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By Kirk McKoy, Los Angeles Times, April 1, 2020 Public health officials in Illinois on Saturday announced the death of an infant in Chicago who had tested positive for the coronavirus . Although the exact cause of death had not been determined as of Tuesday, it marked the first recorded death in the U.S. of an infant who had contracted the virus. The virus is more likely to be fatal in adults, but children who have tested positive for COVID-19 also have died. Underlying health conditions...

By Kalyn Belsha, Chalkbeat, April 1, 2020 Like many high school juniors, Sarah Alli-Brown has had a lot of thoughts swimming through her head these last two weeks. Are we going to go back to school? What about the SAT? Would it be illegal to have SAT prep at school? Because I really, really, really need help. Normally, Sarah would review SAT problems every day after school with her English teacher. But the practice sessions stopped two weeks ago when her Chicago school, like schools across...

This link has all the needed places to go to get Wrinkles: the video book without music, the video book with music, and now the podcast of an educator (not me) reading the story. Stellar really. A Spanish version is in the works as is an ebook. Please help kids navigate our complex, changing world by understanding through Wrinkles the feelings we are all having. Processing is key. https://medium.com/@KarenGrossEdu/a-wrinkles-story-podcast-wow-is-it-good-5dea87c75e1d P.S. Watch for a set of...

Millions of lives have been affected in unprecedented ways by the Coronavirus (COVID-19). We are all grappling with uncertainty—our daily routines interrupted, not knowing what is to come. For those of us who have Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), these times can be particularly distressing. At the Center for Youth Wellness (CYW), we know that childhood trauma can have a significant impact on an individual’s health and well-being – both physiologically and psychologically. Since the...

During this time of social distancing and the legitimate scare of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to develop a sense of "normalcy" for our little ones (keiki). We can do this by keeping them on a schedule, making sure that we are listening to their concerns and meet their unmet needs. Due to COVID-19 preschools in Hawai'i have shut its doors to instruction, however this preschool has continued to operate by meeting the needs of the homeless and at-risk homeless families they serve.

Hi ACEs Connection Community, I am a staff member here at ACEs Connection. I have been hosting mental health tools for personal wellness each evening for the past 2 weeks since we've had to start sheltering in place and isolating. Note: These videos are a personal project and not done on behalf of ACEs Connection. The ideas are not officially endorsed by ACEs Connection, although I reference ACEs science. In this video, I talk about why childhood wounds may be triggered during this...

By Warren Buckleitner, The New York Times, March 31, 2020 Dear Readers, As the novelty of being holed up with kids wears off, it can help to have some new experiences on hand to keep them busy, happy and maybe even learning. Here’s a short list of recommended tried-and-true apps for school-age children that are $3.99 or less, compiled from reviews by Warren Buckleitner, an educational psychologist who reviews children’s interactive media. He is the founding editor of Children’s Technology...

By Robert F. Anda, Laura E. Porter, David W. Brown, et al., American Journal of Preventive Medicine, March 25, 2020 INTRODUCTION Despite its usefulness in research and surveillance studies, the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) score is a relatively crude measure of cumulative childhood stress exposure that can vary widely from person to person. Unlike recognized public health screening measures, such as blood pressure or lipid levels that use measurement reference standards and cut points...

Caring for Each Other: How to Use Sesame Street in Communities Resources for Health Emergencies with Families Now Wednesday, April 1, 2020 @ 3 PM ET We're all in this together, and that's why we're all coming together. Sesame Workshop and the Brazelton Touchpoints Center are partnering on a webinar series, beginning April 1st, to share online resources that can help us handle the sudden changes in our lives when we face health emergencies like the one that confronts us today. As a result of...

My online writing community shared this video yesterday. What a welcome relief from the news I've been watching. Maybe you need a few laughs or some feel-good moments to celebrate as well. He doesn't call it solutions journalism but just, "Some Good News," but I think it's both, as well as entertainment.

From Prevention Institute, March 27, 2020 Physical distancing has become key to managing the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. But the economic disruption that accompanies “sheltering in place” has caused millions of people to lose their jobs. Come April 1, when the rent or mortgage payment is due, the many people who just became unemployed and those who were already living paycheck to paycheck will be at risk of losing their homes in addition to their livelihoods. Stable, safe, and...

COVID-19 doesn’t appear to be a major concern for children’s health, but the youngest among us will still bear the larger burdens of trauma and economic fallout. One of the lonely silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic is that the disease doesn’t appear to be that bad for kids. Although children are certainly not immune, and a study of the outbreak in Wuhan indicates that infants are susceptible to severe complications, most healthy kids don’t seem to face a significant risk of death. So...