Issue Brief 61 - Addressing Trauma in Early Childhood [chdi.org]

Young children (under age 7) are exposed at high rates to potentially traumatic events such as abuse, violence, and loss of a loved one. Over half of all victims of child abuse in the U.S. are under age six.¹ Despite this, young children who are victims of trauma receive trauma-focused behavioral health treatments at much lower rates than older children. Since 2008, of the more than 10,000 children in Connecticut that have received effective trauma treatments, only 800 of these children were under age seven. This treatment gap is concerning, because the rapidly developing brains of young children are especially sensitive to the damaging and lasting effects of trauma exposure.² Intervening early with children who have experienced trauma reduces the potential for developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other serious behavioral health problems later in life.³ Furthermore, early investment in children’s mental health ultimately pays off many times over in future cost savings.⁴ This evidence suggests that there is a critical need to better identify young children exposed to trauma, and to build specialized treatment capacity to address their needs.

ARC Supports Parents in Helping Young Children Recover from Trauma

Through a five year SAMHSA grant awarded to CHDI as part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), the Early Childhood Trauma Collaborative (ECTC) is helping to address this gap by training clinicians to use Attachment, Self-Regulation and Competency (ARC),⁵ an effective treatment for young children who have experienced trauma and their caregivers.

ARC is a behavioral health treatment that supports parents (or other caregivers) to help their children address problems resulting from trauma exposure. ARC accomplishes this by helping parents develop the skills they need to assist their children with addressing the negative effects trauma may have on interacting with others (attachment), managing emotions (self-regulation), and meeting developmental milestones (competency). Involving parents in treatment is important because parents of young children have frequently experienced the same traumatic events as their children (e.g. domestic violence, community violence). ARC can help caregivers develop their own skills and simultaneously assist their children with reducing the negative effects of trauma exposure.

[To read this brief, go to https://www.chdi.org/publicati...auma-early-childhood]