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ACEs, Trauma, and Toxic Stress
in Our Students
By Maureen Hayes, Instructional Supervisor, K-6 Language Arts, Social
Studies, and World Languages; and Lynne Traina, School Nurse, Lawrence
Township Public Schools
Frequent reports of school Students and their families are hurting, our students to be mentally healthy
shootings, overwhelmed and it’s time to act. We now have the and academically successful, we need
to meet what Maslow refers to as
science to better support our children
emergency rooms filled and communities are ready to move basic needs first. These include the
with gunshot victims and forward. We understand the effects of psychological needs of food, water,
trauma and toxic stress on the grow-
warmth and rest, as well as feeling
an ever-increasing number ing body and mind, and we have the safe and secure.
of mental health issues tools to respond. It’s time to shift our Now We Know About ACEs
lens from “what’s wrong with this stu-
and challenging behaviors dent?” to “what has happened to this The first study on Adverse Childhood
seen in our schools has student?” We need to meet students Experiences, or ACEs, was written in
where they are, not where they are
1998 by Dr. Vincent Felitti and Dr. Rob-
education professionals chronologically or where we’d like ert Anda. With continued good works
scratching their heads. them to be. “Maslow before Bloom” written by Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk,
has never been so critical. If we want
Educational Viewpoints -28- Spring 2019
