Abstract
Over the past decade, the link between childhood maltreatment and poor mental health has become clearer. This chapter provides a brief overview of the aspects of children’s neurobiology and behaviour which can be affected by maltreatment. In order to complete the Relational Learning Framework introduced in this book, facilitators must have a good working knowledge of how maltreatment affects children. This chapter covers the effects of both abuse and neglect on children’s emotion regulation, language and intellect. There is a brief overview of post-traumatic stress disorder. The effects of maltreatment on the developing brain, as well as how maltreatment affects daily patterns of stress hormones in children in foster care, are discussed, along with children’s resilience.
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Kelly, W. (2017). Early Maltreatment. In: Understanding Children in Foster Care. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65376-1_2
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