What are Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic events that occur before a person reaches the age of 18. These experiences can range from direct abuse to household-level challenges and have a profound, lasting impact on physical health, mental well-being, and future opportunities. (Kaiser Permanente, CDC,1998)
Adverse Childhood Experiences
Abuse
Neglect
Household Dysfunction
Includes physical, sexual, emotional abuse impacting the brain development of children which severely effects speech and language development, social and emotional language and behavior.
Includes physical neglect such as not scheduling medical appointments, school appointments, leaving the child without proper emotional support for long periods of time, stonewalling etc.
Includes witnessing domestic violence, having a caregiver with a mental illness or substance abuse, witnessing a divorce, unstable housing/homelessness, immigration status and having an incarcerated family member.
Homelessness and the Impact on Speech and Language Development
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Nearly 50% of children under age four who are homeless show developmental delays, compared to just 12–16% of children in stable housing.
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Severe Language Deficits: Research indicates that language is often more severely affected than other cognitive domains. In some studies, over 60% of homeless toddlers showed significant communication delays.
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Delayed Literacy and Academic Failure: Language delays in early childhood often lead to poor pre-reading skills and long-term academic struggles. Homeless children frequently score significantly lower in reading than low-income peers with stable housing from 2nd through 5th grade.
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