I’ve used the questions from the Adverse Childhood Experiences study again and again over the years in professional development workshops on the topic of childhood trauma.  At some point, I’d decided to distribute the surveys and give participants time to fill them out, or at least go through them and privately know the number of adverse conditions they were subjected to as children.  An ACEs score of zero is less likely than you’d think, and from what I learned, so is an ACEs score of 10. 

For the most part, the workshops that I present cater to educators and/or those who serve children and young adults in other capacities, in after-school programs, and such.  But for a few years, I was conducting workshops in Houses of Correction around the state.  These focused on parenting styles, reconnecting with children and families after incarceration, and ways to teach kids without yelling or using corporal punishment – creating stress, anxiety, and fear environments that stifle the social development of children.

I did not take long to marvel at the stark differences in ACEs scores between teachers and inmates.  It was rare to have a teacher with more than five ACEs and equally as rare to find in inmate with fewer than five.  I never saw a zero in jail, but I did see 8’s, 9’s, and 10’s.  And, as expected, I never saw an 8, 9, or 10 in a school, but I did see 0’s and 1’s.  Given what we know about the impact of trauma from the ACEs study, this comes as no great surprise. 

The ACEs study focuses on how challenging experiences in our youth impact us as adults.  Take a person you know with a high ACEs score as an adult.  Perhaps a friend who faced a specific type of abuse, or lived in a high violence community, maybe lost a parent, and the one parent he/she/they had was heavy with drugs or alcohol.  Now, get into the “way back machine” pick a grade school time and observe that person in their classroom, taking a test, or maybe in the lunchroom.  Can you see what was happening in their home and whether their behavior or interactions are challenging?  Common sense tells us that it is NOT possible to have circumstances that bring such calamity in adulthood does not impact a child when these circumstances occur. 

There is science behind this, which Dr. Nadine Burke best explains in her Ted Talk below.  Please view it, and be on the lookout for the next post on this topic.