Excellence and Equity in the Early Childhood Field
Upon researching the Harvard
University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website, I found an organization in
Canada, the Alberta Family Wellness
Initiative (AFWI), that was particularly interesting. AFWI has a purpose to present scientific
findings in child development to inform public policy. “Through
activities in applied research, knowledge translation, professional training,
and evaluation, AFWI is continually seeking to bridge the gap between “what we
know” in science and “what we do” in policy and practice.”
I
was interested in what the organization knew and presented as resources. There were numerous media segments providing
scientific knowledge to influence policy and practices. The media segment I chose to dive into was “The ACE Study: Building Self-Healing
Communities”, presented by Dr. Robert Anda in Alberta, Canada.
Dr. Anda (2014), discusses the importance of the ACES study and advocates
for public attention to heal our communities through preventative services.
Adverse
Childhood Experiences (ACEs) include experiences that caused high-levels of
stress during childhood and create lifelong adversities into adulthood. Here is are examples of common ACEs that are
considered when assessing an individual.
Dr.
Anda (2014), opens his discussion with sharing the difficulties he faced when
beginning the process of sharing the information found about child
adversities. Before biology and scientific
data entering the professional fields of public health and education, most did
not believe in childhood experiences continuing to impact individuals into
adulthood. This was bewildering to Dr. Anda
and his team of researchers because of the sound data they were providing. The dose response relationship demonstrated sound
scientific data. They finally began to
make some headway when neurobiology became more common and explained the
impacts of stress on the brain’s architecture in children and adults. The new science found in resilience has also
brought some awareness to risk and protective factors that are found to counteract
ACEs.
A
new insight I had never head about was the idea of epigenetics. Dr. Anda
(2014), defines epigenetics as parts of a gene, telomeres, that are shortened
and unable to organize DNA properly from the effects of ACEs. The telomeres lose the ability for the gene
to be opened or not opened to be read, impacting how or whether the gene is expressed. ACEs can literally change the physiology of genes,
creating further adversities and chronic diseases into adulthood. Additionally, epigenetic fingerprints then
can be passed down, meaning a child may be impacted by their grandmother’s
adverse experiences and can continue to be passed down if not addressed. By providing services to parents,
professionals can make a secondary prevention, which in turn is a primary
prevention for the child. And hopefully
breaking the genetic cycle of adverse childhood experiences.
Another
insight I gathered from the media segment, discussed the strategy of being “trauma
informed”. I have never heard this term
before. Dr. Anda (2014), suggests that
all professionals become trauma informed throughout professional systems
(population, healthcare, education, child welfare, justice system) to
appropriately serve the children we have in our classrooms globally. The biggest problem is the systems in place
have policies and practices in place with best intentions, but are failing…especially
the healthcare sector, which directly impacts the educational system and all
the other systems. Being trauma informed
is reframing the narrative of an individual: “it’s not what’s wrong with you,
its what happened to you”. This method rewrites
the narrative of a person’s life, from shame and confusion, and adaptations with
a downside-to creating a different path for the future, with hope meaning and
purpose. This method needs to be taught
throughout the community horizontally, teaching all individuals that interact
with children.
The
impacts of teaching all staff in a school system could eliminate the educational
system as being one of the traumatic adverse experiences the child encounters. Rather, school can be a protective factor to
combat ACEs. Creating an understanding
of the population being served throughout the school community will support the
adults in their interactions and intentional relationships they have with the
children. Breaking down this approach
into the classroom can have an even more dramatic impact. However, most school are not designed for
this method to be implemented
Dr.
Anda (2014), presented data that demonstrated the number of children in the
classroom that are impacted by ACEs.
The educational
system is built with policies and practice that just do not fit with what
adversity does to people’s lives in the majorities population. By assessing one classroom of 24 children,
only six children will have no ACEs. And
unfortunately, school policies and practices are built for children who have an
ACE score of zero, not considering the varying population being served…more
assembly style. Leaving the other 18
children to struggle through the system.
Dr. Anda (2014),
concludes with expressing the idea that addressing ACEs is not about protocols,
it’s about relationships. Providers can
utilize the basic information provided by an ACEs score to bring awareness on
how to guide them through preventative measures and authentic relationships. We must create a public interest to encourage
a healing community through ACEs. Let’s
start talking about ACES to everyone we know, so that the public approach will
create a public demand for change in policy and practice.
Resources:
Alberta Family Wellness Initiative (2018). What we know: ACEs resources. Retrieved
from http://www.albertafamilywellness.org/resources/results?search-term=&topic_filter=aces
Center on the Developing Child: Harvard University (2018). Global
Children’s Initiative. Retrieved from https://developingchild.harvard.edu/about/what-we-do/global-work/
Robert Anda. (2014, October). The ace study: Building self-healing communities. Retrieved from http://www.albertafamilywellness.org/resources/video/the-ace-study-building-self-healing-communities
Crystal,
ReplyDeleteIt seems that your podcast and mine closely relate the same basic idea of providing excellence and that is meeting the needs of the children. I found it interesting learning about trauma informed. It really speaks to what we as ECE educators do by supporting and advocating for the young children in our classrooms. I am in love with the idea of teaching all staff in the school system about trauma informed will definitely provide the opportunity any stigma that the educational system may have on young students. For me it is simple, the educational system needs to take more advice from ECE professionals. That way they can have increased positive impacts on the lives of the children. Wonderfully informative blog. Thank you!
Crystal,
ReplyDeleteI have heard about ACEs and how they affect genetics that can be passed down through generations. I find this part of development fascinating. Having educators, health professionals, child welfare services, and policymakers working together makes sense when you look at this type of data. Being trauma informed is just another part of our jobs as educators. We should already be communicating with the families we serve in an effort to discover any possible causes of trauma and providing support where necessary. It is overwhelming how many children have a score of more than zero within a typical classroom. Thank you for sharing that information with us. Self-healing communities along with schools being a safe place is a good place to start. I also agree with you that we should be advocating for children and their families on this issue and many other issues.
I really enjoyed your blog this week!
Trish
Crystal,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this information with us. I was aware that parental separation was unhealthy, but looking at the data, it plays a huge factor in the household. Growing up without my Dad in the house caused dysfunction at first, but then it became normal. I think it was normal because all of my friends only had one parent in the home. I have not thought any further how it may be affecting my children. I think that it may have hurt me more than them when my Ex and I split. I am glad that I read this because it allowed me to reflect on my own household and how there is a little bit of dysfunction. I often communicate with my students and their families and we discuss the dysfunction in their homes and how it can affect the child, however, I have neglected to look at my own children who may be suffering and experiencing ACE.
Danielle