Adverse Childhood Experience

Adverse Childhood Experiences include traumas that some children might be subjected to before the age of 18. Some children grow up in highly dysfunctional homes where there is abuse and neglect of varying degrees. Prolonged childhood trauma has a severe impact on an individual's physical and mental well being.

The Adverse Childhood Experiences(ACE) test/questionnaire categorises different types of adverse experiences. The higher the scores the higher the risk of disease, and social and emotional problems.

The ACE score is merely a guideline for yourself or for a professional to understand the level and intensity of trauma that an individual or a child has been exposed to. But that being said, the ACE test does not take into consideration all the influencing factors in a child’s life, for instance, the positive factors that would aid in building resilience like a trustworthy grandparent, teacher, or a mentor.

Here’s what we can do; These are some guidelines and preventive strategies for ACE mentioned by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) :

• Strengthen economic supports to families

• Change social norms to support parents and positive parenting - through public engagements and awareness campaigns

• Provide quality care and education in early life

• Enhance parenting skills to promote healthy child development

• Intervene to lessen harm and prevent further risk

Again to reiterate here, the ACE scores, in no way predict our future. As human beings, we constantly learn and are capable of growth. However, it does allow us to become more aware of ACE in our society and help us come up with prevention strategies for the same. From a psychological standpoint, misdiagnosis may occur, if there is unawareness that the child might have gone through some trauma. This makes it all the more important to notice behaviour patterns in children so that we can intervene as adults, teachers or any form of caregivers as early as we can.

You can find the link to the ACE test below:

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/03/02/387007941/take-the-ace-quiz-and-learn-what-it-does-and-doesnt-mean

Image Source: Google (npr.org)

Image Source: Google (npr.org)

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DISCLAIMER: This blog is created ONLY for information purpose and NOT for self diagnosis. There is a lot more to the concerns we talk about here. In case you identify with these experiences in your or your loved ones life, please reach out to a mental health professional or our team at HerMoveMeant, for further assistance.