“I want to go to my house!” protested Simon.
Bonnie Muller took his hand and plunked down on the floor. “Tell me more,” she said.
It was part of a newly redoubled effort to reverse the damaging affects of childhood trauma on kids’ brains, mental health, and life trajectories.
The scene took place at the Friends Center For Children, a private preschool that just moved into a new, 9,200-square-foot building at 255 Grand Ave.
The center has won a grant to hire a full-time social worker to work with all teachers, families and kids at the center, which serves 55 kids from age 3 months to 5 years.
The goal is to address Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)—instances of early childhood trauma that research shows harm brain development and make it harder for kids to succeed in school and life. The plan represents the next frontier in the effort to tackle one of the biggest impediments to children’s success in school, and in life.
The Friends Center surveyed its families and found that 70 percent of students have been exposed to one or more ACE, according to Executive Director Allyx Schiavone.
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/friends_center_tackles_trauma/id_63317
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