The impact of adverse childhood events, or ACE, on a person’s ability to learn from an early age needs to be addressed sooner rather than later, a state education official told the Kansas State Board of Education Wednesday.
“If a child is exposed to poverty or abuse, that will change their chemistry, their neurochemistry,” said Kent Reed, school counseling program consultant for the Kansas Department of Education. “Evidence is showing that has an impact on how children behave. It keeps them from learning which impacts them even more.”