Chelsea Wesselmann of the Regional Office of Education spent the last month uncovering the link between adverse childhood experiences and how they affect mental and physical development.

These “ACES” include experiences regarding abuse, household challenges and neglect — with a total of 10 different ACES a child can face in the home. The information she gathered also helped her understand what leads to a prevalence of drug use in some adults.

“We could be uncovering a truth that could potentially drive some coalition work in great ways—at least the possibility of,” Wesselmann said.

On Dec. 5, Wesselmann shared her research on ACES during the Monroe County Coalition for Drug-Free Communities meeting at the YMCA. She delved into the different ACES and looked at how often data shows people facing one or more of these during their childhood.

The Center for Disease Control states that the abuse aspect of ACES includes emotional abuse, physical abuse or sexual abuse. These examples can range from a parent or guardian swearing at or insulting the child to grabbing, striking or throwing an object at the child.

Monroe County Commissioner Delbert Wittenauer sat in on the presentation and asked Wesselmann about avoiding abuse in the household. He said a lot of discipline seems to cause trauma or stress for the child.

“The question is, ‘How do you correct kids without harming them?’” Wittenauer said.

“There is gentle parenting,” Wesselmann offered. “There are ways to correct your own stress.”
Wesselmann gave an example of how to lessen the trauma resulting from an ACE.

“Maybe a divorce isn’t preventable, but an appropriate, kind divorce can help avoid some of the consequences,” Wesselmann said.

Household challenges can include the mental illness of a family member or substance abuse in the house. Neglect can include both emotional and physical neglect. For instance, a child not having enough to eat or a family member not making the child feel loved would constitute neglect.

ACES affect nearly 64 percent of children, according to results from a recent study. These traumas give rise to a number of behavioral problems.

For instance, rawhide.org states that children who suffer four or more ACES are 32 times more likely to show learning or behavioral problems. The website states that ACES affect mental development because adrenaline floods the brain leading to a pause in brain development to respond to the threat.

“The brain development from 25 down is intense,” Wesselmann said.

Those who come from a home with two or more ACES are three times more likely to attempt suicide and four times more likely to consider themselves an alcoholic, according to rawhide.org. The possibility of illicit drug use in this case increases three-fold.

Southwestern Illinois College youth services coordinator Michelle Keim followed Wesselmann with a presentation on developmental assets that help build resiliency to ACES and contribute to positive behaviors in adults.

“People who go through (ACES) can have extremely successful lives,” Keim said.

The Search Institute identified these 40 assets through research done in the 90s to determine what leads to children becoming happy, healthy and successful contributing members of society. Developmental assets include both external and internal assets.

Some examples of external assets include family support, positive family communication and participation in youth programs and activities. Internal assets range from choosing to actively engage in school to developing character traits such as compassion, responsibility, honesty and integrity.

Keim said she focuses on an asset-building approach to ensure youth experience as many developmental assets as possible. The approach emphasizes the importance of collaboration and helps a person realize their potential.

Additionally, the Search Institute explains that while adults who suffered many ACES in childhood can develop behavioral problems, those who experienced enough developmental assets become much less likely to exhibit these problems.

Only three percent of adults who developed 31 or more assets suffer depression or attempt suicide. Those who develop at least 31 assets also only participate in underage drinking 2 percent of the time and use illicit drugs only 1 percent of the time.

At the end of her presentation, Keim explained how the group can use the research to help the youth in the community. The coalition will decide on 10 developmental assets to focus on building with youth at its next meeting.

“Anybody can build these assets,” Keim said. “You don’t have to be a parent to do this.”

Coalition secretary Gary Most told the Republic-Times that the presentation made him consider bringing that information to the coalition’s spring forum. The coalition is still in the process of planning the forum.

“Before we were looking at the issue, and now we’re seeing the symptoms (leading to drug use),” Most said.

In addition, Most said the ideas could possibly drive some of the coalition’s future work. He said as an example that he can look at how the research connects to the Second Step program used at Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School.

The Second Step program allows elementary school teachers to bring social and emotional learning into the classroom, which then decreases behavioral problems and provides safety and support to children.

SPPCS school counselor Pat Row said the coalition bought the second grade edition of  Second Step for the school to participate in the program and will soon buy the third, fourth and fifth grade editions. Row said SPPCS will look into a different program for sixth grade and above.

The coalition’s next meeting will occur at 4 p.m. Monday, Jan. 9 at the Monroe County YMCA.