Childhood Trauma In Early Childhood

Early Childhood Trauma Early childhood trauma refers to the trauma that children experience between the ages of 0 and 6. It has long been challenged that infants and young children cannot and do not have the capacity to understand or retain emotions from traumas that they experience. Recent research indicates otherwise. But because infants and young children’s reactions vary somewhat from older children and they are unable to verbalize their reactions and responses to threatening or dangerous experiences it is generally assumed that their age protects them from the impact of these traumatic events. When infants or young children are witnesses to or experience a traumatic event sometimes the adults in their world conclude that because they are so young it is

There is a growing body of research that establishes that infants and young children are affected by traumatic events that threaten their safety or the safety of their caregivers. These traumas can be as a result of violence that is intentional including physical or sexual abuse as well as domestic violence. Or the trauma can be as a result of natural disasters, accidents medical condition, the loss of a parent or caregiver or even war.

Supporting Research:

The Brain and Development:

Throughout our lifetimes our brains are continually developing. The nerve cells that make up our brains are called neurons and infants are born with almost all of the neurons that they will have, over 100 billion. During development these neurons begin to move and differentiate into distinct specialized areas with various functions. The first area to develop is the midbrain, which regulates essential bodily functioning these can be considered automatic functions these can include everything from, breathing and sleeping to thinking and feeling. The second phase is known as semantic memory, which is the accumulation of general knowledge this is where our understanding of language is