Tagged With "Center on the Developing Child"
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Resource: What is epigenetics?
How does epigenetics relate to child development? New resource from the Harvard Center on the Developing Child explains. Science tells us that the interactions between genes and environment shape human development. “Epigenetics” is an emerging area of scientific research that shows how environmental influences—including the experiences we provide for children—actually affect the expression of their genes. This means that the old idea that genes are "set in stone" has been disproven. Nature...
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Responding to Child Abuse and Neglect (Child Welfare Information Gateway Updated Resources)
Resources in this section can help child welfare professionals protect children's safety, support families, and help prevent child maltreatment. They include resources for administrators and managers and information on reporting suspected child abuse...
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Review of ACE studies confirms supporting parent-child relationship is key
When health care providers screen their pediatric patients for ACEs, what interventions might help improve outcomes for children? Dr. Ariane Marie-Mitchell, a pediatrician in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Loma Linda University, and a colleague sought an answer to that question in a systematic review of studies that was published recently in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. As part of their inquiry, Marie-Mitchell and her co-investigator, Rashel Kostolansky , who was a...
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RYSE gathering: To promote healing from trauma, institutions need to stop seeing youth as the problem
A young man told clinical therapist Marissa Snoddy recently that when she calls him a leader, she got it all wrong. “He said, ‘I just came from Juvenile Hall,’ I’m not a leader.” But, she said, “We just kept giving him love. And we said, ‘You’re courageous for showing up and being here,’” The very fact that he was there, she explained, showed he was a leader. Snoddy related the anecdote recently for 80 people attending the Trauma and Learning Series launch led by Rising Youth for Social...
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Safe Spaces. Safe Places: Creating Welcoming and Inclusive Environments for Traumatized LGBTQ Youth (2015 Video from the NCTSN)
This video from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network introduces the viewer to the needs of LGBTQ youth who have experienced trauma. For educators, juvenile justice professionals/law enforcement/first responders, mental...
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SAVE THE DATE! ACEs Aware Initiative Webinar [acesaware.org]
Wednesday, February 26, 2020 Noon – 1 p.m. Join a live webinar with: Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, MD, MPH – California Surgeon General Dr. Karen Mark, MD, PhD – Medical Director, Department of Health Care Services Dr. Melissa Merrick, PhD – President & CEO, Prevent Child Abuse America Dr. Brigid McCaw, MD, MPH, MS, FACP – Clinical Advisor, ACEs Aware The webinar will provide an overview of the ACEs Aware initiative; why providers should screen for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs); the...
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Screening for ACEs in Pediatric Practice [American Academy of Pediatrics - CA Chapter 2]
By Ariane Marie-Mitchell, American Academy of Pediatrics, October 2019 In the August newsletter, we provided an overview of the definition and impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) (http://aapca2.org/aces). In this article, we will explore the argument in favor of screening for ACEs in pediatric practice, and describe the process and results of a California state advisory group on screening for trauma. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended screening for toxic stress...
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Screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences and Trauma
This new technical assistance tool from the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) offers a variety of approaches for screening adults and children for adverse childhood experiences and trauma, including examples of screening protocols used at several provider practices that have embraced trauma-informed care.
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September 2017 Special Issue of Academic Pediatrics: Child Well-Being and Adverse Childhood Experiences in the US
The United States is on the threshold of advancing much needed improvements in child and population well-being by addressing the epidemic of adverse childhood experiences and finding ways to come together, use what we know, and heal and catalyze a new epidemic of child and family flourishing. A special issue of Academic Pediatrics highlights new national research with inspiring commentaries across a wide range of leaders, each of whom calls out the critical importance of an immediate, strong...
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Beyond the ACE score: Examining relationships between timing of developmental adversity, relational health and developmental outcomes in children (www.sciencedirect.com)
Highlights excerpted on Science Direct about a new study by Erin P.Hambrick, Thomas W.Brawner, BruceD. Perry, KristieBrandt, Christine Hofmeister, and Jen O.Collins published in the Archives of Psychiatric Nursing. Link to Science Direct about a new study by Erin P.Hambrick, Thomas W.Brawner, BruceD. Perry, KristieBrandt, Christine Hofmeister, and Jen O.Collins published in the Archives of Psychiatric Nursing.
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Beyond Trauma: Building Resilience to ACEs (brochure)
Wish you had a fairly easy and short way to share all about ACEs? Wish it was in-depth enough to share with teachers, doctors, nurses and therapists but not so long or jargony it puts family and friends to sleep? Here's the perfect thing to share when you've been all up in the faces with ACEs and want to back up your words before, during or after. This brochure is comprehensive but not so long that it remains in the "I'll get to it later," pile. Please feel free to print, forward, download...
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Birth and Attachment Book Review
A review of Myrna Martin's short and direct pamphlet about the importance and approach to "co-creating secure attachment". The book is available in four languages and can be found at www.myrnamartin.net/books
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Book: Integrated Early Childhood Behavioral Health in Primary Care: A Guide to Implementation and Evaluation
Edited by Dr. Rahil Briggs, Integrated Early Childhood Behavioral Health in Primary Care: A Guide to Implementation and Evaluation , the book focuses the primary care environment as an ideal venue in which to promote preventive, two-generation, behavioral health efforts. The book, with a foreword from Dr. Jack Shonkoff and published by Springer in 2016, Outlines the implementation of integrated early childhood behavioral health programming into pediatric primary care, Explores the process of...
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Book review: "Once I was very, very scared," a book on childhood trauma
The past few years have brought a wealth of evidence for the impact of childhood trauma on lifelong health. The AAP has recognized the importance of childhood trauma with conferences (2015 Violence, Abuse and Toxic Stress: An Update on Trauma-informed Care in Children and Youth) and resources ( AAP Trauma Toolbox for Primary Care .) Like many pediatricians, I have been grateful for the attention to and evidence base for an area of pediatrics I see on a daily basis but for which I have felt...
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Book review: "Once I was very, very scared," a book on childhood trauma
The past few years have brought a wealth of evidence for the impact of childhood trauma on lifelong health. The AAP has recognized the importance of childhood trauma with conferences (2015 Violence, Abuse and Toxic Stress: An Update on Trauma-informed Care in Children and Youth) and resources ( AAP Trauma Toolbox for Primary Care .) Like many pediatricians, I have been grateful for the attention to and evidence base for an area of pediatrics I see on a daily basis but for which I have felt...
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Books Build Connections Literacy Toolkit
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton just left the podium at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference & Exhibition in San Diego, where she unveiled the Academys updated early literacy toolkit for pediatricians and parents, Books Build Connections. We wanted to share this announcement with you as soon as it was made so that you can take advantage of this new resource. Books Build Connections : whats in the...
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Boston’s architect of community well-being: Pediatrician Renée Boynton-Jarrett
She talks with parents about the relationship between childhood adversities they have experienced and how that may have an impact on parenting.
“I frame things a bit more broadly than ACEs,” she said, “because I think it’s very important to reflect on a broader number of exposures than were covered in the original study, such as poverty or structural violence and racism.”
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Boys with an Incarcerated Family Member More Likely to Have Diabetes as Adults [healio.com]
By Bradley A. White, et al., Healio, February 8, 2020 Men who reported experiencing family member incarceration during childhood were more likely to develop type 2 diabetes during adulthood compared with men who did not report a family incarceration history, according to findings published in SAGE Open Medicine. “Previous studies have found that the incarceration of a parent plays havoc with the stability of housing, employment and parental marital relationships,” Bradley A. White, PhD, a...
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Bright Futures/Child Care Health Partnership Handouts for Parents
Bright Futures and Healthy Child Care America Parent Resources: Introducing new handouts that provide parents with tips on what child care programs will be working on with a child based on the child’s age. Each handout...
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Bringing HOPE into national conversation [positiveexperience.org]
On May 13, 2020, I was interviewed for PBS NewsHour and had a chance to bring HOPE to the discussion about child maltreatment during the pandemic. Have a look – all the way to the end – and don’t forget to laugh! [Please click here to read more.]
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Bringing trauma-informed care to children in need can ease toxic stress [statnews.com]
During my 22 years as a pediatrician in an urban area, I have seen the worst of what America’s children must sometimes endure. Severe medical illness in children is thankfully rare. But severe adversity in homes and communities is all too common and causes toxic stress that has long-term consequences for my patients and future generations. A 6-year-old patient of mine called 911 on the third day that she and her younger siblings couldn’t wake their intoxicated mother. We cared for their...
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Brittany S. Bruggeman and Zach Spoehr-Labutta: Partnering for resilience in Gainesville [Gainesville.com]
Pupils widen. The heart pounds. Stress hormones flood the body. Lungs expand, and every muscle sits on the verge of action. This describes the stress response, a normal reaction to a normal emotion. However, when a child experiences this response in a strong, frequent or prolonged way due to adversity, without the support of an adult, it can cause health consequences lasting into adulthood. This phenomenon is called toxic stress. As a pediatrician at UF Health, helping children grow and...
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Building a Movement to Birth a More Just and Loving World [Groundswell March 2018]
The National Perinatal Task Force: Building a Movement to Birth a More Just and Loving World - In my 20 years as a public health nurse, I've never seen race called out so clearly in a report like this. Data has shown disparities, however the data was presented in a tidy way — very apolitical, purposely written to not ruffle any feathers or point fingers - " persistent racial gap ". This report written by The National Perinatal Task Force is refreshingly honest and this is important. We need...
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Building a Trauma-Informed Approach with Pediatric Physical Therapists
In the profession of physical therapy (PT), the word "trauma" typically leads one to think of the physical manifestations of a catastrophic injury, subsequent emergency medical care, and lengthy rehabilitation services. However, the psychological aspects of trauma are not always as visible. Throughout an individual’s lifespan, PTs will provide services to restore function, manage pain, and increase physical activity. We provide education, hands-on care, and therapeutic exercise to improve...
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Building trust is now a critical part of health care
In a video clip , a hospital patient turns away in protest as a physician enters the room. “Why do you all keep coming in my room!” she asks in frustration. The physician moves a chair out of the way and sits down at eye level with the patient. “You’ve had to see so many people,” he acknowledges. “And I’m tired of it!” she yells. “I already know I have to get both of my legs cut off. That’s what they keep saying. I don’t have a choice!” “You don’t feel like you have a choice,” he repeats...
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Bullying Resource Center (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry)
Bullying is repeated aggressive behavior that can present in the form of threats, physical assault, and intimidation that is intentional and involves a difference in power and/or strength. Bullying is a common experience for many children and...
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CA pediatrician develops, tests, gets state OK for whole-child assessment tool that includes ACEs
Over the last dozen years or so, many pediatricians, astounded by the ramifications of the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on the children they care for, began integrating this science into their practices. The most common approach has been to ask parents about ACEs using a questionnaire, and to use this information to counsel parents and identify resources for the family. Different practices have been using different questionnaires: Some ask parents for their ACE scores...
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CA pediatrician develops, tests, gets state OK for whole-child assessment tool that includes ACEs
[Editor's note: This blog was first posted in April 2017. Dr. Marie-Mitchell updated the assessment by modifying a few of the questions, so we are republishing with the new assessment, one in Spanish and one in English.] Over the last dozen years or so, many pediatricians, astounded by the ramifications of the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on the children they care for, began integrating this science into their practices. The most common approach has been to ask parents...
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CA to reimburse for only one of three ACEs screeners
California health care providers will soon begin to learn how many of the 13.2 million California children and adults in the state’s MediCal program have been exposed to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). But the state’s proposed decision to reimburse only one of three recommended options for screening children has drawn mixed reactions from pediatricians. “If we have mandated legislation that only looks at one screening tool, it really limits the opportunity to improve that screening...
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California ACES Learning & Quality Improvement Collaborative (CALQIC) - Opportunity to be a part of the Learning Collaborative!
Apply to be a part of ACEs Aware's California ACES Learning & Quality Improvement Collaborative (CALQIC) In partnership with the UCSF Center to Advance Trauma-Informed Healthcare and other key partners, we'll select 15 organizations across California to participate in this 18-month learning collaborative to support clinics in screening for and responding to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in children and adults. This is a challenging time, and we know that many of our health care...
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California considers investing $100 million in-home visits for new moms and their babies [SCPR.org]
A bill working its way through the state legislature would create a state-funded program to help new mothers in the first few months and years after the birth of their children. The CalWORKs Baby Wellness and Family Support Home Visiting Program would spend $100 million to offer home visits from nurses or social workers to new mothers who are living in poverty. Support for home visiting programs is grounded in research that has found regular postpartum home visits can improve the health of...
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California has Begun Screening for Early Childhood Trauma, But Critics Urge Caution [sciencemag.org]
By Emily Underwood, Science, January 29, 2020 On 1 January, California became the first U.S. state to screen for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)—early life hardships such as abuse, neglect, and poverty, which can have devastating health consequences in later life. The project is not just a public health initiative, but a vast experiment. State officials aim to cut the health impacts of early life adversity by as much as half within a generation. But critics say the health benefits of...
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California healthcare providers adapt ACEs screening from in-person to virtual environment
Dr. Amy Shekarchi, a pediatrician based in Los Angeles, CA, was helping to lead the rollout of ACEs screening among 50 health care providers at six clinics affiliated with the L.A. County Department of Health Services when the COVID-19 pandemic hit—days before she was set to launch the effort. “We had trained everybody in doing face-to-face [ACEs screening], and when COVID-19 happened we thought, let’s not throw the screening out. Everybody was ready,” says Shekarchi, who is the pediatric...
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California unveils ACEs Aware initiative to screen for trauma
Will screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in California be mandatory? No, but it’s recommended. Will there be training for physicians and staff on how to screen? Yes. Who will be reimbursed for screening patients in California? Physicians who serve patients in the state’s Medi-Cal program — for now. For more answers to these and other questions that surfaced during a Dec. 4 webinar introducing Californians to a new statewide initiative, read on. Come January 1, California will...
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Can We Harness Pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton's Message of Hope?
Photo courtesy of Brazelton Touchpoints Center As our nation mourns the passing of renowned pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton, hearing his voice through the outpouring of articles, video clips, and conversations on social media feels like a balm for the soul. In these trying times, his simple shift from learning "what's wrong" to listening for "what's right" in a child and family seems very much needed. In his 50 years practicing pediatrics, he saw up close the ways parents can struggle. With...
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Care Provider Facilities Described Challenges Addressing Mental Health Needs of Children in HHS Custody [cmhnetwork.com]
By Joanne M. Chiedi, Department of Health and Human Services, September 18, 2019 Care Provider Facilities Described Challenges Addressing Mental Health Needs of Children in HHS Custody. Facilities that care for children in the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s (ORR’s) custody face the difficult task of addressing the mental health needs of all the children in their care, including children who have experienced intense trauma. According to those who treat them, many children enter the...
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Caring adult relationships can make the difference for children in trauma [register-herald.com]
Social workers, law enforcement officers and other children’s advocates gathered Wednesday for the first day of the West Virginia Children’s Justice “Handle With Care” Conference to learn more about child trauma, intervention and ways to help children become successful. In a state that leads the nation for opioid overdose deaths and babies born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, West Virginia children are often witnesses to and victims of trauma. The West Virginia Defending Childhood...
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CDC announces Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Research & Evaluation Fellowship opportunity
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta has announced an Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Research & Evaluation Fellowship opportunity that resides in the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) at CDC. The new fellowship position reflects a growing ACEs capacity within the CDC. The announcement states “The selected candidate will assist with research related to evaluating comprehensive community-based prevention strategies for primary...
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Chicago healthcare providers start center for ACEs science education; aim to reach all medical, health students by 2025
In 2017, Dr. Audrey Stillerman and three other women from the Chicago healthcare community founded the THEN Center . Its goal is lofty: By 2025, it wants every graduating student in medical and health sciences across the United States to apply core concepts of childhood adversity, neurobiology, resilience and health equity into their work. Dr. Audrey Stillerman Today, the THEN Center (The Collaborative Study of Trauma, Health Equity and Neurobiology) is well on its way. Its founders are...
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Child abuse could leave 'molecular scars' on its victims [medicalxpress.com]
Children who are abused might carry the imprint of that trauma in their cells—a biochemical marking that is detectable years later, according to new research from the University of British Columbia and Harvard University. The findings, based on a comparison of chemical tags on the DNA of 34 adult men, still need confirmation from larger studies, and researchers don't know if this tagging—known as methylation—affects the victims' health. But the difference in methylation between those who had...
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Child and youth advocacy centres: A change in practice that can change a lifetime [Journal of Paediatrics & Child Health]
"While often a silent and invisible issue, childhood trauma is pervasive, and has profound individual, societal and economic impacts. Many forms of childhood trauma exist, including child physical and sexual abuse. Given the prevalence, impact and availability of prevention and intervention approaches, child abuse deserves the same level of awareness, policy priority and investment as is directed to other issues of significant public health importance. The complex issue of child abuse...
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Child neglect linked with changes to brain's white matter (MNT)
Past studies have shown that traumatic experiences in childhood can have negative implications for brain development. Now, a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics finds severe childhood neglect may cause structural changes to white...
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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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Child Sexual Abuse: Talking Points in the Office [AAPPublications.org]
Pediatricians are experts at prevention dialogue in practice settings: from fevers, car seats and safety gates, to locking up medications, toxins and guns — and everything in between — keeping kids safe and promoting healthy development is core to our commitment to families. Surveys have shown, however, that dialogues about preventing child sexual abuse often are a challenge, with the most common barriers to providing guidance being lack of time, training and uncertainty about how to...
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Childhood Stress and Adversity is Associated with Late-Life Dementia in Aboriginal Australians
This was just sent by the RACP “Paediatric Pot-Pourri”. It continues the developing and worrying themes presented at the recent NBPSA and CCCH satellites days before the RACP Congress. I cannot see any reason to imagine that these same outcomes do not also apply to those children living anywhere in the world where ACE’s are flooding into their lives. John Goldsmith “All paediatricians, particularly those with an interest in child development, are aware of the Adverse Childhood Experiences...
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Children and US Federal Policy on Health and Health Care Seen but Not Heard
Children account for 73.5 million Americans (24%), but 8% of federal expenditures. Data on health and health care indicate that child well-being in the United States has been in decline since the most recent recession. Childhood poverty has...
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Children’s Defense Fund Child Poverty in America 2013: Federal safety net programs cut child poverty by 40 percent.
According to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau on October 16, 2014, federal safety net programs kept 8.2 million children, more than 11 percent of children, out of poverty in 2013, and cut the child poverty rate from 27.5 percent to 16.4...
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Come Chat with Dr. Claudia M. Gold: An ACE-Informed Pediatrician
Date: July 11th Time: 10 AM PST / 1 PM EST Location: Parenting with ACEs Group , Online Flyer: Attached below. Please share. Dr. Claudia M. Gold has practiced general and behavioral pediatrics for 25 years and specializes in early childhood mental health. She is on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts, Boston Infant-Parent Mental Health program, William James College, and the Austen Riggs Center where she is a Human Development consultant. Dr. Gold is author of the following...
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Conversation-starting Resilience Project posters
The American Academy of Pediatrics has created several posters to use as conversation starters to recognize toxic stress and adverse childhood experiences in children and build their resilience. Pediatricians are encouraged to hang the...
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Conversations about Emotional Health AAP
The AAP developed 2 promotional ads — Mom! Dad! Ask the doctor about my emotional development, too! — to promote the importance of mental health as part of a health supervision visit. - See more at: ...