Traditionally, kids who are disruptive in class get a few warnings and then get sent to the office. However, those children might be going through traumatic life experiences outside of school that are causing the behavior. 

In January, Jamestown School teachers will be trained by Gabriella Grant from the California Center of Excellence for Trauma Informed Care, thanks to a grant from the Tuolumne County Behavioral Health Department and the Mental Health Services Act.

The training approach is rooted in a study by Kaiser Permanente and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, called Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) that found that childhood trauma not only affects a child’s ability to learn and thrive in school, but can also shorten a child’s life. 

The study looked at 17,000 mostly white, middle- to upper-middle-class San Diegans, and examined their past history, including family violence, homelessness, poverty, sexual abuse and more. It found a direct correlation between someone’s ACE score and the length of their life. The ACE Study found that 67 percent of all respondents have experienced at least one ACE. It also found that, as the number of ACEs increases, the risk for the physical, mental and behavioral health problems increases.

Trauma affects brain development, said Mark Dyken, director of the Jamestown Family Resource Center and after-school program coordinator, who applied for the grant and will lead the staff development in trauma training. 

[For more of this story, written by Lacey Peterson, go to http://www.uniondemocrat.com/N...a-train-its-teachers]