Mental Health Needs of Children

Every day as children attend school, there are many things that are going through their minds that are not related to the academic material that is being presented by the teacher. Many have witnessed trauma or have been the victims of trauma. Some are living in poverty and don't know when they will have their next meal, other than lunch that may be provided at school, if their parents have completed the proper paperwork. Some are bullied or made fun of on the playground or at the bus stop. Some have difficulty concentrating, are impulsive, have difficulty getting along with others and/or don't know how to make friends. Some suffer from depression, are children of alcoholics or drug addicts, have parents who are going through a divorce or they may have lost a parent through death. Many, who have divorced parents, are living in single parent homes and may or may not see the other parent on a regular basis. Some are in situations where the parents have joint custody and the children are shuffled back and forth between two homes and don't feel that they truly belong anywhere. Many children feel stress related to proficiency testing, failure, poor academic achievement, etc. Many of these children don't know how to ask for help or don't even realize that there is help available to them. According to a National Institute of Mental Health study, 20% of children have ongoing psychiatric disorders. They also reported that 49% of children have had a psychiatric disorder at some time in their life.

What can we, as school psychologists, do to help meet the mental health needs of children? The first step is to be aware of these needs. We need to attend workshops and read any information that is available on mental health issues in children. Some books that provide useful information include: Doll, B., Zucker, S., & Brehm, K. (2004), Resilient Classrooms: Creating Healthy Environments for Learning. New York: Guilford Press and Pianta, R.C., & Walsh, D. J. (1996), High Risk Children in Schools: Constructing Sustaining Relationships. New York: Routledge. We also need to be aware of help that is available outside the schools at public and private agencies and make referrals to these agencies on cases that we can't deal with in the schools. We need to make ourselves available to children, providing them with information and helping them deal with these issues. We also need to help educate teachers about the mental health needs of children and what they can do in the classroom, hallways, playground, cafeteria, etc. to help meet these needs. We need to talk with parents about their children and help them meet the mental health needs of their children. We need to get into classrooms and teach social skills and provide self-esteem-building activities to children starting in kindergarten and continuing throughout the elementary grades and into high school. Providing counseling to children individually and in small groups, teaching them relaxation techniques and being there for them in times of stress would also be beneficial. There are many evidence-based programs that have been rated as effect that are available to us. A list along with possible funding sources is available at this website: http://www.modelprograms.samhsa.gov/template_cf.cfm?page=model_list.

Unfortunately, there is not enough time in a day to do all of these things and provide the academic assistance that is also needed by children in our schools. Fortunately the state of Ohio has also seen the need for providing mental health services in schools and has, in conjunction with the Ohio Board of Mental Health, established the Mental Health Network for School Success. This network consists of six regions, which are located throughout the state. OSPA's Children's Advocacy Committee has requested that an OSPA member attend meetings in each of the regions. Additional information about this network, including contact information for participating in your region, is available on their website: http://www.units.muohio.edu/csbmhp/. One of the regions has a website that links students to youth-friendly mental health information on twelve topics including drugs & alcohol, bullying, depression, attention problems, etc.: www.seemehearmyfeelings.com.

Additional Information that is available through the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) is the Positive Behavior Support system is provided at the following website: http://www.PBIS.org/main.htm. Training for this system is available through the SERRC's for school buildings that are interested in implementing this program along with an academic support system.

Additionally, the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) and Ohio School Psychologists Association (OSPA) continue to advocate for coordinated and comprehensive school-based mental health services emphasizing prevention, education, and early intervention. They also continue to advocate for increased federal, state and private funding for mental health services in the schools and work to ensure that mental health services are as available as other health services with parity to insurance coverage. School reform, that eliminates barriers to students' learning and includes school psychological services as an integral component of effective schools, is also needed. Information regarding the issue of mental health in our schools can be provided to parents, teachers and administrators in the form of handouts as well as professional seminars that address these issues. The NASP website: www.nasponline.org is a good source of information.

In conclusion, though much is being done statewide and nationally, we need to continue in our efforts to improve service delivery of mental health services in the schools. Some administrators need to be convinced that there is a need for these services and hire additional school psychologists to provide them. Emphasis should be placed on efforts to provide increased funding for these services.

Advocacy Is Every School Psychologists Responsibility

Janet Brunecz, OSPA President

It seems that the summer gets shorter every year. Maybe it's a function of getting older and needing more time to accomplish the same goals. This also seems to make the school year seem shorter, because there never seems to be enough time to accomplish everything that needs to be done. Hopefully, everyone has had a restful and relaxing summer and is ready to tackle all that is before us this school year. Implementation of the reauthorized IDEIA and the continuation of the implementation of NCLB will keep everyone busy this year.

As the school year begins, teachers already know that they have students in their classes that "need to be tested" and they need our help. When testing is needed, we are the ones that they contact, but we have many other skills that go unnoticed in the schools. What can we, as school psychologists, do to create more awareness of our profession and the skills that we possess? We can look to our professional organizations to assist us.

NASP already has a system in place that we can use to contact our senators and congressmen to provide information to them. You can access this information at the NASP website: http://www.nasponline.org/advocacy/index.html. You can enter your zip code and they will provide actual emails/letters that you can send to your senators and congressmen. What could be easier? You can also access Power Point presentations for you to use in your work at the NASP website under Member Resources. Power Points that are available include: Differentiated Instruction; Promoting School Psychology; Working With Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Questioning Youth: A Training Curriculum for School Psychologists; Bullying and Social Skills. These are all excellent resources that we can present at staff meetings. NASP also includes information in each issue of the Communiqué that we can copy and use with teachers and parents.

OSPA, as most of you know, employs Ann Brennan as Director of Legislative Services. Ann represents OSPA's interests at the state level and keeps the Executive Board and members informed through legislative updates. These updates are available on the OSPA website: http://www.ospaonline.org. Recently, OSPA has sent letters to our congressmen to keep the intern funding from being removed from the budget. Letters were provided for participants to sign at the OSPA spring conference. Our input must have had an effect because the line item was reinstated in the final budget for FY 06 & 07 that was signed by the governor. Of course we know that this issue will be revisited again and again over the years, but we will just continue to support this program. At the OSPA planning conference in June 2005, Executive Board Members were provided with a NASP Advocacy Toolkit that can be used to share information with members in their regions. OSPA's Fall Conference will feature Steven Pfeifer, who will provide information about the Neuropsychology of Reading and Writing. His presentation includes information regarding how to identify students with learning disabilities in the areas of reading and writing, as well as interventions that participants will be able to take back to their districts and implement. Utilizing this information will assist us in our advocacy efforts.

As individuals, we need to be advocates in our own school districts and communities. We can do this by providing information in our buildings at staff meetings and offering to provide information to our local newspaper, school district newsletter or school newsletter that goes out to parents. The newsletter editors are always looking for useful information to provide to their readers. We can also request time to present information at principals meetings. The NASP website information can be helpful to us in preparing these presentations and/or articles. The Communiqué inserts can be copied and put in teachers' mailboxes on a monthly basis. They also include information for parents that can be used for the newsletters.

In conclusion, as school psychologists, we need to be advocates for children and families as well as ourselves. Hopefully, you will find the information provided here to be useful to you in your advocacy efforts.

Looking forward to seeing many of you at the OSPA Fall Conference at the Columbus Marriott North November 3rd and 4th.