HARVARD CENTER ON THE DEVELOPING CHILD

Reducing the effects of significant adversity on young children’s healthy development is critical to the progress and prosperity of any society. Yet not all children experience lasting harm as a result of adverse early experiences. Some may demonstrate “resilience,” or an adaptive response to serious hardship. A better understanding of why some children do well despite early adversity is important because it can help us design policies and programs that help more children reach their full potential.

One way to understand the development of resilience is to visualize a balance scale or seesaw (see image below). Protective experiences and adaptive skills on one side counterbalance significant adversity on the other. Resilience is evident when a child's health and development are tipped in the positive direction, even when a heavy load of factors is stacked on the negative side. Understanding all of the influences that might tip the scale in the positive direction is critical to devising more effective strategies for promoting healthy development in the face of significant disadvantage.

Photo Credit - Harvard Center on the Developing Child

To read the rest of the article, click the button below

      BUILD INITIATIVE

The Community Systems Development Toolkit supports the hands-on implementation of collaborative systems work at the local level, providing resource tools that cover the full spectrum of community systems and coordination work.

Tailored to the needs of community-based collaboration and organized around the Six Functions of an Early Childhood System, the toolkit is designed to provide accessible, comprehensive resources supporting the changing stages and needs of communities engaged in collaborative work. Tools include forms, examples of community level strategies, questions, guidance, samples, and processes. The Six Core Functions of the EC Systems Assessment is designed to help identify where tools and supports may be most needed.

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

To view a full table of contents, click here

     PARENTNATION.ORG

Too many parents lack the societal support to meet the needs of young children. Parent Nation offers a powerful blueprint for a society that helps all families meet the developmental needs of their children. Weaving together the latest science on the developing brain with stories of families from all walks of life, Dr. Dana Suskind shows that the status quo—scores of parents left to shoulder the enormous responsibility of early childhood care and education on their own—is not only unsustainable, but deeply detrimental to children, families, and society.

Photo Credit - parentnation.org

To view the website for more information, click the button below

     HARVARD CENTER ON THE DEVELOPING CHILD

Here you’ll find handouts with suggestions for games and activities to do with children of different ages. They can be shared at well child visits or when caregivers are looking for support with behavior. These activities can promote child-caregiver bonding, executive function skills, and build children’s brains through play.

• 6 month
  
• 9 months
• 12 months
• 15 months
• 18 months
• 2-3 years
• 4-7 years
• 8-12 years
• adolescents

• 6 months (Spanish)
• 9 months (Spanish)
• 12 months (Spanish)
• 15 months (Spanish)
• 18 months (Spanish)
• 2-3 years (Spanish)
• 4-7 years (Spanish)
• 8-12 years (Spanish)
• adolescents (Spanish)

Photo Credit - HCHC Pediatrics

To view other caregiver resources, click the button below

     PATIENT ENGAGEMENT HIT, XTELLIGENT HEALTHCARE MEDIA

As part of their pursuit of understanding and addressing social determinants of health, medical professionals should also consider adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).

According to data from the National Survey of Children’s Health, 34.8 million children across the US are impacted by ACEs, known as traumatic events experienced during childhood.

Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that 61 percent of adults can recount at least one ACE from their childhood, and about one in six were able to report they’d experienced four or more types of ACEs.

And considering the downstream impacts adverse childhood experiences can have on adult health, these issues are costly. CDC said the economic and social cost of ACEs rounds out to hundreds of billions of dollars annually. The agency said reducing ACEs in North America by 10 percent could result in $56 billion in cost savings each year.

Below, PatientEngagementHIT defines ACEs, outlines the consequences of adverse childhood experiences, and reviews the current state of ACE mitigation strategies.

WHAT ARE ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EVENTS (ACES)

According to the CDC, ACEs are “potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood (0-17 years).”

ACEs often relate to experiences of neglect, abuse, and family dysfunction, but according to Carmela Sosa, MD, the medical director of the Guilds Center for Community Health with Valley Children’s Hospital, ACEs can also be more expansive. Serious issues with common social determinants of health, like housing insecurity or food insecurity, can also make for potentially traumatic events.

“ACEs are just one piece of the complex interplay that makes up SDOH, and all are beyond a child’s control,” Sosa wrote in a resource for Central California Pediatrics.

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

To read the rest of the article, click the button below