divine strategies consulting classroom strategies and accommodations: key warning signs for...

Divine Strategies Consulting

Classroom Strategies and Accommodations:

Key Warning Signs for Educators

2012 Dropout Prevention & Special Education Conference

“Together Making A Difference”

August 29, 2012

Jackson Convention Complex

Jackson, MS


INTRODUCTION• Mental health disorders in children are more

widespread than most adults believe.

• Understanding the nature of mental health disorders can assist educators in planning instructional programs that will better meet the student’s needs, in addition to building a positive classroom climate.

• Educators are often among the first people to see that a child may be experiencing a problem.


What Is Mental Health?

A state of successful performance of mental function, resulting in productive activities, fulfilling relationships with other people, and the ability to adapt to change and to cope with adversity. Yet from early childhood until death, mental health is the springboard of thinking and communication skills, learning, emotional growth, resilience, and self-esteem.

Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, 1999


Children’s Mental Health FactsNationally:

• One in five (21%)children have a diagnosable mental, emotional or behavioral disorder. One in 10 suffer from mental illness severe enough to cause some level of impairment, yet, in any given year, it is estimated that fewer than 1 to 5 of these children receives needed treatment.

• 4 million children 3-17 years old (7%) had Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) in 2004.

• As many as one in every 33 children and one in 8 adolescents may have depression.

(NIMH, 1999)


Children’s Mental Health FactsNationally:• Of children ages 9 to 17, 21% have a diagnosable mental or addictive

disorder that causes at least minimal impairment. (NIMH, 1999)

• Five million children aged 3–17 years had ADHD (8%). Boys (11%) were about twice as likely as girls (6%) to have ADHD. (National Health Interview Survey,

2010)

• 50% of students age 14 and older who are living with a mental illness drop out of high. This is the highest dropout rate of any disability group. (US Dept of Education, 2001)


Childhood Mental Health

• All Children go through rough times at school, with friends, or their families.

• Most common problems, such as sadness after a family move or parents divorce, clear with time and maturity .

• Mental health disorders emerge during ongoing development and at times may look like misbehavior but are NOT the same.


Developmental Differences

• Children with mental health disorders may show delays in the development of cognitive, behavioral, social and emotional skills.

• Deficits may appear in peer relations, emotional control and decision-making skills.

• Memory and problem-solving may be damaged or show intermittent problems.


Early Intervention

• Can reduce the effects an emotional or mental health disorder may have on children and their families.

• Can lessen the duration and severity of the disorder.

• Can help children learn coping strategies, help their teachers use successful classroom adaptations, and prevent academic and social failure.


Early Intervention

Childhood mental health disorders can be difficult to recognize and are too often undiagnosed or misinterpreted. Early behavioral symptoms may be overlooked or treated as simple misbehavior. Trained teachers who can pick up early symptoms can often help a child and family move forward toward a formal diagnosis.


The Normal Brian and the Disordered Brain

Understanding the brain and its operation is the key to understanding and managing behavior.


Brain Development

Both biological and psychosocial factors influence the development of the brain and brain disorders.

• Many brain disorders cluster in families, which indicates a genetic component or predisposition.

• Some symptoms are a result of damage due to injury, infection, poor nutrition, or exposure to toxins.

• Stressful life events, malnutrition, childhood maltreatment, and aggression may lead to short- or long-term symptoms and increase the likelihood of adverse outcomes.


The Brain at Work = Learning

• What Helps– Safe environment– Meaningful tasks– Timely feedback– Varied input

• What Hinders– Anxiety– Distraction,

aversion– Brain disorders– Impaired judgment


Early Warning SignsNote: child’s behavior

always or usually includes:

• Frequent feelings of depression, unhappiness or despair

• Feelings of anxiety, panic or fear

• Recurrent or significant mood swings

• Extreme weight gain or loss (unaccounted for)

• Frequent periods of confusion or forgetfulness

• Lack of interest in family, friends, or activities he or she used to enjoy


Early Warning Signs (cont’d)

• Inability to work well at school

• Difficulty with concentration in school, work and other activities

• Unexplained persistent headaches or stomach pains

• Inability to make friends with other children

• Inability to relax, very anxious

• Excessive preoccupation with one idea or thoughts

• Angry, belligerent behavior

• Behavior harmful to self, others, animals or property



• Sleep problems and/or nightmares

• Unable to make simple decisions or carry out everyday functions

• Truancy, school avoidance

• Steals

• Often lies or cheats

• Delusions that someone is out to get them

• Unusual, strange, or immature speech patterns

• Ritualistic behavior



• Complains of significant memory gaps

• Isolates self from others

• Uses drugs and alcohol

• Is despondent and shows agitation, restlessness and pacing

• Sets fires

• Often doesn’t seem to hear

• Can’t seem to control emotions

• Doesn’t seem to have feelings


Educational Implications

• Difficulty completing work

• May blurt out answers before teacher can finish asking the question

• May lose books, supplies, and homework

• Difficult to discipline

• Difficulty understanding assignments, remembering and/or concentrating


Educational Implications (cont’d)

• Impairment in social and academic functioning

• Challenge class rules

• Refuse to participate in group projects

• Poor concentration

• Lack energy and drive necessary to complete assignments or homework


Strategies and Accommodations for Mood and Anxiety Disorders

• Reduce stress

• Reduce environmental stimulation

• Encourage daily check-ins and decrease work demands as needed

• Use non-judgmental terms for feedback

• Make rules few, clear, consistent, and stated in the positive


Strategies and Accommodations for Social Skills Deficits

• Try working with Speech-Language Pathologist, Counselor or School Social Worker

• Use videos or fields trips to observe body language and emotions

• Encourage development of splinter skills and interests to increase self-respect and peer acceptance


Strategies and Accommodations for Disinhibition

• Help student learn warning signs and ask for help

• Implement consequences calmly• Reassure student of your regard and

confidence to change their actions• Be creative and change rewards often• Plan consequences to include remediation

of any harm done


Instructional Strategies and Classroom Accommodations

• Allow students to contract a flexible deadline for worrisome assignments. (anxiety disorder)

• Once you have a better understanding of a student’s behaviors and learning style consider modifying or adapting the curriculum and environment.

• When giving instructions and tasks, break them into numerous steps.

• Have a secret code to help the student recognize that he/she is off task and must re-focus.



• Allow a student to use tables or formulas-memorization may be very difficult.

• Students who are easily frustrated may need a reduction in stress and pressure (can break down a student’s self-control and lead to inappropriate behaviors.

• Devise a flexible curriculum that accommodates the sometimes rapid changes in the student’s ability to perform.



• Break tasks into smaller parts.

• Choose your battles wisely.

• Establish clear classroom rules and be clear about what is non-negotiable.

• Be predictive, consistent and repetitive which will make the student feel safe and secure, in turn reduce anxiety and fear.



• Remember that students with ODD tend to create power struggles. Try to avoid these verbal exchanges. State your position clearly and concisely.

• Help students recognize and acknowledge positive contributions and performance.

• Not all acts of defiance must be engaged-know which ones to overlook.


Managing a Classroom• Educators sometimes assume that students know how

to carry out directives, when, in fact, they cannot. Students with emotional or behavioral problems are especially prone to being punished for rule breaking, even though they sometimes lack the skills necessary to follow the rules.

• If the classroom rule is to “listen when others are talking,” then some students will need to be taught the skills necessary to listening.

• If a student breaks a rule, then, it is wise to ask that student to explain the consequence of his or her actions.


Channeling Aggression• Putting reasonable restrictions on behavior is a

necessary part of caring for a child and important for healthy development.

• What triggered the aggressive act (antecedent)?

• Use what you know about the child’s temperament, preferences, and sensitivities.

• Talk so they’ll listen; be clear and to the point.

• Stop aggression and redirect -- consequences may not be effective “1st line” interventions


Mental Health Resources

• American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) www.aacap.org

• Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health www.ffcmh.org

• Mississippi Families as Allies for Children’s Mental Health www.msfaacmh.org

• National Alliance on Mental Illness www.nami.org

http://www.aacap.org/

http://www.ffcmh.org/

http://www.msfaacmh.org/



• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) www.nimh.nih.gov/

• National Mental Health Association (NMHA) www.nmha.org

• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/

http://www.nmha.org/



“An Educator’s Guide to Children’s Mental Health” and “A Guide to Early Childhood Mental Health”

published by Minnesota Association for Children’s Mental Health

www.macmh.org

References• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Mental Health: A Report of the

Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health, 1999.

• U.S. Department of Education, Twenty-third annual report of Congress on the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Washington, D.C., 2001.

• New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America. Final Report. DHHS Pub. No. SMA-0303832. Rockville, MD: 2003.

• U.S. Public Health Service, Report of the Surgeon General’s Conference on Children’s Mental Health: A National Action Agenda. Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services, 2000.

• National Center for Health Statistics. National Health Interview Survey, Vital and Health Statistics, 2010.



Wendy Mahoney, Consultant


[email protected]

769-251-6530

mailto:[email protected]

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