Minority Kids Face Harsh Discipline in School, Trauma Out of School


social emotional learning SEL childhood trauma school discipline

Children of color who are disproportionately targeted by harsh school discipline policies are also more likely to face adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) out of school, according to a new report. ACEs—such as poverty, neglect, and parental divorce—can impair healthy development and education. But little is known about how exclusionary school discipline practices—suspensions, expulsions, referrals to law enforcement, and corporal punishment—affect children with ACEs. So, ChangeLab Solutions created an issue brief, School Discipline Practices: A Public Health Crisis and an Opportunity for Reform, that shows how widespread use of exclusionary school discipline aggravates pre-existing ACEs and robs students of opportunities for learning and growth. “These practices ...

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Game Changer: San Antonio Police to Notify Schools if Kids Exposed to Trauma



Diana Centeno knows kids exposed to traumatic events don’t get the support they need at school. Doug Greene knows police come across kids at crime scenes but feel unable to help them cope. So, they teamed up to start a project where patrol officers send a notification to the district if a child was present at a traumatic incident, enabling monitoring and support for the child. Centeno, a student support leader at San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD), is passionate about providing wrap-around, social-emotional services, particularly for children facing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Kids exposed to ACEs often act out in class, miss school, and fall behind, increasing their risk of dropping out, getting into criminal activities, and suffering from poor ...

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Schools Must Integrate Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning


Social emotional learning

Schools should reshape their environment to promote students’ social, emotional, and academic learning, according to a new report from the Aspen Institute. In schools with little focus on social and emotional learning, students of color or those who have experienced poverty and other childhood trauma may fall behind in typical measures like grades, attendance, and graduation. They aren’t prepared for success in adulthood. The new report explores the science of learning and makes the case for integrating—rather than separating—students’ social, emotional, and academic development. This would benefit all kids, especially Latinos and others at-risk, for the future of our nation. “Educating the whole student requires rethinking teaching and learning so that academics ...

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Salud America! Members Send 2,214 Emails to Address Childhood Trauma


childhood adversity impacts lifelong mental and physical health

More than 2,000 Salud America! network members emailed public comments urging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to address childhood trauma and adverse childhood experiences in proposed objectives for Healthy People 2030. Healthy People represents critical public health priorities by focusing on the leading causes of death and disease and driving action at the national, state, and local levels. Since its launch in 1979, the initiative has grown from 15 topics and 226 objectives in 1990 to 42 topics and more than 1,200 objectives in 2020. However, no objectives tackle the rising health issue of childhood trauma. So, with help from Dr. Colleen Bridger of San Antonio Metro Health District and Dr. Joe Hendershott of Hope for the Wounded Student, we created ...

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Childhood Trauma Increases Risk of Teen Obesity



Teens with more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are more likely to have overweight, obesity, and severe obesity than those with no ACEs, according to a new Minnesota study. Youth with one ACE─psychological abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, familial substance abuse, domestic violence, or parental incarceration─were 1.38 times as likely to have obesity than youth with no ACEs. Those with all six ACEs were 2.03 times as likely to have obesity. Additionally, Latino youth were 1.38 times as likely to be overweight as white non-Latinos. “Our results imply that child health professionals should understand the relationship between ACEs and weight status in adolescence, and that screening for ACEs and referring youth and their families to appropriate services might be an ...

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Survey: Childhood Adversity May Worsen Health Inequities



U.S. Latino and multiracial children face higher exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) than non-Latinos, according to a new national survey. Overall, nearly 62% of survey respondents had at least one ACE, according to a CDC analysis of data from the latest Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, an annual phone survey on the health of a nationally representative sample of 400,000 Americans. About 24% reported experiencing one ACE, 13% two ACEs, 9% three ACEs, and 16% four or more ACEs. Mean ACE scores were higher among: Latinos compared with whites; females compared with males; those with less than a high school education than those completing high school or more; those who make less than $15,000 a year compared with those in all other income ...

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Tell Gov’t: Address Childhood Trauma in Healthy People 2030!



Childhood trauma. Adverse childhood experiences. Toxic stress. Trauma-informed. These are NOT FOUND anywhere in the proposed objectives for Healthy People 2030. We need you to speak up for childhood trauma and adverse childhood experiences to ensure the Healthy People 2030 objectives guide our nation in addressing the leading public health concerns. Drafted by our Salud America! research team, with help from Dr. Colleen Bridger of San Antonio Metropolitan Health District and Dr. Joe Hendershott of Hope for the Wounded Student, below are three unique opportunities to provide a public comment. Send an Email: Address Childhood Trauma & ACEs in Objectives in Healthy People 2030! Click here to easily send the following email to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ...

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Superintendent’s State Crusade to Help Schools Help Students of Trauma



Bob Stewart knew that some students were frequently missing class or dropping out of the Gladstone School District in Gladstone, Ore (14.6% Latino). But he didn’t know why. Stewart came to realize his students face trauma─neglect, mental illness, poverty, foster care, divorced or jailed parents, and other adverse childhood experiences─that affect their school attendance and long-term social, emotional, mental, and physical health. He wanted to help. He started mental health services in his district. Stewart wanted to go bigger. Could he achieve his goal of starting a statewide learning collaborative to educate other school districts how to support students who have adverse childhood experiences? Absenteeism: A Symptom of a Larger Problem Stewart, who started as ...

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San Antonio Health Department Budgets for City’s First Trauma-Informed Position



San Antonio approved funding for the city’s first ever position dedicated to addressing and preventing childhood trauma and toxic stress. Nationwide, schools, communities, organizations and municipal agencies are working to better help the 46% of youth who have suffered an adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). For example, in Newark, New Jersey, Equal Justice USA is working with the Newark Police to teach policy and civilians how trauma impacts their daily lives, and in San Francisco, California, pediatricians are working community mental health providers in schools to address childhood trauma and reunification stress among unaccompanied immigrant children. Unfortunately, efforts like these often lack the coordinated, community-wide network needed to reach children and families ...

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