Welcome!
This web site was created for clinicians, clinicians-in-training,
educators, and parents, to help identify and support the needs
of children and adolescents with psychiatric conditions, particularly
in the school setting. The material in this web site is appropriate
for clinicians who work in schools (e.g., school psychologists,
guidance counselors) and those who work in mental health settings
(e.g., psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers).
How to Use This Web Site
This web site is intended to provide
information to, and encourage collaboration among, all the adults
who support the needs of children and adolescents with mental health
disorders. Clinicians will find a broad range of material
here, from diagnostic screening tools to practical strategies that
can be recommended to families to ease a young person’s stresses
at home and at school.
You can find information in four main sections:
-
Child/Adolescent
Mental Health Information
Click on Child/Adolescent
Mental Health Information to read about
common psychiatric disorders and how they present
in children and adolescents. This section describes
the disorders, evidence-based treatments, and
useful interventions for school and home.
-
Checklists
for Preliminary Mental Health Screening
Click on Checklists
for Preliminary Mental Health Screening to
find checklists for preliminary psychiatric
screening to help establish a diagnosis for
a child or adolescent.
Diagnosis should be made only by a trained clinician after a thorough
evaluation.
-
Screening
Tools & Rating
Scales
Click
on Screening Tools & Rating Scales to
find screening tools and rating scales. These
tools can help to better understand and define
the child's difficulties, and to measure progress
after interventions are put in place.
These screening tools
and rating scales are just one component of
an evaluation. Diagnosis should be made only
by a trained clinician after a thorough evaluation.
- Mental
Health in the Classroom
If a child has been diagnosed with a mental
health disorder, click on Mental
Health in the Classroom for information about addressing
and accommodating these disorders at school.
- Select Educational
Evaluation for general information about assessing
individual needs and tailoring a plan to accommodate
the child in school.
- Select School-Based
Interventions for information about specific
school accommodations and modifications that can be
effective for each disorder.
- Select the Medications section
of the web site to
find up-to-date information about medications used to treat
children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders.
Maintaining
Perspective During a Complex Process
You will find this web
site most helpful if you keep the following points
in mind:
-
The best results usually are achieved when clinician,
family, and school personnel agree on the symptoms
to receive priority, the treatment plan, and interventions
at home and at school. You can use the information
in this web site to help everyone on the team come
to a common understanding and develop a shared plan
of action.
-
If a child has symptoms that interfere with school
performance, encourage
the child's family to contact the staff member(s)
most familiar with mental health issues at their school.
-
The child may be eligible for special education
services.
Students are eligible for special education services
when they have a diagnosed disability, and if
that disability interferes with school progress (socially-emotionally
as well as academically). If the student does not
have an identified disability, or if the disability
does not interfere with school progress, the student
may still receive assistance through a "504 Plan," which
often includes accommodations to help the student succeed
(such as increased time for taking tests).
-
The School-Based
Interventions on this web site are comprehensive
but not exhaustive. They are intended to stimulate
your thinking about what might be most helpful
for children and adolescents. It would not be feasible
or appropriate to institute every accommodation
for a child with particular symptoms. Instead, consider
which symptoms most interfere with a child's school
success, and consider which accommodations might
best work for the child.
-
Most benefit occurs when target
symptoms are identified so that accommodations
can be prioritized.
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