| The ChildTrauma Academy Newsletters |
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Neglect in childhood is the most common, yet least understood, form of child maltreatment. Neglect of a child is the most common reason for Child Protective Services to remove children from their homes. The work of The ChildTrauma Academy has included a focus on the impact of neglect on the developing child. A special focus of this interest has been examining neglect from a neurodevelopmental perspective. Over the years, in consultation with various organizations and agencies, the CTA has evaluated or provided clinical services for more than 2000 children following neglect. This experience has helped us better understand the impact of early life neglect on the brain. Simply stated, early childhood neglect is devastating. We are hopeful that this brief introduction to our work in this area will be helpful in your work. We appreciate the positive feedback we received from our previous Newsletters and we look forward to your comments on this Newsletter. We will continue to work hard to provide useful and timely information to help you continue to better understand and serve high risk children and their families. Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D.
 The
human brain is a remarkable malleable organ. During the
first years of life there is an explosion of neural
growth and the creation of trillions of neuron-
to-neuron connections called synapses. These connections
allow neural networks that, in turn, allow all of the
functions of the brain - thinking, feeling, behaving and
more.
The growth of these complex networks depends upon experience. The child who is spoken to will develop speech and language neural systems, the child who has motor practice and exploration opportunities will develop neural systems which allow walking, running and fine motor control. The child who is nurtured and loved develops the neural networks which mediate empathy, compassion and the capacity to form healthy relationships. Unfortunately, this wonderful window of opportunity in early childhood is also a window of vulnerability. If a child is not talked to he will not develop speech and language capacity, if he is not given opportunities to use his developing motor systems, he will not develop motor skills and, most devastating, if he is not loved he will be incapable of loving others. Over the years our work has demonstrated the devastating impact of early childhood neglect. Neglect in early childhood literally alters the physical (and functional) development of the brain. 
Human beings require touch to survive. Infants require
the loving touch and other important sensory experiences
that go with being loved - the sound of mother's voice,
the image of the smiling father's face, the scent of
mother's milk. This rich sensory input provides the
required stimulation for the developing brain to
organized normally.
Most important is the power of these early life loving experiences - such as this daily oil bath and massage given to this lucky baby in India - to shape the neural systems responsible for forming and maintaining relationships. Bonding experiences such as this massage help organize the brain - and lead to the creation of attachment. To read an article on bonding and attachment in maltreated or neglected children, click on the image of this baby. The disruption of normal attachment is one of the most devastating effects of early life neglect.
Gizane is a bilingual and bicultural professional
educated and trained in Argentina and in the United
States. She holds a Doctorate in Clinical Child
Psychology (1987), and a Masters of Arts in Counseling
Psychology (1997). She is a Licensed Professional
Counselor in the State of Colorado. We are proud to have
her work with us as a ChildTrauma Fellow.
Gizane has over 17 years of working experience with traumatized children and their families. She is a seasoned public speaker and trainer who has presented locally, nationally and internationally on the impact of abuse and neglect in early development, attachment difficulties in children exposed to maltreatment, and sexualized behaviors in children. She authored a chapter about the short- term outcomes of sexual abuse in the book The Web of Meaning, Gail Ryan and Associates (1999 Safer Society Press). In addition, Gizane has served on the Kempe Children’s Center Perpetration Prevention Study Group since 1992; is a member of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect and is a member of the Advisory Counsel for the Colorado Coalition of Adoptive Families
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