Early childhood education as a resilience intervention for maltreated children

Child maltreatment is a global, pervasive, and preventable social ill that runs counter to international rights of children to be free from violence. Definitions might vary, but child maltreatment generally refers to a range of unacceptable parenting practices that are classified as physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional maltreatment, neglect, and, more recently, exposure to domestic partner violence (Trocmé et al., 2010). The damaging effects of maltreatment to social, behavioural, cognitive, and physical development are indisputable (Cicchetti & Toth, 2005; Mills et al., 2011). It is estimated that only 10-25% of maltreated children demonstrate resilience (Cicchetti, 2013), suggesting that few victims overcome their adversity.