How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime TED Talk Lesson

This comprehensive TED Talk lesson delves into the important topic of how childhood trauma can impact health throughout a person's lifetime. The lesson is based on Nadine Burke Harris' TED Talk "How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime" and includes several interactive components to enhance learning.

The first part of the lesson includes thought-provoking questions related to Dr. Harris' TED Talk, designed to encourage discussion and reflection. The second component is an online activity that helps students gain a deeper understanding of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Study and its findings. Finally, the lesson concludes with a "taking it further" activity that focuses on treatment options for children and adults with high ACE scores.

This activity will provide students with the opportunity to explore potential solutions to the problem and consider how they can make a positive impact in their communities.

This multi-part TED Talk lesson is an effective way to educate students on the impact of childhood trauma and the importance of addressing it in order to promote overall health and well-being.

From TED: Childhood trauma isn’t something you just get over as you grow up. Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris explains that the repeated stress of abuse, neglect and parents struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues has real, tangible effects on the development of the brain. This unfolds across a lifetime, to the point where those who’ve experienced high levels of trauma are at triple the risk for heart disease and lung cancer. An impassioned plea for pediatric medicine to confront the prevention and treatment of trauma, head-on.

This assignment is appropriate for a high school Psychology or Health course.

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