Simple article or blog explaining ACES for parents of small children

Hi there. I’d love to talk to you more about this. I’d even be happy to create one for my collection, and give it to you, first. 😊 but we have such a rich community here - I’m sure we could start a little subgroup and communally write-edit in no time at all. Interested?

Here you go.  It's a story (with and without music) or done as a podcast. It explains social distancing, virus spread, impact of school closure, and strategies that work to ameliorate. Kids can write letters or send drawings to Wrinkles (the dog who starts in the video). Trauma responsive reading and tested by kids with success.

Use it, post it, what it, copy it, email it.  Share it.

All links are embedded here:

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard:

https://developingchild.harvard.edu/

Or you might consider providing them the link to this free online screening of "Resilience" next week:

https://docs.google.com/forms/...1zu3kCFNO7xlFw4rfLBM

Hi,  We originally created two pamphlets for parents -- one focused on Childhood Trauma, and one focused on ACEs.  The parents in our two focus groups, however, preferred the Understanding Childhood Trauma pamphlet.   I've attached it in WORD, PDF and Spanish.  Please let me know if you think this works for your purposes.  I have also attached a one page flyer I made for a training with short video resources for parents.

Please let me know if any of these work for your purposes.  Thank you.

Katherine Hughes

Thank you so much, everyone!!

I appreciate you!!

I would be very hesitant to share the information during a time when many parents are not feeling safe and connected, and aren't necessarily in their 'learning brains'. This article was recently published describing some of the misapplications of the ACEs Study; one of the authors is Dr. Anda who was one of the lead researchers on the original study: https://www.ajpmonline.org/act...-3797%2820%2930058-1

If you can maximize support/information in a way that emphasizes safety and connection to the greatest extent possible, I think that the likelihood of unintentionally being harmful may be lower. 

I do agree that Harvard's Center on the Developing Child has many fantastic infographics and videos, in multiple languages, that are in language that is probably less likely to be fear or stress inducing as others that I have seen. 

https://developingchild.harvar...tly-asked-questions/

A good video too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sutfPqtQFEc

I agree that safety and connection must be primary right now, and that the learning brain is likely offline.  At the same time, crises can be a time of growth.  It's crucial to listen to, hear and respond to your clients' needs at this point in time.  I did read Dr. Anda's article and agree with the misuse of ACEs to screen children.   I do think, however, that there is a way to talk to parents about childhood trauma focusing on hope, healing and post-traumatic growth.

You may also consider the Amazing Brain Series from FUTURES:

https://secure3.convio.net/fvp...82&store_id=1241

or Dan Siege'ls Hand Model of the Brain, which focuses more on stress than trauma:

https://www.drdansiegel.com/re...day_mindsight_tools/

I would encourage the sharing of basic information about ACEs science with parents and families, especially now, with links to dive deeper. Dr. Anda's article addressed screening only. He's all for sharing information, and has made hundreds, if not thousands of presentations around the world, and his current work with ACE Interface is all about that.

Here is a link to parent handouts in English, Spanish and Dari. Versions of this have been downloaded thousands of times and have been handed out to parents around the country and the world.

This resource is in the Parenting with ACEs community, which has many more resources. We'll post more resources next week that are relevant for COVID-19.

https://www.pacesconnection.com...ces-english-and-dari

Please contact @Christine Cissy White

cwhite@acesconnection.com

This sounds great! Thanks for birthing the idea and conversation, Cole! 

I love all the resources sent in - I can’t even read em all. Is there an idea to create a 1-pager using everyone’s best common conversational English and then a list of these great resources?

Hi Everyone:
Love seeing the resources, links, suggestions, and questions. Thank you!

As Jane shared, there are some things in the Parenting with ACEs community that might be helpful.

• There's a blog post with many ACEs-Related One Pagers.
• There are two flyers (more for parents than for kids) available in Dari, Spanish, and English:
  • Parenting to Prevent & Heal ACEs Handout
  • Understanding ACEs Handout
    
• There are also COVID-19 specific blog posts and resources and more coming in the next few days. 

I wanted to clarify my prior comment bringing up the recent article that Dr. Anda co-authored. I in no way meant to imply not sharing about ACEs in general. This quote is mostly what prompted my reply:

"Unlike recognized public health screening measures, such as blood pressure or lipid levels that use measurement reference standards and cut points or thresholds for clinical decision making, the ACE score is not a standardized measure of childhood exposure to the biology of stress. The authors are concerned that ACE scores are being misappropriated as a screening or diagnostic tool to infer individual client risk and misapplied in treatment algorithms that inappropriately assign population-based risk for health outcomes from epidemiologic studies to individuals."

I interpreted the original question - asking for a resource to provide information via email during this time and particular concern about DV - as not necessarily being the most appropriate (least harmful) way of sharing the ACEs information, imho. Considering that many families are experiencing a heightened state of stress, I think it is important to be mindful of the way we go about sharing the information with them, providing context and ensuring they have access to supportive resources should they find the information triggering. Drawing attention to the article was merely a way of pointing out that it has inappropriately been utilized to infer "individual client risk" when that is not the intention. 

Melissa:
I think we are all figuring this out and sharing what does/doesn't, might/might not make sense when it comes to what and how we share or even gather ACEs-related info. I appreciate your comments, on this and in general! Cissy