Tagged With "Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder"
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Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8 (The National Academies Press 2016)
A study published by The National Academies of Sciences in 2016 resulting in 10 Recommendations to build support for parents... "Over the past several decades, researchers have identified parenting- related knowledge, attitudes, and practices that are associated with improved developmental outcomes for children and around which parenting- related programs, policies, and messaging initiatives can be designed. However, consensus is lacking on the elements of parenting that are most important...
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Parents’ Substance Abuse May Up Kids’ Risk of Medical & Behavioral Disorders [PsychCentral.com]
A new report finds that children whose parents or caregivers misuse alcohol or have a substance abuse problem face an increased risk of medical and behavioral problems. The study calls for pediatricians to take an active role in assessing a child’s risk and to support the family to get the help they need. Experts have known that children whose parents or caregivers misuse alcohol or use, produce or distribute drugs face an increased risk of medical and behavioral problems. In the new...
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Pediatricians screening for ACEs at Loma Linda University
Attached is the Whole Child Assessment which is being used by pediatricians to screen for ACEs at Loma Linda University. For further questions about the development or use of the WCA, please contact Ariane Marie-Mitchell at Loma Linda University, amariemitchell@llu.edu .
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Positive Childhood Experiences offset ACEs: Q & A with Dr. Robert Sege about HOPE
Tufts University medical professor Dr. Robert Sege directs the Center for Community-Engaged Medicine and is nationally known for his research on effective health systems approaches that address social determinants of health. He is also the principal investigator for the HOPE framework (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences).The HOPE framework is based on research that shows how positive childhood experiences can mitigate the effects of adverse childhood experiences. Sege and colleagues...
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Report reveals how foster care, juvenile and adult justice systems traumatize youth, calls for policy shifts
YWFC sponsored Sister Warriors meeting When she was 15 years old, Lucero Herrera was put in a rehab program by San Francisco’s Juvenile Court because she was getting drunk regularly. And in doing so, the court failed to explore the root of her drinking. Had they done so, she said, they would have found that anger and trauma were lurking underneath, driven by her ACEs: adverse childhood experiences. Lucero Herrera "Why did they put me in a drug program when I had an anger problem? I went...
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Report reveals how foster care, juvenile and adult justice systems traumatize youth, calls for policy shifts
YWFC sponsored Sister Warriors meeting When she was 15 years old, Lucero Herrera was put in a rehab program by San Francisco’s Juvenile Court because she was getting drunk regularly. And in doing so, the court failed to explore the root of her drinking. Had they done so, she said, they would have found that anger and trauma were lurking underneath, driven by her ACEs: adverse childhood experiences. Lucero Herrera "Why did they put me in a drug program when I had an anger problem? I went...
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[Repost] Trauma-informed Care: It Takes More Than a Clipboard and a Questionnaire
California is about to launch an ambitious campaign to train tens of thousands of Medi-Cal providers to screen children and adults up to age 65 for trauma, starting on January 1, 2020. It is well-established that the early identification of trauma and providing the appropriate treatment are critical tools for reducing long-term health care costs for both children and adults. Research has shown that individuals who experienced a high number of traumatic childhood events are likely to die...
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Research roundup: ACEs and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder; ACEs impact on pre-diabetes; parental incarceration and health care use; can a safe neighborhood reduce the risk of obesity?
Adverse Childhood Experiences Are Associated with Unmet Healthcare Needs among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder [The Journal of Pediatrics] Objective: "To explore associations between level of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and unmet healthcare needs among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using a population-based sample." The Differential Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences in the Development of Pre-Diabetes in a Longitudinal Cohort of US Adults [The Journal of...
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Research roundup: Healthy parenting; resilience building; ACEs and substance use; ACEs and justice-involved youth recidivism; ACEs and fetal alcohol exposure; integrating ACEs into nursing curriculum
Effective Discipline to Raise Healthy Children [Pediatrics] Addressing the social emotional needs of children in chronic poverty: A pilot of the Journey of Hope [Children and Youth Services Review] From Child Maltreatment to Adolescent Substance Use: Different Pathways for Males and Females? [Feminist Criminology] Adverse Childhood Experiences and Justice-Involved Youth: The Effect of Trauma and Programming on Different Recidivistic Outcomes [Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice] Quality of...
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Review of ACE studies confirms supporting parent-child relationship is key
When health care providers screen their pediatric patients for ACEs, what interventions might help improve outcomes for children? Dr. Ariane Marie-Mitchell, a pediatrician in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Loma Linda University, and a colleague sought an answer to that question in a systematic review of studies that was published recently in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. As part of their inquiry, Marie-Mitchell and her co-investigator, Rashel Kostolansky , who was a...
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Boston’s architect of community well-being: Pediatrician Renée Boynton-Jarrett
She talks with parents about the relationship between childhood adversities they have experienced and how that may have an impact on parenting.
“I frame things a bit more broadly than ACEs,” she said, “because I think it’s very important to reflect on a broader number of exposures than were covered in the original study, such as poverty or structural violence and racism.”
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Building a Movement to Birth a More Just and Loving World [Groundswell March 2018]
The National Perinatal Task Force: Building a Movement to Birth a More Just and Loving World - In my 20 years as a public health nurse, I've never seen race called out so clearly in a report like this. Data has shown disparities, however the data was presented in a tidy way — very apolitical, purposely written to not ruffle any feathers or point fingers - " persistent racial gap ". This report written by The National Perinatal Task Force is refreshingly honest and this is important. We need...
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Building trust is now a critical part of health care
In a video clip , a hospital patient turns away in protest as a physician enters the room. “Why do you all keep coming in my room!” she asks in frustration. The physician moves a chair out of the way and sits down at eye level with the patient. “You’ve had to see so many people,” he acknowledges. “And I’m tired of it!” she yells. “I already know I have to get both of my legs cut off. That’s what they keep saying. I don’t have a choice!” “You don’t feel like you have a choice,” he repeats...
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CA pediatrician develops, tests, gets state OK for whole-child assessment tool that includes ACEs
Over the last dozen years or so, many pediatricians, astounded by the ramifications of the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on the children they care for, began integrating this science into their practices. The most common approach has been to ask parents about ACEs using a questionnaire, and to use this information to counsel parents and identify resources for the family. Different practices have been using different questionnaires: Some ask parents for their ACE scores...
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CA pediatrician develops, tests, gets state OK for whole-child assessment tool that includes ACEs
[Editor's note: This blog was first posted in April 2017. Dr. Marie-Mitchell updated the assessment by modifying a few of the questions, so we are republishing with the new assessment, one in Spanish and one in English.] Over the last dozen years or so, many pediatricians, astounded by the ramifications of the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on the children they care for, began integrating this science into their practices. The most common approach has been to ask parents...
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CA to reimburse for only one of three ACEs screeners
California health care providers will soon begin to learn how many of the 13.2 million California children and adults in the state’s MediCal program have been exposed to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). But the state’s proposed decision to reimburse only one of three recommended options for screening children has drawn mixed reactions from pediatricians. “If we have mandated legislation that only looks at one screening tool, it really limits the opportunity to improve that screening...
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California unveils ACEs Aware initiative to screen for trauma
Will screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in California be mandatory? No, but it’s recommended. Will there be training for physicians and staff on how to screen? Yes. Who will be reimbursed for screening patients in California? Physicians who serve patients in the state’s Medi-Cal program — for now. For more answers to these and other questions that surfaced during a Dec. 4 webinar introducing Californians to a new statewide initiative, read on. Come January 1, California will...
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Chicago healthcare providers start center for ACEs science education; aim to reach all medical, health students by 2025
In 2017, Dr. Audrey Stillerman and three other women from the Chicago healthcare community founded the THEN Center . Its goal is lofty: By 2025, it wants every graduating student in medical and health sciences across the United States to apply core concepts of childhood adversity, neurobiology, resilience and health equity into their work. Dr. Audrey Stillerman Today, the THEN Center (The Collaborative Study of Trauma, Health Equity and Neurobiology) is well on its way. Its founders are...
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Childhood Anxiety Linked to Later Problems With Alcohol [psychcentral.com]
New research has found evidence that children and adolescents with higher levels of anxiety may be at a greater risk of developing alcohol problems. Many studies have investigated the relationship between anxiety and alcohol use, but the evidence has been unclear, say researchers at the University of Bristol in the U.K.. Some studies found higher anxiety is linked to greater alcohol use, while others found anxiety is linked to lower alcohol use, or there was no association. For their study,...
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Childhood Stress and Adversity is Associated with Late-Life Dementia in Aboriginal Australians
This was just sent by the RACP “Paediatric Pot-Pourri”. It continues the developing and worrying themes presented at the recent NBPSA and CCCH satellites days before the RACP Congress. I cannot see any reason to imagine that these same outcomes do not also apply to those children living anywhere in the world where ACE’s are flooding into their lives. John Goldsmith “All paediatricians, particularly those with an interest in child development, are aware of the Adverse Childhood Experiences...
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Depression, anxiety, suicide increase in teens and young adults, study finds (cbsnews.com)
More American teens and young adults appear to be struggling with mental health issues , and experts believe a number of cultural trends may help explain why. A new study found the percentage of teens and young adults with depression, anxiety and other mental health issues has increased sharply over the past decade. The same pattern was not seen in older adults. "We found significant increases in major depression, serious psychological distress which includes anxiety and hopelessness and...
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Marin Community Clinics in California screen babies for ACEs, provide support in effort to prevent trauma
When Marin Community Clinics (MCC) first considered screening their patients for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) they already had decided that if they were going to prevent children from acquiring ACEs, they had to take a radical approach.
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Medical students' ACE scores mirror general population, study finds
A national survey published in 2014 revealed a disturbing finding. Compared to college graduates pursuing other professions, medical students, residents and early career physicians experienced a higher degree of burnout. Citing that article, a group of researchers at University of California at Davis School of Medicine wondered whether medical students’ childhood adversity and resilience played a role in their burnout, said Dr. Andres Sciolla, an associate professor of psychiatry and...
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Montefiore Medical in Bronx screens 12,000+ kids for ACEs
Creative Commons/Flickr/Family drawing by Meggy ____________________________________ Since 2016, more than 12,000 children beginning at the age of 1-years-old have been screened for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, New York, according to Miguelina German, the director of Quality & Research in the Pediatric Behavioral Health Integration Program and project director of Trauma Informed Care at the center. Parents of infants are asked to fill out...
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National collaborative provides roadmap for doctors to ask about adult patients' ACEs, current trauma
How do you ask patients about current and past trauma? And how do you respond to their disclosures? Those are two key questions that members of a national collaborative who are among the early adopters of trauma-informed care practices have answered in a recent article in the journal Women’s Health Issues. Dr. Edward Machtinger To Dr. Edward Machtinger, the lead author of the paper entitled, “ From treatment to Healing: Inquiry and response to recent and past trauma in adult health care” ,...
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New Sesame Street Tools Help Build Resiliency [rwjf.org]
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Sesame Workshop share a common vision of giving all children—especially the most vulnerable among us—a strong and healthy start in life. We know that childhood experiences lay the foundation for children to grow into productive and successful adults, and promoting healthy behaviors and supporting families from the very beginning can help kids thrive. But it’s equally important to address challenges that can undermine their healthy development. That’s...
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NJ medical school program requires all first-year students to learn about ACEs science
In 2015, Dr. Beth Pletcher, a pediatrician and associate professor specializing in genetics, was at the annual conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Washington D.C. when she heard two speakers that forever changed her work with medical students. Dr. Beth Pletcher “I went to two talks on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that were so mind-boggling to me that I decided on my drive back to New Jersey that I had to do something about it,”says Pletcher, director of the Division...
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Opioid gene variant in adolescents reduces reward, may increase later substance abuse risk [medicalxpress.com]
Adolescents with a particular variant of an opioid receptor gene have less response in a part of prefrontal cortex that evaluates rewards, compared to those with the other version of the gene, say researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC). For the study, presented Monday at Neuroscience 2018, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (abstract #7517), the investigators scanned adolescents who have never used drugs or alcohol with functional magnetic resonance...
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Parent Handouts: Understanding ACEs, Parenting to Prevent & Heal ACEs (English)
Please see the main post for these parent handouts in the ACEs Connection Resources Center. These two flyers ( Understanding ACEs and Parenting to Prevent & Heal ACEs ) can be downloaded, distributed, and used freely. One is brand new and the other is a revision. Both flyers were made with generous support from Family Hui, a Program of Lead for Tomorrow. Translations of these flyers are in progress and will be shared by Family Hui and updated on ACEs Connection when available.
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Re: ACOG Policy Statements on Drug Use During Pregnancy and what Is Actually Happening in the Real World
ACOG Policy Statement on the Non-Medical Use of Prescription Drugs During Pregnancy Committee on Health Care for Underserved Women Number 538, October 2012 (Reaffirmed 2014) Below is the Link to the Complete ACOG Committee Statement: Non-Medical Use of Prescription Drugs During Pregnancy T he 4 P's of Screening Mothers for Drug use During Pregnancy P arents: Did any of your parents have a problem with alcohol or other drug use? P artner: Does your partner have a problem with alcohol or drug...
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Re: ACOG Policy Statements on Drug Use During Pregnancy and what Is Actually Happening in the Real World
State Policies on Substance Use During Pregnancy as of July 1, 2014 From: GUTTMACHER INSTITUTE STATE POLICIES IN BRIEF The above guidelines give the requirements of each state regarding policies on Substance use during pregnancy. Substance Abuse Reporting and Pregnancy: The Role of the Obstetrician-Gynecologist (ACOG Policy Statement) Number 473, January 2011 (Reaffirmed 2014) Committee on Health Care for Underserved Women Abstract: Drug enforcement policies that deter women from seeking...
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Doctor-patient role-playing featured in ACEs Connection webinar
On an ACEs Connection webinar on Monday, Dr. Andrew Seaman, an assistant professor at Oregon Health & Science University, showed how he navigates his students through the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). And, in an unusual twist for a webinar, Seaman and O’Nesha Cochran, a peer mentor with the Mental Health Association of Oregon, role-played doctor-patient interactions to show how to develop the skills to communicate with patients with high ACE scores. About 90 people...
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Doctor-patient role-playing featured in ACEs Connection webinar
On an ACEs Connection webinar on Monday, Dr. Andrew Seaman, an assistant professor at Oregon Health & Science University, showed how he navigates his students through the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). And, in an unusual twist for a webinar, Seaman and O’Nesha Cochran, a peer mentor with the Mental Health Association of Oregon, role-played doctor-patient interactions to show how to develop the skills to communicate with patients with high ACE scores. About 90 people...
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Dozens of Kaiser Permanente pediatricians in Northern California screen three-year-olds for ACEs
Since August 2016, more than 300 three-year-olds who visited Kaiser Permanente’s pediatric clinics in Hayward and San Leandro have been screened for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as living with a family member who is an alcoholic or losing a parent to separation or divorce. But when the idea to screen toddlers and their families for ACEs was first broached at the Kaiser Permanente Hayward Medical Center, the staff were, in a word, “angsty,” says Dr. Paul Espinas, who led the...
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Dozens of stakeholders representing thousands of practitioners send public comments on Calif. ACEs-screening plan
Update: We posted this story on Tuesday evening and received a response from the Department of Health Care Services Wednesday that clarifies additional information. DHCS information Officer Katharine Weir said that subject to budget approval by the legislature and the governor: The reimbursement rate will be $29. Federally Qualified Health Centers will also be reimbursed for screening pediatric patients for trauma through Prop 56 funds and federal matching funds. In response to a question...
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First health-related cost of ACEs study shows $113 billion price tag for California; just one ACE costs $28 billion
Researchers who have been looking for a way to quantify the health toll of ACEs in dollar terms, now have an example in a newly-released study of California. ACEs exacted a toll costing an estimated $113 billion annually, according to the study in the journal PLOS One that was commissioned by the Center for Youth Wellness. ACEs-associated cardiovascular disease was the condition that lead author Ted Miller dubbed “the giant in the room.” It accounted for $29.6 billion in spending, more than...
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For a pediatrician and former teacher ACEs awareness came from a punch in the face
Dr. Kavitha Selvaraj did not learn about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) from a class in medical school. Her first awareness of ACEs came after a student slugged her in the face when she was a new teacher in a school in Los Angeles. She had heard a chorus in the hallway urging her students she refers to as “J” and “N” to “Fight! Fight! Fight,” she writes in an essay in a recent issue of the journal Pediatrics . The two were trading punches. When she stepped in the middle to break it up...
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From aromatherapy to anger management: How schools are addressing the 'crisis' of childhood trauma [NBCNews.com]
Schools are experimenting with new ways to address behavior issues and support students who are struggling emotionally. By Elizabeth Chuck and Marshall Crook May 20, 2019, 11:24 AM EDT YAKIMA, Wash. — Instead of going outside for recess on a recent Friday, fifth-grader Thomas Stevenson walked down a hallway in Ridgeview Elementary School and entered a dimly lit room. Inside, lavender aromatherapy filled the air, spa-like music played and a projector broadcast clouds onto a screen. Passing by...
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Hearing in House Education and Labor Early Childhood Subcommittee addresses intersection of trauma and education
Dr. Nadine Burke Harris (l) and Karina Chicote, Churchill Fellow from western Australia meet after congressional hearing After watching the hearing on a monitor in the overflow room, Karina Chicote, a Churchill Fellow from western Australia, and I hustled to the hearing room in hopes of speaking to the lead witness, Nadine Burke Harris, MD, the first Surgeon General of the State of California. She was deep in conversation with others, including a young woman who wanted to tell her how...
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Heyman Oo integrates ACEs science as foundation of pediatric care
Dr. Heyman Oo, a 34-year-old primary care pediatrician, first learned about the science of adverse childhood experiences in medical school at a grand rounds held around 2012 at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, which she attended from 2009 to 2014. The presenter was none other than Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, a pediatrician who went on to become California’s first Surgeon General. The founder and former director of the Center for Youth Wellness drew millions of views for her TED talk on...
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Hillary Clinton’s Comprehensive Agenda on Mental Health [The Briefing—Fact Sheets]
The first bullet under Early Diagnosis and Intervention of today’s release of Hillary Clinton’s mental health agenda is titled “ Increase public awareness and take action to address maternal depression, infant mental health, and trauma and stress in the lives of young children.” It states “We also know that infant mental health depends on children forming close and secure relationships with the adults in their lives, and that too many children are growing up in environments that cause them...
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How collaboration helps clinic in San Mateo County, CA, tackle ACEs in children
Dr. Elizabeth Grady is a pediatrician at the South San Francisco Clinic, a community clinic of San Mateo Medical Center. She and Susana Flores , a senior public health nurse with San Mateo County Health, spoke with me about how the clinic and other health agencies in San Mateo have been able to craft ways to work together to prevent and heal toxic stress in children. Grady also talked about how she and Flores have been working with the Resilient Beginnings Collaborative (RBC), a group of...
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How do these pediatricians do ACEs screening? Early adopters tell all.
Last week, three pediatricians — with a combined experience of 15 years integrating ACEs science into their practices — reflected on the urgency they felt several years ago that prompted them to begin screening patients for childhood adversity and resilience when there was practically no guidance at all. Along their journey , they accumulated a list of lessons learned for other pediatricians and family clinics to use. The three pediatricians participated in the ACEs Connection webinar,...
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Researchers share learned lessons from screening for adverse childhood experiences in pediatric clinics
What are the reasons that parents or caregivers do not fully disclose their own or their young children’s ACEs when asked to fill out an ACE screening form in their child’s pediatrician’s office? That was one of the many questions raised in a recent webinar entitled Screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences in the Pediatric Primary Care Setting: Practical Considerations and Lessons Learned . Dr. Kavitha Selvaraj, an attending physician at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s hospital...
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Interim report of the President’s opioid commission says its final report will address early intervention strategies for children with ACEs
On August 8, President Trump spoke to the opioid crisis in this country and declined to declare a national emergency as recommended by the “President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis.” Instead, the President emphasized the law and order aspects of the problem and the importance of preventing drug use in the first place since addiction is so hard to overcome. The Commission will make a final report in the fall. The recently released interim report makes eight...
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4 years after integrating ACEs science, Pueblo, CO clinic improves services for families; cuts ER costs, doctor stress
Four years ago, Dr. Leslie Dempsey would never have talked about ACEs — adverse childhood experiences — with her patients. Now ACEs is a common topic. “Just as I don’t feel awkward asking someone if they smoke or do intravenous drugs, I don’t really feel awkward talking about their childhood traumas in a way that it relates to their health. It’s just integrated into obtaining background and social history,” she says. Dr. Leslie Dempsey Dempsey is a physician in obstetrics who oversees a team...
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A Community Approach to Trauma Sensitivity / Making a Difference Conference in MA in November
The 6th Annual Making a Difference Conference for SESPs, Foster/Adoptive and Kinship Caregivers and their Professional Partners will be held in Marlborough, MA on November 14, 2017. The theme is A Community Approach to Trauma Sensitivity. There will be at least two talks will be about ACEs! Speakers/Topics: Keynote: Managing the Hearts and Souls of Many, Dana Royster-Buefort, M.Ed., C.A.G.S. Workshops Tackling ACEs by Building Resilient Communities , Renee D Boynton-Jarrett, MD, ScD . Note:...
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A Kaiser pediatrician, wise to ACEs science for years, finally gets to use it
Dr. Suzanne Frank has known about the impact of childhood adversity on young lives for decades. She’s seen the fallout in the faces of young people huddled in beds at a children’s shelter where she worked years ago. She’s seen it as the regional child abuse services and champion for the Permanente Medical Group. And she’s seen it in hospital examination rooms where, as a member of the Santa Clara County’s Sexual Assault Response Team, she’s been called in to examine shell-shocked children...
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A National Agenda to Address Adverse Childhood Experiences
What are ACEs and Why Do They Matter? In 2016 1 , nearly half of U.S. children – 34 million kids – had at least one Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) and more than 20 percent experienced two or more. The new brain sciences and science of human development explain how ACEs can have devastating, long-lasting effects on children’s health and wellbeing. These events resonate well beyond the individual child to have far-reaching consequences for families, neighborhoods, and communities. ACEs...
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ACE Fact Sheets to Give Your Doctors, Patients & Beyond (free downloads)
I was first inspired to create a fact sheet summarizing the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) after reading a comment in “Got Your ACE score?” A reader wished she had a form to give her doctor that documented the vast body of evidence explaining how early trauma increases risk for chronic physical and mental health conditions and much more.
I could relate.