Adverse Childhood Experiences – ACEs
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are the largest public health crisis to be identified in the past thirty years. Traumatic childhood experiences (toxic stress/trauma) impact a child’s daily life in the home, in school and the community as they grow. These adversities (injuries) in childhood also impact adult health and wellbeing, often identified as PTSD. Even when children are too young to remember the events (neglect, physical/emotional/sexual abuse, abandonment, violence, etc.), the body never “forgets.” Childhood adversity affects a child’s ability to learn and behave in productive ways by changing brain chemistry and architecture thus impacting their ability to learn and behave “normally” in schools and other settings. And, if not appropriately treated, these injuries impact life and health outcomes into adulthood. All too often, children who are experiencing trauma, neglect and abuse in their homes and communities are identified in schools as having “special needs,” such as ADHD, ODD or EDD when in fact what they are experiencing is actually trauma/toxic stress. These life circumstances cause diminished executive functioning abilities, learning difficulties, and/or misbehavior.
Educators, as well as all other adults, need to be keenly aware of this body of research and practical school- home- and community-based remedies in order to mitigate the impact of toxic stress (ACEs) on successful child cognitive and emotional development, including impulsivity, learning difficulties and misbehavior, not to mention diminished physical health outcomes in adulthood. In this workshop, the critically important information about this life- and practice-changing body of research, including ACEs and the ACEs Scale, will be introduced and the clear and present pathways to healing will be presented.
COST: $75 RPDC Member, $90 Non-Member
Cancellation requires a 48-hour notice
