How to Prevent and Mitigate ACEs

Can you really build mental health wellness in early childhood?

The answer is yes To understand how this happens, it is essential to connect neurobiology research with the multiple fields of child development

Development can occur later but with greater difficulty One in 4 young children live in poverty - growing up with poorer nutrition, and exposed to fewer colors, experiences, and relationships that “grow” the brain.

Studies show that the speech of children living in poverty is limited to 30 million fewer words than children from professional families, which is later reflected in lower fourth grade reading levels.

The best chance to close the gap is during the first 1,000 critical days when a loving adult who cares for the baby, talks, and reads to them can provide the foundation for academic success.

Childhood trauma impacts multiple domains of development The trauma experienced during the most crucial years of brain development can have lasting impacts. When examining child wellbeing, the impact on multiple early childhood domains is clear

These include:

Attachment and Relationships

Physical Health: Body and Brain

Emotional Responses

Dissociation Behaviors

Children who do not have safe, stable, nurturing environments learn to develop atypical coping skills to help them function from day to day. Their coping strategies may result in them being overly sensitive to the moods of others, and persistently scanning the adults around them to gauge feelings and behaviors

Children in these situations may also avoid sharing their emotions, preventing others from knowing if they are sad, angry, or mad These behaviors are learned adaptations, the results of physical and/or emotional environmental threats. This disrupts the foundation of mental wellness in the child and can create a hypervigilant state

As a child grows up and encounters situations and relationships that are safe, these adaptations are no longer helpful, and may in fact be counterproductive when they interfere with the capacity to live, love, and be loved