ABSTRACT
Stressful or traumatic events that people experience early in life are called Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). There are ten categories of ACEs: Physical abuse, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, physical neglect, emotional neglect, a parent who abuses substances, a mother who’s a victim of domestic violence, a family member in jail, a family member diagnosed with a mental illness, and the disappearance of a parent through divorce, death, or abandonment. In the original 1998 study of ACEs by Kaiser Permanente, more than 63% of adults studied had experienced at least one ACE. Furthermore, 12.6% were exposed to more than four types of ACEs. In addition to the staggering prevalence of ACEs, the study also discovered a dose-response relationship between ACEs and chronic illnesses and health-risk behavior. This original study opened the door for an entire body of research that discovered how trauma affects a child’s developing brain and the long-term consequences of early childhood adversity. For school counselors, this information is essential to our understanding of student misbehavior, academic struggles, and emotional concerns.
