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Preventing Child Abuse

by Traci Angel on 04/30/2018
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Kim Donoghue
Communications Specialist
kim.donoghue@slu.edu
314-977-4033

04/30/2018

Jesse Helton, Ph.D., studies how children with disabilities are affected.

Jesse Helton, Ph.D., is a researcher at Saint Louis University studying abuse in children with disabilities.

Jesse Helton, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of social work at Saint Louis University's College for Public Health and Social Justice. Photo by Kim Donoghue.

Helton researches the unthinkable: sexual assault and children. His recent focus takes a look at trends of assault on children with disabilities. Kids with learning disabilities often look like other kids, yet they can have cognitive problems in processing language and understanding ideas.

“We know adults who manipulate are looking to trick kids,” explains Helton, assistant professor of social work. “Kids with learning disabilities may not disclose the abuse and can fit that profile of what those who abuse are looking for.”

Helton used a national probability study of child maltreatment investigations in the United States from 2008 to 2009 in a study published last fall. The findings in Child Maltreatment included that seven percent of children identified in the study had a learning disability and that a sexual-abuse allegation was 2.5 times greater for children with learning disabilities.

“What I do in child welfare and child neglect [work] is working toward prevention and rooted in public health,” Helton says. “There is a lot out there in curriculum for kids to understand [abuse] prevention efforts, but it isn’t geared for kids with learning disabilities. It fits with the public health model of child-abuse preventions.”

Helton hopes that his work will note the individual attention needed when considering child abuse and child sex abuse.

People are more complex and so is their victimization,” Helton says. “We do a disservice to kids with disabilities if we don’t acknowledge this.”

Helton’s work will continue to focus on different kinds of disabilities and whether one has a more increased risk when it comes to assault on children.

About the College for Public Health and Social Justice

The Saint Louis University College for Public Health and Social Justice is the only academic unit of its kind, studying social, environmental and physical influences that together determine the health and well-being of people and communities.

It also is the only accredited school or college of public health among nearly 250 Catholic institutions of higher education in the United States. Guided by a mission of social justice and focus on finding innovative and collaborative solutions for complex health problems, the College offers nationally recognized programs in public health, social work, health administration, applied behavior analysis,  criminology and criminal justice, and urban planning and development.