“It’s more than just a phase, bad day or being moody …children’s mental health matters” (Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health)

        

Mindy Mazur, Special Ed Parent Coach

Children’s Mental Health Week: Promoting Positive Mental Health and Well-Being for Children, Youth and Families - May 3-9, 2009

My friend’s son is in remission from leukemia. No teacher or health care provider ever told her that her son’s illness was due to her poor parenting skills or inability to set limits. The same is true for my neighbor’s daughter who was recently diagnosed with juvenile diabetes.  No one ever questioned my neighbor’s parenting skills.

When was the last time you were told that your child’s strep throat was due to your inability to set limits and poor parenting skills? I bet never. But this is a constant comment that many parents hear who have children with emotional and mental health problems.

Symptoms of “physical” illnesses are acceptable.  Symptoms of “mental” illnesses are not.  The symptoms or behaviors of children with emotional or mental health difficulties are often unpleasant. These behaviors can range from the student just shutting down to being explosive both verbally and physically. The interaction of emotional functioning and learning disabilities is complex and not always clear.

Here are five main ways in which emotional concerns and learning disabilities interact:

• Learning disabilities may lead to emotional distress.
• Learning disabilities may raise or exacerbate existing emotional concerns.
• Emotional issues may mask a child’s learning disability.
• Emotional issues may exacerbate learning disabilities.
• Conversely, emotional health may enhance the performance of children with learning disabilities.

Although are children spend the majority of their time in school, teachers and other school personnel  often miss or are not trained to recognize  the signs and symptoms of a mental health problem.  Even when the student’s problems are clearly presented in the psycho-educational and neuro- psychological evaluation, the amount of times educational professionals have reacted with punitive interventions rather than therapeutic ones are too many to count. It has been my experience that public schools are unable to adequately address the emotional health of students in IEPs.

Because of this the student’s emotional health declines with the exhibition of inappropriate behaviors. What follows next are usually suspensions and hospitalizations. It is then when the student is placed in a therapeutic residential or day school. But at what price for the student and the family?  We can surely do better.