With this reader-friendly guide, teachers will have the information they need to help create effective learning environments for children and adolescents with emotional, behavioral, or mental disorders.

From ADHD to schizophrenia and everything in between, what teachers need to know about their students’ mental health. Twenty percent of children and adolescents have a mental health disorder and in five percent, the disorder is severe. Chances are that every classroom in America will have at least one student who has a mental health disorder, possibly even in the severe range. These students often have symptoms that interfere with their ability to learn. From Ontario, Canada to California, school districts and state Boards of Education are recognizing the importance of comprehensive approaches to student mental health that include teacher education. By understanding child and adolescent mental health issues, general education and special education teachers have additional tools to provide the most successful educational environment for their students. But where can a teacher turn to get reliable information on what they need to know? Here, William Dikel, MD, a board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist, who serves as a consultant to school districts nationwide, answers the call with a comprehensive, teacher-focused guide to student mental health. From anxiety and depression to ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, behavior disorders, substance use disorders, and psychoses, this practical book provides essential information on how mental health disorders are diagnosed and treated, how they tend to manifest at school, and how they affect students’ emotions, behaviors, and ability to learn. It explains why traditional behavioral interventions are often unsuccessful, and describes effective classroom interventions that teachers can use to provide optimal educational experiences. Teachers will learn the differences between normal child and adolescent behaviors and behaviors that reflect underlying mental health disorders, and will recognize where these behaviors fall on a spectrum, ranging from behavioral (planned, volitional acts that clearly have a function) to the clinical (where a mental health disorder is causing the behavior). They will also learn how to communicate effectively with their school teams (and student families) to ensure that school mental health staff (psychologists, social workers, counselors, and nurses) will be able to provide appropriate interventions for students in need. Administrators will learn the importance of creating a district mental health plan that clearly defines the roles of teachers, mental health staff, principals, and others, with the goal of establishing a seamless system of coordinated professionals all working to meet the student’s needs. Finally, the book profiles successful programs, provided both by school districts and in collaboration with community mental health professionals, including Response to Intervention (RTI), Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), social-emotional learning, and school-linked mental health services. Based on the author’s thirty years of experience providing consultation to teachers in settings varying from general education classrooms to self-contained special education programs for severely emotionally disturbed students, this book will be an invaluable guide for parents, school principals, special education directors, school social workers, counselors, psychologists, and nurses.

An updated edition of an indispensable resource offers practical strategies for teaching and supporting students with mental health and learning disorders. Covering topics including PTSD, bipolar disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and many others, this accessible, ready-to-use reference explains how each disorder or difficulty might be exhibited in the classroom and offers straightforward suggestions for what to do (and what not to do). Using clear, jargon-free language, the book helps all educators—whether in inclusive classrooms, general education settings, or other environments—recognize mental health issues and learning disabilities that are often observed in students. Fully revised and updated to correspond to the DSM-5, this edition addresses newly diagnosed disorders, as well as incorporating the latest research and interventions for existing disorders. The book also includes current information about educational practices such as creating a culturally responsive classroom and supporting students’ social-emotional learning. Digital content includes customizable forms from the book. A free downloadable PLC/Book Study Guide is available at freespirit.com/PLC.

A brilliant collection of essays by educators, psychologists and counsellors, highlighting the critical importance of mental health and wellbeing of students in our schools. The book has been collated and edited by James Hollinsley, Head of the Longwood Primary Academy in Essex, highly respected and awarded for their proactive approach to child mental health. An absolutely critical read for all those involved in the education of young people, the book offers: a range of best-practice case studies; searingly honest anonymous stories from survivors of poor mental health who have also been (or are) practitioners in schools; and advice from experts and specialists, including psychologists, counsellors and SEN specialists.

Supporting Student Mental Health is a guide to the basics of identifying and supporting students with mental health challenges. It’s no secret that your responsibilities as a teacher go beyond academic achievement. You cover key socioemotional competencies in your classrooms, too. This book is full of accessible and appropriate strategies for responding to students’ mental health needs, such as relationship-building, behavioral observation, questioning techniques, community resources, and more. The authors’ public health, prevention science, and restorative practice perspectives will leave you ready to run a classroom that meets the needs of the whole child while ensuring your own well-being on the job.