Stress and the Developing Child

Throughout a child’s day they will encounter positive, tolerable, and toxic stress. The first two a child can deal handle but the toxic can have detrimental affects. The first is changes in the brain structure itself. It can cause the brain to be smaller and not have as many neural connections. The brain circuits are vulnerable during development and disruption of this development can cause an individual to develop a low threshold for stress. This can cause the child to become overly reactive to adverse experiences throughout their life. Also high levels of stress hormones, such as cortisol, can repress the body’s immunes system. Also high levels of cortisol can damage the hippocampus, which is responsible for learning and memory. These deficits can continue into adulthood.