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Literacy PK-3

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Literacy PK-3 > Factors > Adverse Experiences

Adverse Experiences

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The trauma that comes from experiencing adversity in childhood releases stress hormones that can lead to changes in the body and brain. The effects of these stressors during this critical time of development can have negative consequences on academic achievement, including learning to read. However, it is possible that children's brains, which allow a high degree of neural reorganization or plasticity, can compensate for the changes, which may support recovery.

Main Ideas

Adverse experiences include:

  • Interpersonal experiences that occur between people (e.g., physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, witnessing assault); and
  • Non-interpersonal experiences inflicted by some other source (e.g., a motor vehicle accident, a natural disaster).

Many children in the U.S. have experienced Adverse Experiences including physical and emotional abuse and neglect, with young children experiencing maltreatment at the highest rate. Black and Latino children are more likely to experience adverse childhood experiences than their white or Asian peers. Additionally, Black children and other students who have been historically excluded often experience racial trauma in the form of implicit or explicit biases or discrimination, such as school disciplinary policies.

Adverse experiences can result in long-term changes to health, behavior, social skills, and brain structure and functioning, and have the potential to increase the risk for learning disabilities and ADHD. These effects can have far-reaching consequences on academic outcomes. They may also result in additional trauma through the loss of Social Supports and feelings of Safety.

However, promising research on neuroplasticity of the brain has shown that children's malleable brains have increased opportunities to form new connections, and to recover and learn from experiences of trauma. There is significant variability in children's paths to recovery from trauma, so more research in this area can contribute important insights into interventions and recovery.

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