The reason for the study is to address the shortcomings of past studies in mental health interventions, which lacked stringent inclusion criteria and diverse moderators. The aim is to employ more rigorous methods to provide updated and evidence-based results on interventions targeting anxiety or depression. This study presents an updated analysis with more inclusion criteria and additional moderators, such as baseline equivalence and program duration.
School-Based Interventions With Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Have Been Found To Be Effective in Treating Mental Health Symptoms
The universal approach treats the entire population regardless of individual conditions, while the targeted approach treats only those with elevated symptoms. Universal programs aim to prevent, while targeted ones aim to cure. Targeted interventions require extensive screening efforts and may lead to labeling and stigma. However, they have shown effectiveness. Universal programs avoid stigma but are costlier and may reach fewer children. Investigating the effectiveness of each approach can offer valuable insights for implementation.
Through Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) interventions, students gain skills to understand and cope with their feelings, such as using relaxation techniques and interacting with peers more effectively. School-based interventions with CBT components are found effective in reducing depressive symptoms and anxiety, and improving coping strategies.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Should Be Incorporated in School-Based Mental Health Programs
The study ensured a thorough literature search using various methods like database searches, handsearching, and checking references. The first author searched for relevant articles using specific keywords in databases like Google Scholar. Additionally, they manually searched reputable journals. The screening process involved three steps: initially, the first author selected 2308 studies. Then, these studies underwent double-blinded screening, and disagreements were resolved through a group discussion involving the third author.
The analysis of moderators indicates that studies focusing on anxiety outcomes, employing cognitive behavioral therapy, interventions administered by clinicians, and targeting secondary school populations tend to yield positive results. Additionally, selection modeling identified notable biases in publication and outcome selection. Consequently, this meta-analysis recommends that school-based mental health programs consider incorporating cognitive behavioral therapy delivered by clinicians, particularly at the secondary school level, to enhance effectiveness.
Schools Need To Enhance Mental Health Services for Their Students
There is a pressing demand for schools to enhance mental health services for students, yet current studies lack comprehensive insights into effective interventions. With a rising number of students experiencing depression and anxiety, identifying evidence-based models for school-based mental health interventions is crucial.
Overall, the analysis reveals a significant positive impact of school-based interventions on depression and anxiety symptoms compared to control groups. Interestingly, interventions addressing anxiety appear more effective than those targeting depression, with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) programs showing especially promising outcomes. These findings contribute valuable insights into designing effective mental health interventions tailored for school settings.
Notable Quotes:
“There exists a prolific amount of school-based mental health interventions, yet the quality of such interventions varies greatly.”
“In recent years, depression and anxiety have increased rapidly among 6-17 years old American children.”
“Approximately 9.4% 3–17-year-old children were diagnosed with anxiety problems and 31.5% 13-18-year-old children have experienced depression.”
Personal Takeaway:
I agree with the authors of the study that urgent measures need to be taken to address the mental health crisis that is currently prevalent among young people. Cognitive behavior therapy has been a proven solution to address mental health disorders, and if a program can be created for school-going students to receive this support, I am certain that the results will be positive.—Shekufeh
Zhang, Q., Wang, J., & Neitzel, A. (2023). School-based mental health interventions targeting depression or anxiety: A meta-analysis of rigorous randomized controlled trials for school-aged children and adolescents. Journal of youth and adolescence, 52(1), 195-217.
Cognitive Science, Mental Health
Teachers’ behaviors drive motivational climates that shape children’s engagement and well-being in the classroom. Still, few studies examine how specific teachers’ behaviors such as wording, body language, or voice contribute to these outcomes in isolation. This study set out to discover the role that teachers’ tone of voice plays in a student’s learning.
Words and Actions Are Important, but So Are Voice Patterns
Most current literature focuses on words and actions that create motivational climates. There has been early work outside the education domain that shows that voice patterns can affect adolescents’ behavior, well-being, and connectedness. The research builds on the self-determination theory, a macro-theory of human motivation that argues that motivation can be autonomously driven by personal valuing or interest (derived internally). Alternatively, motivation can be control-driven by external demands, pressures, or consequences (derived externally). In previous research with children and adolescents, controlling versus autonomy-supportive social contexts have been shown to undermine well-being in and out of the classroom
Some research suggests that children will not learn as effectively if spoken to in a voice that is considered inappropriate (e.g., a negative tone used when delivering instructions) or that sounds unpleasant and is not preferred. Furthermore, teaching with impaired voices (e.g., hoarse, weak, strained) reduces how well children process information. Voice impairment related to pitch, volume, tone, and voice quality has been linked to continuous straining of voices, such as when teachers try to maintain discipline in a noisy classroom by shouting over the noise level for evidence that teachers speak habitually louder when teaching in noisy environments.
Students React Quickly to a Controlling Voice, but Some May Not Feel Safe When They Hear This
Two hundred fifty children from the UK, aged 10-16, participated in an online study. They listened to pre-recorded auditory samples of different tones of voice and responded to survey questions like, “How would a teacher who spoke like this make you feel?”
The results indicated that children expected to feel less psychological satisfaction and lower well-being, including affect and self-esteem, when they heard teachers using controlling, demanding tones. They also felt less inclined to share personal information with such teachers. Controlling tones captured the children’s attention more than neutral or autonomy-supportive tones did. The study demonstrated a moderate effect on the children’s anticipated well-being from brief exposure to controlling voices, highlighting the powerful impact of vocal cues in educational settings.
Students Get Used to Hearing Firm and Harsh Voices From Their Teachers in Class
These results also suggest that the detrimental effects of controlling teaching styles on students’ well-being, as highlighted in previous research, may be partly due to how teachers use their voices. Unlike prior studies that examined motivational voices used by parents, this study found minimal evidence that tone of voice significantly altered children’s intentions to cooperate. This discrepancy indicates that motivational voices may have varying effects in different areas of children’s lives. In school settings, children might be conditioned by peers and the overall environment to react specifically to teachers who use controlling tones. Many teachers report adopting firm and harsh tones to manage classroom behavior, suggesting that such vocal patterns are not just occasional but are commonly used in educational environments.
Notable Quotes:
“Taking our findings in sum, controlling sounding voices, in comparison with neutral ones, failed to achieve what they set out to do – ensure the child’s compliant behavior – while also producing unintended costs in the form of undermined psychological needs, well-being and children’s willingness to self-disclose.”
“When exposed to controlling climates, youngsters and adolescents, in particular, have been shown to rebel rather than cooperate with adults.”
“Interestingly, exploratory analyses looking at needs separately showed that controlling sounding voices thwarted all three basic psychological needs consistent with previous research.”
Personal Takeaway:
It was an interesting study and a good reminder that our tone of voice can affect the classroom climate. We should think about the general tone we bring to the classroom and reflectively examine why we do so.—Matt Browne
Paulmann, S., & Weinstein, N. (2023). Teachers’ motivational prosody: A pre‐registered experimental test of children’s reactions to tone of voice used by teachers. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 93(2), 437-452.
Personalized Learning
Mind and Brain Education
Mental Health
Children’s ability to learn effectively can be impacted by social and communication deficits and difficulties adapting to changes in their environment. To improve outcomes for children, it is important to provide timely and effective interventions. This review summarizes the range and effectiveness of AI-assisted tools, developed using machine learning models, which have been applied to address learning challenges in students with a range of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Our review summarizes the evidence that AI tools can be successfully used to improve social interaction and supportive education.
Neurodevelopmental Disorders Do Not Usually Appear Alone
Globally, childhood-onset mental disorders are becoming more prevalent, with a rate of 10–20%. NDDs are now recognized as a leading cause of morbidity in children, with a huge impact not only on the individual child but also on their families and society. Moreover, there is frequent overlap between NDDs and Mental Health Disorders (MHD). For example, between 30% and 50% of children with ADHD are reported to have a comorbid MHD, such as depression, and over 70% of children with ASD are reported to have a comorbid MHD, most commonly including anxiety (40%) and ADHD (30–40%). The complex web of comorbidities between NDDs and MHDs can contribute to the severity of learning disabilities in individual children and can further reduce the quality of life. This complex comorbidity can be associated with poorer long-term prognosis and has implications for tailoring treatments for individual children.
Most Learning Tools Have Been Created for ASD Students
The systematic review was conducted by analyzing the most relevant studies (2011-2021) on assistive tools developed to address learning disabilities. The study looked at different tools used to help students with ADHD, dyslexia, and ASD in their learning.
It found that most tools are made to help ASD students, with application-based tools being the most common. Robots and application-based tools are popular tools for students with ASD as they can help with social interactions and meet individual learning needs. More technology and AI tools are used for ASD compared to other learning disabilities, likely because ASD presents challenges in learning and social communication. Deep learning models are used to develop robots for ASD because ASD is different from person to person.
Application-based tools are used to help students with dyslexia, offering personalized learning features. For ADHD, a mix of wearable devices, robots, and application-based tools is used, but not all tools are personalized to each student’s needs. The study suggests that AI tools should have personalized features to meet each student’s unique learning needs, as these needs vary greatly among individuals.
Safeguards Need To Be Put in Place To Protect Younger Students
Educational assistive technologies are commonly used with adolescents, therefore ethical concerns arise over privacy, data security, and informed consent. Safeguards need to be in place to ensure data cannot be hacked, and educators should ensure ethical considerations are in place before any student data is collected when an assistive tool is being used.
The AI-based tool is also able to perform data analysis rapidly and provide deeper insights
and hence is competent in offering real-time personalized recommendations to users.
While AI in cloud computing may generally lower costs, a well-trained staff needs to
be employed to operate the complex AI system which may incur some costs. The cloud
system would also require a continuous internet connection to work well; weak internet
access can impair the benefits of the cloud system.
Notable Quotes:
“The model will then be able to predict the user’s learning needs accordingly
and provide personalized learning to suit the child’s learning needs.”
“This review highlights that despite being in its infancy stage, assisted tools have been proposed to address the learning needs and quality of life of children with the most common NDDs: ADHD, dyslexia, and ASD.”
“Inclusive approaches are recommended so that students with NDD can be included in mainstream schools whenever possible. However, mainstream classroom settings can worsen symptoms of ADHD, especially when children are expected to sit still, remain quiet and stay focused.”
Personal Takeaway:
As a special education teacher, this study gives me a lot of hope. Adding AI to the toolbox of students with learning disorders can be a huge bonus but it should be implemented carefully. Reliance on the tool should be limited until the student is mature enough to realize that there are instances where they cannot rely on AI. Teacher involvement and training is also a big part of introducing AI to schools.—Shekufeh
Barua, P.D.; Vicnesh, J.; Gururajan, R.; Oh, S.L.; Palmer, E.; Azizan, M.M.; Kadri, N.A.; Acharya, U.R. Artificial Intelligence Enabled Personalized Assistive Tools to Enhance Education of Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders—A Review. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 1192. https:// doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031192
This study seeks to explore the potential gap between the responsibilities assigned to Scottish secondary teachers and those they assume. Under Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence, the health and well-being of school pupils are deemed the ‘Responsibility of All’.
Addressing Mental Health in Teachers and Students
Many attempts to address mental health in schools have focused on raising awareness among both teachers and pupils. Recent recommendations include avoiding a “deficit model perspective” and embracing “techniques that encourage pupils to feel secure and foster good relations with teachers”. Integrating mental health interventions into daily school life, engaging all staff and parents, and collaborating with outside agencies have also been suggested.
Teachers can succumb to vicarious trauma as they grapple with the demands of dealing with children from traumatized backgrounds. This can lead to burnout, emotional exhaustion, and leaving the profession. Teachers’ emotional health is a key factor in maintaining their dedication, yet data shows that those working in the UK education sector report significantly higher levels of stress, depression, or anxiety compared to other industry sectors. Teachers who feel high levels of responsibility for student mental health often experience increased stress and worry.
The Role of a Teacher
The study consisted of a questionnaire, interviews, and a focus group involving teachers at a comprehensive secondary school near a large Scottish city. The interviews and focus group were semi-structured. Participants had teaching experience ranging from 1 year to over 40 years, some with additional responsibilities within departments or at a whole school level. Data gathered generated a total of 32 possible themes, further split into the following three broad areas/themes for discussion:
“It’s everything we do”: Teachers felt that paying attention to pupils’ mental health was a core aspect of their role.
“I’m not equipped”: All interviewees highlighted a lack of confidence in their ability to deal with pupils’ mental health issues.
“To the detriment of what?”: Educators felt they should ‘be there’ for pupils but also recognized limits to their responsibility for pupils’ mental health as they managed their responsibility for students’ academic success.
More Training is Needed for Teachers
While further investigation is needed to fully understand what teachers mean by “more training”, it’s clear they are asking for deeper knowledge and understanding of how mental health issues manifest in young people, strategies for dealing with these issues, understanding of brain function, and effective listening skills. Teachers noted this training would be most beneficial at the start of their careers and emphasized the importance of improved collaboration and shared language across agencies to provide consistent complimentary services.
Notable Quotes:
“While the Scottish Government publicises a Responsibility of All approach, this is not enough to ensure that responsibility, in particular for pupil mental health, is felt by all teachers”
“Even those staff who had most experience dealing with pupils’ mental health issues still reported that they felt ‘ill-equipped’ and lacking in confidence describing themselves as having ‘a real case of imposter syndrome’”
“The continuum ranged from agreement that it is (mental health) a fundamental part of the role of any teacher to a refusal to accept it as part of the class teacher’s professional responsibility.”
Personal Takeaway:
It was an interesting read. It highlights the increased demands placed on teachers beyond academics. It begs the question, just how responsible are teachers for student mental health, and can they be held accountable? —Matt Browne
McKee, C., & Breslin, M. (2022). Whose Responsibility is it Anyway? Pupil Mental Health in a Scottish Secondary School. Scottish Educational Review, 54(1), 49-69.
Listen to this article
00:00
The number of students with registered disabilities enrolling in colleges and universities across the United States is continuing to increase, speaking to the myriad of improvements and advancements in technology, legislation, and treatment over the past few decades. Such advances have resulted in the creation of more inclusive learning environments for individuals with disabilities and have improved overall access to higher education. However, students with disabilities continue to face barriers when it comes to integrating in postsecondary institutions. Campus counseling centers have been suggested as a positive way to provide support for students with disabilities who are experiencing academic and/or psychological distress, yet little is known about the use or effectiveness of these services. O’Shea et al.’s (2021) study serves to close this research gap by determining the effectiveness of campus-based individual counseling for students with disabilities.
To disclose disabilities, or not?
While there is an overall hesitation for students to disclose their disability to their college/university, the impact of social and structural stigmatization on students’ reluctance to disclose may be more pronounced for students with certain types of disabilities. On U.S. campuses, psychiatric disabilities (commonly including disorders such as depression, bipolar, anxiety, or schizophrenia) continue to be the largest and fastest growing sub-category of disability amongst college students (Americans With Disabilities Act, 2018), and yet are also often surrounded by the most stigma.
Research indicates that “students with disabilities are at a higher risk in comparison to their peers of experiencing mental health issues on campus, including increased rates of anxiety, academic distress, suicidality, and self-injury (Coduti et al., 2016).” Such statistics further emphasize the need for accessible and high-quality support services on campus.
The Chinese education context is characterized by high-stakes testing and exam systems and more authoritative teaching styles. This highly competitive system has caused unique features of depression in Chinese students. Meta-analyses suggest that contrary to the gender differences reported in Western cultures for Chinese primary and middle school students there are no significant gender differences in the prevalence of depressive symptoms. The great value that Chinese culture places on interpersonal harmony also means that the quality of interpersonal relationships exerted a stronger impact on depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents than in their western counterparts.
The importance of teacher autonomy support
This research is based on a 3-year longitudinal study. Data was collected as part of a large-scale educational assessment of all schools in the Mentou-gou School District, which is located in the western area of Beijing, China. In total, 1613 4th-grade students from 25 primary schools and 1397 7th-grade students from 14 middle schools were recruited during the baseline assessment in 2014. Tracking the same group of students, a second and third assessment was implemented in 2015 and 2016. “The results of this study revealed that for both the primary and middle school samples, teacher autonomy support and teacher–student relationships consistently buffered the students’ depressive symptoms over time.” These findings align with the conclusions from previous studies.
The importance of teacher-student relationships
Gender differences were only present in the primary school sample, with females having a lower initial score that increased significantly over time, compared to the male students whose scores declined over time. In middle school, depressive symptoms increased significantly with a similar rate of change regardless of gender, although females still maintained a higher baseline. The authors suggest that this is different from the Western cultural context (where female students were more likely to show a higher rate of increased depressive symptoms than their male peers) because of Chinese cultural influences. Female students who are more likely to follow and obey rules would receive more positive feedback from teachers and parents, and Chinese females typically academically outperform their male peers at this age, both of which could act as protective factors.
Students who had higher socioeconomic backgrounds reported lower levels of depressive symptoms. This finding is consistent with current research.
“The study confirmed the significant effects of teachers’ autonomous and supportive strategies on reducing students’ depressive symptoms in both primary and middle school.” In China, studies have found that interpersonal stress significantly predicted the depression levels of Chinese pupils. This implies that teacher-student relationships are an especially crucial factor in students’ development in a Chinese context, with a higher potential impact to offset students’ depressive symptoms.
Notable Quotes:
“As indicated by this study, establishing a harmonious and autonomy-supportive school environment could benefit students in many ways and might reduce the potential risks of psychological problems. This implication is particularly meaningful in the schooling context, where the general teaching styles are less autonomy supportive.”
“Therefore, schools should provide teachers with training programmes regarding need-supportive teaching strategies and enhance teachers’ awareness of the importance of mental health.”
“To empower students with more autonomy, teachers could provide students with opportunities to express their thoughts and make choices, show concern for students’ negative emotions, and use noncontrolling language during instruction. In addition, teachers could improve students’ sense of relatedness by listening, expressing care, and being available during difficulties.”
Personal Takeaway:
This study serves as further research on the importance of positive student-teacher relationships and the benefits it has for teaching and learning as well as meeting a student’s developmental, emotional and academic needs. It also highlights the benefits of promoting student autonomy in the learning process. When students are given voice and choice they are more empowered, engaged, and connected to the learning environment, ultimately having positive impacts on both their academic and mental-wellbeing.
Ayla Reau
Summarized Article:
Zhang, D., Jin, B., & Cui, Y. (2021). Do teacher autonomy support and teacher–student relationships influence students’ depression? A 3-year longitudinal study. School Mental Health: A Multidisciplinary Research and Practice Journal. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-021-09456-4
Listen to this article
00:00
The prevalence of depression among adolescents and early adolescents in China has received more attention in recent years. Few studies have examined the influence of both autonomy and relatedness support combined as a protective and corrective effect on depression. The authors find the Chinese context a “strong testing ground for the universal importance of the combined impacts of autonomy and relatedness support on depression.” The authors examine the trends in depression in a 3-year longitudinal study investigating the impacts of teacher autonomy and support and teacher-student relationships on students’ depressive symptoms.
How teachers can help students
Some studies have shown that teacher autonomy support can act as a protective factor against student depression. In a teaching context, this means providing students with choice, providing rationale for tasks, showing respect and allowing the expression of negative effects.
Again studies have indicated that positive teacher-student relationships act as a protective factor against student depressive symptoms, including enhancing students’ social competence.
The Chinese education context is characterized by high-stakes testing and exam systems and more authoritative teaching styles. This highly competitive system has caused unique features of depression in Chinese students. Meta-analyses suggest that contrary to the gender differences reported in Western cultures for Chinese primary and middle school students there are no significant gender differences in the prevalence of depressive symptoms. The great value that Chinese culture places on interpersonal harmony also means that the quality of interpersonal relationships exerted a stronger impact on depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents than in their western counterparts.
The importance of teacher autonomy support
This research is based on a 3-year longitudinal study. Data was collected as part of a large-scale educational assessment of all schools in the Mentou-gou School District, which is located in the western area of Beijing, China. In total, 1613 4th-grade students from 25 primary schools and 1397 7th-grade students from 14 middle schools were recruited during the baseline assessment in 2014. Tracking the same group of students, a second and third assessment was implemented in 2015 and 2016. “The results of this study revealed that for both the primary and middle school samples, teacher autonomy support and teacher–student relationships consistently buffered the students’ depressive symptoms over time.” These findings align with the conclusions from previous studies.
The importance of teacher-student relationships
Gender differences were only present in the primary school sample, with females having a lower initial score that increased significantly over time, compared to the male students whose scores declined over time. In middle school, depressive symptoms increased significantly with a similar rate of change regardless of gender, although females still maintained a higher baseline. The authors suggest that this is different from the Western cultural context (where female students were more likely to show a higher rate of increased depressive symptoms than their male peers) because of Chinese cultural influences. Female students who are more likely to follow and obey rules would receive more positive feedback from teachers and parents, and Chinese females typically academically outperform their male peers at this age, both of which could act as protective factors.
Students who had higher socioeconomic backgrounds reported lower levels of depressive symptoms. This finding is consistent with current research.
“The study confirmed the significant effects of teachers’ autonomous and supportive strategies on reducing students’ depressive symptoms in both primary and middle school.” In China, studies have found that interpersonal stress significantly predicted the depression levels of Chinese pupils. This implies that teacher-student relationships are an especially crucial factor in students’ development in a Chinese context, with a higher potential impact to offset students’ depressive symptoms.
Notable Quotes:
“As indicated by this study, establishing a harmonious and autonomy-supportive school environment could benefit students in many ways and might reduce the potential risks of psychological problems. This implication is particularly meaningful in the schooling context, where the general teaching styles are less autonomy supportive.”
“Therefore, schools should provide teachers with training programmes regarding need-supportive teaching strategies and enhance teachers’ awareness of the importance of mental health.”
“To empower students with more autonomy, teachers could provide students with opportunities to express their thoughts and make choices, show concern for students’ negative emotions, and use noncontrolling language during instruction. In addition, teachers could improve students’ sense of relatedness by listening, expressing care, and being available during difficulties.”
Personal Takeaway:
This study serves as further research on the importance of positive student-teacher relationships and the benefits it has for teaching and learning as well as meeting a student’s developmental, emotional and academic needs. It also highlights the benefits of promoting student autonomy in the learning process. When students are given voice and choice they are more empowered, engaged, and connected to the learning environment, ultimately having positive impacts on both their academic and mental-wellbeing.
Ayla Reau
Summarized Article:
Zhang, D., Jin, B., & Cui, Y. (2021). Do teacher autonomy support and teacher–student relationships influence students’ depression? A 3-year longitudinal study. School Mental Health: A Multidisciplinary Research and Practice Journal. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-021-09456-4
Key Takeaway:
Special educators were already experiencing high rates of stress and burnout before the pandemic. This study emphasizes the additional stress on special educators during the pandemic. Educators are experiencing more stress, depression, anxiety, and mental exhaustion regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or school funding. —Tanya Farrol
Mental Health Impacts
This study focuses on the mental health impact on special education teachers (SETs) during the pandemic in the US. Before the pandemic, there were national shortages of special educators as many were leaving the profession due to stress and burnout. With the onset of the pandemic, there have been no studies to focus on the mental health impact on special educators. The authors of this study aimed to “(1) provide a nationwide view of levels of stress, burnout, and mental health of SETs, (2) examine differences in stress, burnout, and mental health by race, ethnicity, gender, and school demographics of SETs, and (3) examine the increased impact of the pandemic on stress, burnout, and mental health overall of SETs.”
A survey was created using Qualtrics and a flyer was created to advertise for special educators in public and charter schools throughout the US. The survey used the following measures:
Maslach Burnout Inventory – Educators Survey:1 specifically, the emotional exhaustion scale was used.
Patient Health Questionnaire:2 used in diagnosing and assessing depression based on the DSM-IV criteria for major depressive disorder.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale:3 a self-screening tool for diagnosing and assessing general anxiety.
Teacher Specific Stress:4 used to assess 7 sources of stress in relation to teaching:
classroom management;
poor student academic performance;
lack of student motivation;
supporting students with special needs;
time and workload pressures;
problems with school administration; and
changes.
The data for the survey was collected during the fall of 2020, as the first part of a three-part long study. Four hundred and sixty-eight participants completed the survey with the majority being women (88.7%), and White (85.5%). Latinos made up 6.2% of the survey and 9% were Black. The average age of the respondents was 43.
Results
The results show that special educators found that COVID had a significant impact on stress (91%), depression (58%), anxiety (76%), and emotional exhaustion (83%). Black special educators had less emotional exhaustion and teacher stress than non-Black special educators. There were no significant diagnostic differences based on race, ethnicity, gender, or school funding.
Based on the results, “a strikingly large percentage of SETs are experiencing clinically diagnosable symptoms of [general anxiety disorder] GAD and major depression, much larger than the normative U.S. prevalence rates.” The significant impact of the pandemic on special educators means more needs to be done to provide this group with mental health supports.
Summarized Article:
Cormier, C. J., McGrew, J., Ruble, L., & Fischer, M. (2021). Socially distanced teaching: The Mental Health Impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on special education teachers. Journal of Community Psychology, 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22736
The study is funded by the Institute of Education Sciences grant #R324A200232 awarded to second and third authors. Researcher Dr. John McGrew participated in the final version of this summary.
Summary by: Tanya Farrol – Tanya believes that the MARIO Framework is a personalized learning experience that develops skills and empowers learners to become an integral part of their learning journey.
Kroenke, K., & Spitzer, R. L. (2002). The PHQ-9: a new depression diagnostic and severity measure. Psychiatric annals, 32(9), 509-515.
Spitzer, R.L., Kroenke, K., Williams, J.B., & Löwe, B. (2006) A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: The GAD-7. Archives of Internal Medicine, 166(10), 1092-1097. https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.166.10.1092
Bernard, M.E. (2016). Teacher beliefs and stress. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 34(3), 209-224. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-016-0238-y
Key Takeaway:
Schools can work across the intervention spectrum to promote emotional health and prevent the onset of depression, as well as intervene with students once they have been diagnosed with a depressive disorder. One essential support mechanism is building relationships between students and teachers that can support wellbeing reciprocally. —Frankie Garbutt
There has been a significant increase in numbers of students who are identified with major depressive disorder (MDD)—in Australia about 5% of students and 7.5% of students in the United States. Therefore, it is paramount that schools consider how they will support students with mental health challenges, ensuring they consider the “academic, behavioural, social and emotional implications of the disorder.” In his article, John Burns (Macquarie University, Sydney) outlines “what constitutes best practice” in relation to supporting our students with depressive disorders.
The article adopts a framework that helps in “considering how school-based intervention occurs across the four domains of mental health promotion, prevention, case identification and treatment, as well as maintenance of students with or at-risk of depression.” It sets out to guide practitioners with checklists to identify and support students in a school setting. As outlined in the article, this framework is part of an overall drive to allow students to learn about managing their own physical and mental health in a holistic approach to education.
Prevention
It is argued that although prevention for a whole cohort can reduce signs of depression in students, individualized or small group settings have a higher prevention rate. Moreover, “interventions based on cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) have the strongest evidence of efficacy.” According to Burns, one central prevention strategy schools ought to implement is anti-bullying programs alongside the inclusion of parent meetings and increased playground supervision.
Identification
Before students can receive adequate professional treatment, their symptoms must be identified. Often, trained mental health professionals do not have the capacity to see all students, hence it is vital that all school staff are trained and educated in identifying the signs of depression in adolescents. “This has been best articulated within the suicide-prevention model of teachers being ‘gatekeepers’ who can identify at-risk students and then ensure these young people are linked with appropriate follow-up.” Additionally, schools can use screening systems to identify at-risk students among their cohorts.
Maintenance
Schools can support students by ensuring open dialogues among the parents, students, and any mental health professional working on the student’s case. This should happen alongside a carefully set-out plan for the student on how to manage their symptoms throughout the school day and where to seek support if necessary. However, the student should not attend school if they display elevated signs of suicide risk as this has to be managed externally by relevant professionals.
In regard to academic management, “best practice will require classroom teachers and school systems to make suitable adjustments and accommodations to the academic program that allow the depressed student to fully access the curriculum and demonstrate their learning during assessments.”
The article emphasizes that it does not outline how to support students who self-harm or are suicidal—both signs of depressive disorders—and professionals are advised to select further reading as recommended by the author. Finally, with teaching being such a stressful occupation, there is a correlation between teacher wellbeing and student wellbeing. “Better teacher-student relationships, facilitated by higher teacher wellbeing, becomes a key component to reducing the likelihood of student depression.”
Summarized Article:
Burns, J. R. (2021). Towards best practice in school management of students with depressive disorders. Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, 31(2), 246-259.
Summary by: Frankie Garbutt – Frankie believes that the MARIO Framework encourages students to become reflective, independent learners who progress at their own rate.
Key Takeaway
During the COVID-19 lockdown, there was a rise in sibling conflict in families where at least one child had moderate special educational needs and disabilities (SENDs). These young people with special needs were both the instigators and receivers of the conflict, and it was mainly those with severe and complex needs that were spared this conflict. —Shekufeh
Sibling Conflict and Special Needs
In one of the first articles of its kind, Toseeb (University of York, 2021) investigated the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on families with children that had special education needs. The main focus was on sibling conflict during and after the first lockdown in the United Kingdom in families where at least one child has special needs.
According to Toseeb, “at their highest level (the third month of lockdown), three out of four young people with [SENDs] were being picked on or hurt by their siblings and four out of five were picking on or hurting their siblings on purpose.” The study showed that boys were more likely to be involved in persistent sibling conflict than girls.1
Mental Health
In addition, those with pre-existing mental health difficulties, low self-esteem, or social difficulties are also more likely to be involved in persistent sibling conflict.2,3 This also affects the parents of young people with SENDs, “who may experience higher levels of psychological distress compared with parents of neurotypical young people,”4 thus increasing the risk of intra-familial conflict.5 Additionally, young people with SENDs may “require disproportionate time, attention, and support from parents fuelling competitive behaviour and aggression amongst siblings.”6
Social Skills
Social and communication difficulties may make children with special needs more prone to being picked on by siblings, as is the case for conflict with peers.7 “Neurotypical siblings of young people with SENDs may also have some social impairments, such as not being able to respond appropriately in social situations,8 which may increase the risk of escalation of sibling conflict.“
Birth Order and Family Size
First-born children in a family were more likely to be victimized by their
siblings compared with those who were born second or later. Additionally, as the number of siblings increased, so did the frequency of victimization. In addition to this, “those siblings with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were more likely to pick on or hurt their siblings compared with those without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder” (Toseeb, 2021).
Communication Skills
Young people who were minimally verbal, enrolled in non-mainstream educational placement, or had an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) were less likely to be victimized by their siblings compared with those who were verbal, enrolled in a mainstream school, or those who did not have an IEP, respectively.
Children who were minimally verbal appeared to be somewhat protected from sibling conflict, both in terms of victimization and perpetration. It may be that siblings of young people with complex or severe SENDs perceive the attention directed towards their affected sibling as warranted and therefore are less likely to compete for parental resources.9
Alternatively, it may be that “siblings of those with complex or severe SENDs adopt a more parent-like approach in the face of adversity. This is in line with the family systems approach whereby if one member of the family is affected with a SEND, then other members of the family tend to adapt to accommodate.”10
Summarized Article:
Toseeb, U. (2021) Sibling conflict during COVID-19 in families with special educational needs and disabilities. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 2021.
Summary by: Shekufeh—Shekufeh believes that the MARIO Framework builds relationships that enable students to view the world in a positive light as well as empowering them to create plans that ultimately lead to their success.
Additional References:
Tucker, C. J., Finkelhor, D., Shattuck, A. M., & Turner, H. (2013). Prevalence and correlates of sibling victimization types. Child Abuse & Neglect, vol. 37(4), pp. 213–223.
Dantchev, S., & Wolke, D. (2019). Trouble in the nest: Antecedents of sibling bullying victimization and perpetration. Developmental Psychology, vol. 55(5), pp. 1059–1071.
Phillips, D. A., Bowie, B. H., Wan, D. C., & Yukevich, K. W. (2016). Sibling violence and children hospitalized for serious mental and behavioral health problems. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, vol. 33, pp. 2558–2578.
Hoffman, C. D., Sweeney, D. P., Hodge, D., Lopez-Wagner, M. C., & Looney, L. (2009). Parenting stress and closeness: Mothers of typically developing children and mothers of children with autism. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, vol. 24(3), pp. 178–187.
Lee, S., & Ward, K. (2020). Stress and parenting during the coronavirus pandemic. Retrieved from https://www.parentingincontext.org/uploads/8/1/3/1/81318622/research_brief_stress_and_parenting_during_the_coronavirus_pandemic_final.pdf
Felson, R. B. (1983). Aggression and violence between siblings. Social Psychology Quarterly, vol. 46(4), pp. 271–285.
Cappadocia, M. C., Weiss, J. A., & Pepler, D. (2012). Bullying experiences among children and youth with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, vol. 42(2), pp. 266–277.
Constantino, J. N., Lajonchere, C., Lutz, M., Gray, T., Abbacchi, A., McKenna, K., … Todd, R. D. (2006). Autistic social impairment in the siblings of children with pervasive developmental disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 163(2), pp. 294–296.
Kowal, A., Krull, J. L., Kramer, L., & Crick, N. R. (2002). Children’s perceptions of the fairness of parental preferential treatment and their socioemotional well-be Interpersonal Development, vol. 16(3), pp. 297–306.
Turnbull, A. P., Summers, J. A., & Brotherson, M. J. (1986). Family life cycle: Theoretical and empirical implications and future directions for families with mentally retarded members. In J. J. Gallagher & P. M. Vietze (Eds.), Families of handicapped persons: Research, programs, and policy issues (pp. 445–477). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.
Curious how MARIO Education can enhance your school’s advisory or learning support programs? Schedule a no-obligationdemo with our team and discover how our innovative tools and 1-to-1 learning conversations can elevate student success and well-being in your school. Book your demo today!
