By the time he entered second grade, Eric had already witnessed graphic violence and watched as his family fell apart. He’d been moved to a new state and a new home, but he wasn’t thriving, especially in school. Eric’s reading level was measured in single digits — that is, below the 10thpercentile for children his age.
“He was so preoccupied by the trauma he’d experienced that it was impairing his learning,” says Steve Lepinski, who followed Eric’s progress.
Lepinski runs the Washburn Center for Children, a mental health provider in Minnesota that handled Eric’s case. After receiving intensive therapy, Eric (not his real name) saw his reading level jump to the 90thpercentile for his age group. Now “he’s just doing normal third-grade things,” Lepinski adds.
Trauma can be one cause of mental health issues among kids, but there are other sources. Emotional problems are linked to poverty, according to an American Academy of Pediatrics study, and 20 percent of children live in poverty. The same study notes that children whose parents serve in the military are more likely to experience emotional trouble, especially when parents deploy and return.
