Points To Remember 1

1. The majority of today’s children are under more stress than we experienced as children. 
2. Stress is a biological protective function.  The normal response to stress is fight or flight.
3. Children who are exposed to adult problems in childhood experience more stress than children who are not exposed to adult problems.
4. Many societal changes in the family, such as divorce, single parenting, drug and alcohol abuse, two working parents, etc., cause increased stress on the whole family.
5. Stress arises when some need in a person’s life is not being met (see Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs).
6. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) are negative/traumatic events that occur during childhood and have long-lasting effects on adult physical and mental health.
7. ACEs include experiences such as abuse and neglect, living with a substance-abusing or mentally ill parent, living in poverty or in an unsafe neighborhood, parental divorce or death, and domestic violence.
8. ACEs can affect the adult survivor’s health outcomes (high blood pressure, obesity, cancer, stroke, etc.), mental health (depression, anxiety, PTSD, etc.), and overall behavioral choices (educational attainment, unemployment, substance abuse, eating habits, etc.).
9. Divorce and living in poverty are the two most common ACEs for all children. However, ACEs affect races and ethnicities differently. For example, 61% of Black children have experienced at least one ACE compared to 51% of Hispanic children, 40% of White non-Hispanic children, and only 23% of Asian children. Also, races tend to experience different ACEs, with more Black and Hispanic children experiencing a parent in prison or a substance-abusing parent and more White children experiencing living with a mentally ill parent.
10. Trauma Informed Care trains professionals in how to recognize and support children and families who have experienced trauma.
11. Children’s reactions to stress depend on their developmental age, their temperament, and their family environment.
12. The child’s ability to cope is also affected by the intensity and length of the stressor and the support they receive from adults.
13. The two best indicators that a child is stressed are changes in their behavior and regression in their behavior.
14. In all humans, stress causes physiological symptoms, emotional symptoms, and intellectual symptoms. (Know examples of each.)
15. Some of the highest stressors for children are: the death of a family member, a parent who travels often, moving or changing schools, parental divorce or separation or re-marriage, parental incarceration, and personal injury/illness.
16. Chronic stress sensitizes neural pathways in the brain and results in overdevelopment of the regions of the brain involved in anxiety and fear responses.  
17. Students who are chronically stressed are constantly on hyper-alert.  This causes problems in their ability to attend and learn.  Many educators misinterpret hyper-arousal as Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.
18. Experiences that alter the brain’s development will also alter the body’s responses.  This is why children develop behaviors that are adaptive to their negative environment but are maladaptive to the normal environment of school.  Children who overreact to touch, fear, or separation or have frequent angry responses have learned these maladaptive responses from their unhealthy environment.
19. Hyper-arousal is common in older children and males.  Withdrawal or dissociation is more common with young children and females.  Both are an inborn protective response to perceived danger. 
20. School stress is one of the major sources of stress in children.
21. School stress is often caused by a mismatch between the curriculum and the student’s academic or developmental level.
22. Peer relationships at school can also be a source of school stress.
23. Communication between school, home, and involved professionals is a necessity when dealing with a student who is stressed.
24. Factors that create good coping skills include good adult support, a healthy relationship with one or more adults, well-developed social and problem solving skills, and a positive self-esteem and ability to act independently.
25. It is the school’s responsibility to teach students coping skills and stress management.
26. Teaching students how to problem solve helps them see that there are multiple strategies for solving problems and that they are capable of solving their own problems.