I had my first live session for class yesterday night. Because the class sessions are in Pacific Standard Time and don’t START until 6pm (PST), I’m probably going to be up late most Monday nights. Which is going to be a struggle for me. I don’t do well if I’m not in my bed by 9pm. And I imagine that once I start working again, it’ll be THAT much harder.

But, hey. Maybe I can become a night owl.

We’ll see.

Anyway, it went well and it made me feel really eager to learn about all things psychopathology and RTI and eligibility.

Trauma and Brain Development

One of the first readings that we were assigned for class was focused on brain development. I have a general understanding of things like the “fight or flight” response. Or the negative effect of neglect and trauma on brain development in babies.

But, in light of everything that is currently happening at our border, it’s hard to not get choked up at the potential long-term consequences that can happen to these babies that were taken from their parents.

Kids are resilient, sure.

And families are now being reunited.

About 500 kids have been reunited with their families at the time that I’m typing this up. Only 2000 to go. (<—freaking ridiculous).

But I imagine a large percentage of these kids are going to end up with PTSD, anxiety, and/or helplessness.

“Studies using MRI have shown that children traumatized in the first few years have smaller brain volumes overall, in addition to other brain abnormalities, including delays in myelination, negative effects of stress hormones on the prefrontal cortex, and decreased density of corpus callosum.” (Debellis 2015)

The kind of trauma these kids have experienced – or are currently experiencing – can affect all areas of their development (e.g. social, emotional, behavioral, cognitive).

“Chronic trauma causes the HPA system to become overactive and more sensitive to future stress. Children with histories of chronic abuse and trauma have greater concentrations of stress hormones than non-traumatized children. The longer the exposure to trauma, the higher were the abnormal concentrations of stress hormones and neurotransmitter. These changes mean that the stress response systems of traumatized children are activated much of the time, even when no stressors are present.” (DeBellis et al., 1999a)

Family Separation

Some kids may be lucky. And may be able to bounce back once reunited with their families.

Others, not so much. Others may have a challenging time learning and succeeding in school. Their relationships may suffer. They may have a difficult time regulating their emotions. Their concentration and focus may be negatively impacted. Anxiety may develop.

This could affect them for the rest of their life.

Our administration has altered their entire life course.

It makes me feel sick to my stomach.

So, what’s the best course of action now?

Joanna, the blogger behind A Cup of Jo, wrote this great post with some suggestions on what we can do to help.

People are marching. People are raising hell.

My teacher friend – who just recently had a baby (and probably has ZERO $$$ to spare), decided to hold a lemonade stand on the corner of her block. By the end of the day, she had raised over $300 which she divided evenly among organizations working toward fixing this.

There are so many different ways we can help.

Write. March. Give.

And, most importantly, empathize. Because if you turn your head at this, if you choose to not involve yourself in some way, if you choose to remain uninformed, that is privilege in action right there.

Questions of the Day: 

• How are you helping?