Support In Schools For Students With Mental Health Challenges
The mental well-being of school children is a complex and emotional issue. This article broadly addresses some of the issues that may impact students with mental-health related disabilities.
In many cases the special education process begins with an evaluation of a student. Parents and teachers may have noticed behaviors of concern such as school avoidance, frequent trips to the school nurse, inattentiveness, bullying and declining grades, and so an evaluation is requested to determine if the student has a disability that impacts school. The evaluation can include assessments of a student's social and emotional well-being, including teacher and parent observations and questionnaires (often called ratings forms) to broadly assess a student’s mental health, including in the areas of anxiety, depression, aggression, adaptive skills, social skills, communication skills, somatization, and sensory needs. An evaluation might also include assessments of the student’s cognitive strengths (such as memory and processing skills), academic strengths, autism characteristics, physical and fine motor strengths, executive functioning, vision, speech and language skills. A comprehensive evaluation should determine if an underlying issue (such as a reading deficit or vision deficit) is causing the behaviors of concern.
After a disability is identified parents and educators determine if support and services are appropriate for the student to access the educational curriculum. Levels of support and service vary significantly depending on the student’s disabilities. It may be that the student needs accommodations at school such as preferential seating, additional time between classes and additional time on tests. Or it may be that the student requires different instruction from other students and / or specialized services, such as counseling, a sensory room, access to social workers and psychologists, social skills instruction, academic instruction, communication training and occupational therapy. Some students in need of specialized support are provided with an annual educational plan, called an Individualized Education Program (or IEP) that contains the student’s current levels of functioning, aspirational goals for educational progress, and a description of the support and services to be provided by the school. For some students with mental health issues placement in a specialized emotional support classroom, or even a specialized school may be appropriate.
Henry Young is a Special Education attorney working in Philadelphia and the surrounding area. Mr Young attended law school in Minnesota and New York and he is admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania and New York. The information provided by Mr Young and published here is very general information made available for educational purposes only and is not legal advice. Every child is different, with different educational and legal issues and education laws vary from state-to-state. Therefore, should you want legal advice about a child’s education it is important you seek specific legal advice from a licensed legal professional in your state. By using this web site / blog and reading the information published here by Mr. Young, you understand that no attorney-client relationship is created between you and Mr. Young and / or the web site / blog publisher and that the web site / blog should not be used as a substitute for specific legal advice from a licensed legal professional in your state.
