Early Childhood Trauma Essay

In the early childhood years, the brain goes through critical periods of growth and development, periods that can leave a child particularly vulnerable to the effects of trauma (Fowler & Dell, 2006). There are various types of trauma that can result in developmental delay, ranging from physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, or exposure to maltreatment or violence (Anonymous, 2012, p. 14).

Trauma and Development

Neural Development

In a recent study, it was found that “emotional trauma in early childhood may stunt intellectual development” (Anonymous, 2012, p. 14). Specifically, the children exposed to trauma during the first two years of their lives, “had persistently lower cognitive scores, even after taking account of factors likely to influence IQ development, such as social and economic factors, mother’s IQ, and birth complications” (Anonymous, 2012, p. 14). Another form of trauma that can effect neural development and cognitive performance is proper nutrition. For example, “children in Kenya who were well nourished performed better on a test of verbal abilities and on other cognitive measures than those who had mild to moderate undernutrition” (Feldman, 2014, p. 277).

Divorce and Stress

According to Fowler & Dell (2006), “the first year is crucial in shaping the young child’s ability to make healthy attachments in other

1101). The breakdown of types of trauma within that sample is as follows: “21% for emotional abuse, 21.1% for emotional neglect, and 19.9% for physical neglect” (Huang et al, 2012, p. 1101). The fact that so many people struggling with substance abuse later in life were exposed to childhood trauma clearly demonstrates that traumatic experiences can have a lasting, detrimental effect on an individual’s development, even beyond