Role: Early Childhood Advocate
Goal: My goal is to communicate to early childhood administrators and program directors that they have a vital role to educate their teachers about the effects of adversity, toxic stress, and trauma and helped them build a mindset the is both aware and responsive to children are a victims of prolong exposure to stress to decrease it's long-term affects.
Life is hard and it is not always possible to avoid day to day stressors but extreme prolong exposure to stress can have major implications for a child in your care. The impact of adversity on young children is great. There are many risk factors that are associated with adversity, toxic stress, and trauma. This impact can start even before conception and can have potential risks in to adulthood. Stress over time and stress that occurs during various developmental stages can cause structural and functional disruptions (Shonkoff et.al., 2011). These disruptions can lead to both physical and mental illness later in life (Shonkoff et.al., 2011). It is also reported that toxic stress during childhood is closely linked to the adoption of unhealthy life styles in adulthood as a way to cope with everyday stressors. Some of these life style choices may include early use of drugs and alcohol, smoking, promiscuity, and poor health habits (Shonkoff et.al., 2011). There is also a connection between attachment and adversity. Adversity can cause poor attachment, which both affect brain development. Research suggests, “parent-child interactions is related to executive function performance” (Bernier, et. al., 2012, p. 13). Adversity can also cause health problems and children who have been exposed to stress during childhood are more likely to suffer from disease including cardiovascular, obesity, and cancer.
Let's take a moment look inside the life of a child who is experiencing adversity.
So what can we do as school administrators and program director? How can ensure that our students have the best chance at success after being exposed to adversity?
Fortunately, young children are resilient and their brains are remarkable. Nero-plasticity makes healing from adversity possible. Through enriched and stimulating environments created nurturing and caring adults children who have suffered from adversity can restructure their brains altering their stress response system. We can ensure that our teachers are trauma informed and resilience building (Perks, 2015). This means developing professional development to help educators understand what adversity looks like, how it can impact child development, and how to handle issues of adversity in the classroom. We must also teach our educators how to be responsive to children who have experienced extreme amounts of stress. The cause for a resiliency mindset, which is the ability to understand that the effects of stress can be altered if early responsive intervention is in place and implemented. There are a few things that teachers must be able to do in order to be able to develop this type of mindset.
1. Understand what is adversity, toxic stress, and trauma.
2. How extreme about of stress effect the brain.
3. Know the three types of stress: positive stress, tolerable stress, and toxic stress
4. Know how to utilize resources within the school and communities to support families who are suffering from adversity, toxic stress, and trauma.
5. Understand how to build positive relationship with the child and their families as well as create a nurturing environment where children feel safe and secure.
There is a lot of work that has to be done to combat childhood adversity and it requires a network of organizations, communities of practice, and educators to come together to find resolve of this major issue. So let's get together and plan, educate, and implement the mindset of resiliency.
Reference
Bernier, A., Carlson, S. M., Deschênes, M., & Matte-Gagné, C. (2012). Social factors in the development of early executive functioning: A closer look at the caregiving environment. Developmental Science, 15(1), 12–24.
Shonkoff, J. P., Garner, A. S., Siegel, B. S., Dobbins, M. I., Earls, M. F., McGuinn, L.,…Wood, D. L. (2011). The lifelong effects of early childhood adversity and toxic stress. Pediatrics, 129(1),e232–e246. Retrieved from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/129/1/e232.full.pdf
