Action for Children North Carolina (AFC-NC) released a report yesterday that discussed the effects of poverty on brain development. The News and Observer was quick to cover this story and I expect a sympathetic editorial any day now.

Mind you, AFC-NC did not actually do a study of the effects of poverty on brain development. AFC-NC was merely parroting a report by the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (NSCDC), a Harvard University group supported by the Buffett and Omidyar funds and the MacArthur Foundation. Essentially, the N&O gave AFC-NC credit for someone else’s work. Nice.

Interestingly, the NSCDC report discussed the deleterious effects of poverty only once. According to the report,

The third and most threatening kind of stress experience, called toxic stress, is associated with strong and prolonged activation of the body?s stress management systems in the absence of the buffering protection of adult support. Precipitants include extreme poverty in conjunction with continuous family chaos, recurrent physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, severe and enduring maternal depression, persistent parental substance abuse, or repeated exposure to violence in the community or within the family.

The AFC-NC report removed the word “extreme” from their analysis, suggesting that their goal was to exaggerate the scope of the problem and the research. Adjectives matter.

Also, none of the toxic stresses are unique to impoverished families. Shouldn’t AFC-NC work to eliminate these stresses from all families – impoverished and otherwise – so that all children can enjoy healthy brain development? And why does toxic stress occur in middle and high income families, anyway? Could factors other than income have something to do with it?