The Mental Health Spectrum Of Your Students
Date: Saturday, July 04 @ 08:32:15 MST
Topic: Education
My school population where I teach has about 700 students grades K-6. Of those, there are only 2 special education classroom and one “severely handicapped” class. These kids are often overlooked by onlookers. We have a wonderful staff of special education teachers, in fact the best I’ve ever professionally known. They do a wonderful job at attempting to mainstream these kids whenever and as much as possible.
The theory behind the “least restrictive environment” is that these kids will one day need to function in a normal life situation where there won’t be extra helps here and there to get them through. But mental health and handicaps don’t fit neatly in categories. I actually heard a psychiatrist once say that the science of diagnosis is frustrating because you are either: “bipolar” or “schizophrenic.” My, how limiting that is. Between the severely handicapped classroom and the GATE classroom, there is an array of mental awareness. Some notches along the line are considered genius and others insane.
I have been studying since 1999 as a personal pet project and form of professional development the concept of “genius vs. madness.” I have found many correlations. Now, I must admit my research is loosely based on blog reading and online sources more than academic books. I have however read academic books on schizophrenia, bipolar, depression, brain damage, autism, and other disorders that have shown me the line between genius and insanity is a very fine one indeed.
I wish our society saw mental illness as a potential virtue rather than something to “overcome.” Of course, kids with mania or severe ticks must be protected from their disorders but we should spend at least an equal amount of time showing them their “idiot savant,” or “early onset bipolar” etc. puts them in a category of people that have made stellar contributions to society since the beginning of humankind. Beside special ed classrooms, regular ed always has an array of mental health issues going on in a given year. Are we treating these as positively as we could be?
I started thinking about this post after reading a Newsweek article about how a certain group is attempting to erase the stigma against mental disorders. You may interested in checking that out on my psychology blog.
What’s your take on teaching the mentally ill child?
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About The Author
Damien Riley is a teacher, husband, father of three, and blogger in Southern California. He has an online diary, a teaching blog, and hosts a dialog on mental health issues.
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