Practical Ways to Support Students With Adverse Childhood Experiences

Anyone who’s watched The Breakfast Club remembers John Bender, the student who antagonizes teachers, pushes limits, and meets peers with aggressive sarcasm. On the surface, he’s the archetypal “behavior problem” or “at-risk student.” The film eventually reveals something that educators know so well: His behavior is his armor, hiding a childhood marked by multiple forms of trauma—what we now call adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).

In 1998, the groundbreaking Centers for Disease Control and Prevention–Kaiser Permanente ACEs study showed, for the first time, a clear link between early adversity and long-term health and behavioral outcomes, including attention challenges, emotional dysregulation, and difficulty trusting adults.

Among the events that researchers consider ACEs are experiencing or witnessing abuse, neglect, domestic violence, substance abuse, mental illness, parental separation, incarceration, poverty, chronic financial stress, racism, neighborhood violence, housing instability, food insecurity, bullying, and family separation.

These stressors shape a child’s developing nervous system, altering how the brain interprets threats, processes emotions, and responds to academic tasks.

Students don’t simply announce, “I’m dealing with ACEs.” Instead, educators see withdrawal, emotional volatility, perfectionism rooted in fear, hypervigilance, inconsistent work, chronic lateness or absenteeism, and difficulty managing even the most minor of setbacks.

ACEs show up as behaviors but are, in fact, adaptations to chronic stress. Understanding this is the first step toward helping the students in your classroom. But what can you, as an educator, do with this information?

From Trauma-Informed to Trauma-Responsive

For years, teachers have been told to “build relationships,” “show empathy,” and “assume positive intent.” These ideas absolutely matter, and in fact they are part of teachers’ makeup.

But students impacted by ACEs don’t need a new curriculum or a new buzzword. They need classrooms that are intentionally designed to restore what trauma disrupts: the central nervous system and all it entails.

The following seven strategies are simple, sustainable, and immediately usable. They are the bridge between trauma awareness and trauma-responsive practice.

1. Predictable micro-routines. For many students with ACEs, inconsistency is a trigger. Their nervous systems are trained to anticipate chaos. Micro-routines provide small but powerful anchors. Here are some examples:

• The same warm-up activity or routine every day
• Familiar transition cues (such as call and response or music)
• Daily check-ins (in fun ways)
• Clear class structures (seating, rules, etc.) that rarely change
• A predictable end-of-class reflection or closing (which can include a breathing or other nervous system regulation activity before the next class)

These rhythms help students feel safe because the next step is predictable. When predictability rises, anxiety drops, allowing their engagement to increase.

2. Identity mentorship. Students thrive when even one adult in the building shows steady, sincere interest in who they are becoming. Identity mentorship might look like one of these:

• A weekly check-in about a student’s personal goals
• Saying “I’m proud of the way you reacted today”
• Tracking something positive they shared and following up
• Celebrating small wins that they may not notice

Use your staff and think outside the box. Consider lunch aides, substitutes, coaches, and security officers to serve as mentors. When a student forms a trusting relationship with an adult in the building, defensive behaviors are reduced.

3. Choice-based learning. Trauma takes away a child’s sense of control. Even small requests seem threatening. Micro-choices restore agency:

• Choosing between two tasks

• Selecting a partner or peer group for schoolwork
• Deciding how to demonstrate mastery

Choice reduces power struggles. Students feel an increased sense of ownership. Importantly, rigor does not need to be diluted; it can actually be strengthened.

4. Somatic reset spaces (not calm-down corners). Calm-down corners can unintentionally stigmatize students while not providing the self-regulation opportunities they need. A somatic reset space is a short-term physiological reset station available to all students in the class. It may feature the following:

• Stretch bands
• A space for wall push-ups
• Breathing prompts
• Fidget tools
• A punching bag (in the context of physical education)

These spaces work because they normalize parasympathetic regulation rather than pathologizing central nervous system dysregulation. Students use these spaces to manage their nervous systems.

5. Narrative and creative space. Students rarely say, “I’m overwhelmed,” or confront their trauma explicitly. When given the chance, they instead often express it through writing, drawing, music, storytelling, or poetry. At Keansburg High School, we offer ample opportunities to do this through our art classes, drama productions, and music department. We have also seen great success with the creation of the Keansburg Coffee House, a night when students can unleash their creative expression through art, music, and spoken word. This enables students to create meaning through their art, which in turn builds resilience.

6. Community contribution projects. Students with ACEs are often labeled as problems to be fixed. Providing opportunities for their contributions can help them instead see themselves as assets to the community. Let students do the following:

• Join peer mentorship programs
• Create a fundraiser and hold it in the school (confronting their trauma through philanthropy allows them to fight back)
• Lead a school event or club

7. Play and humor. Often, students with ACEs have been deprived of a childhood. Play and laughter lower stress hormones and create an open space for learning. A quick warm-up game, a knock-knock joke, or a mini-challenge can change the classroom. It’s OK to have fun with students! (Yes, even in high school.)

From Trauma-Informed to Developmentally Restorative

Supporting students with ACEs is not about softening expectations. It’s about creating environments that align with how the stressed brain learns and thrives. Small, intentional design choices can change a child’s trajectory and help educators mitigate the negative consequences of ACEs.

While we may not know every student’s story—and we may never see Hollywood-style emotional breakthroughs—we can build classrooms where students feel safe and where they feel they belong.