Adverse childhood experiences or ACES is best defined as “potentially traumatic effects that occur in childhood.” Some examples of this can be domestic violence or abuse, neglect, sexual abuse or harassment, or even just witnessing any of these things in your house growing up. Toxic stress is a stress that a young and still developing child feels that can be very damaging to the development of a child.
Adversities like poverty, racism, and violence can impact a Childs development by adding stress and trauma to their lives. If a child lives in a very impoverished home, it can set them back in aspects like education and even just getting enough food to eat. Racism can make a child feel like there is something wrong with them or they are not enough just because of their skin color. Violence can be very traumatic for anyone but especially a child. By exposing a child to violence or inflicting violence on a child at such a young age can be severely damaging and can greatly impact their development and who they are as a person when they are older.
ACES can affect literacy by changing what someone writes about. If someone expierenced any of the above stressors or traumatic events as a child and they are big in writing or writing is their escape, by going through all of those things, they can end up writing some pretty powerful words about their story and what they have been through.
