Students exposed to traumatic events may have a difficult time managing their emotions and display chronic irritability and anxiety that interferes with problem solving. They may also have difficulty understanding others’ feelings, being able to communicate their needs in words, lack the insight to understand how their behavior affects others, making their ability to interact positively and productively with their peers difficult.
Compounding the physical challenges experienced by youth who have experienced adverse childhood experiences, they may struggle with the norms and expectations of school, leading to punitive consequences that may re-traumatize them, disrupting the possibility of developing trusting relationships with adults at school. Likewise, the correlation between ACEs and lack of success at school is significant, even after accounting for gender, school variability, poverty, and race. When adversity is experienced in the home in the form of emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, or if a parent is unavailable as the result of substance use or mental illness, protective factors at school are important. Therefore, it is necessary to implement practices that create resiliency against ACEs in the school environment since schools are one of the most accessible and dependable locations for students to receive psychological support and therapy.
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