggle based on their life experiences,” Grewe said. “Informally they can look for indicators of trauma. The survey puts language to that.
Pamela Santer, wellness coordinator for West Virginia University at Parkersburg, and Amy Snodgrass with Mindful West Virginia, have introduced mindfulness and ACE to teachers and administrators in Wood County Schools for the past several years. Many schools are now adopting programs such as yoga to help students focus and to reduce stress and many area schools also have been using therapy dogs to reduce anxiety among students.
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